New Motherboard - Hard Disk Not Found

[kardofaces]

I got P8P67 LE and an old WD SATA 3GB/s HDD. I have it connected to SATA3G_1, my bios settings are set to ACHI. I can't figure out the problem. Could be the way it's hooked up; although, it should be all correct. But I could probably take picture soon. This shows the settings.

http://img821.imageshack.us/g/dsc00240wb.jpg/

This hard drive hasn't been formatted yet and still contains Windows XP. (which I will remove for Windows 7) I'm tempted to buy a new one but I don't want to wait for delivery. Anyone see anything that I'm missing?

http://img27.imageshack.us/g/dsc00244qa.jpg/

 

[ubercake]

If you change it to legacy/IDE mode, do the drives appear when you restart?

 

[kardofaces]

IDE mode didn't detect anything.

 

[ubercake]

You can switch it back to AHCI then. Have you tried connecting the disk to the other disk connections? Try plugging it into one of the SATA3 ports and see if it will run. If it doesn't, try plugging into one of the SATA6 ports.

Also, I noticed your Front Panel Audio setting is set to HD. Do you, in fact, know that your case has HD connections for the front panel audio? If your case doesn't support it, this can keep your system from running correctly. Switch the front panel audio to Legacy AC'97 while troubleshooting. You can use HD off the back connections for sure, but not necessarily off the front panel. Having this set wrong has caused shorts for some people where their systems would reboot randomly or when plugging in USB devices.

 

[kardofaces]

I haven't tried SATA6 yet. I'll see what happens. I don't know about the Front Panel Audio but probably not. I'll switch that. Here's a picture of my HDD, tell me how you think it should be plugged in.

http://img27.imageshack.us/g/dsc00244qa.jpg/

(yes the s/n and stuff is on there but I don't care) I've tried different combinations but at the moment I have the Data Power and Serial Data.

 

[ubercake]

Does your power supply have SATA power connections? Or are you using the 4-pin molex connection to connect to the power supply?

 

[kardofaces]

Using 6 pin? connectors: http://img405.imageshack.us/g/dsc00248vq.jpg/

(first picture: legacy power isnt plugged, data power is, tried sata6 and no luck)

 

[ubercake]

I don't see any 6-pin connection on the back of your drive. 6-pins are primarily used for video cards.

If your power supply has the SATA power connection, it would be a connection like a long thin slot that's L-shaped, almost the same as the SATA connection to your motherboard, but a shorter L. Or you could power the drive with a four pin connection to the power supply similar to that which you'd use to connect a system fan directly to the power supply.

 

[kardofaces]

The long thing L-shape is the Data Power. It's plugged in the back of the HDD and to the PSU by the second picture. I've also tried the four pin alone plugged in the same way as the data power.

 

[swifty_morgan]

AHCI for an IDE HD ?... Why ? Is the HD seen in the BIOS ? If not you'll have to make it recognize the drive. Tough to see by pic but I assume you only have 1 source of power plugged into the back of the HD ? Are all SATA connections enabled in the BIOS ? Try a different SATA port on the mobo. Try selecting "load optimized defaults" in the BIOS. Save and reboot.

 

[kardofaces]

ACHI was the setting on my old motherboard. There is no HD present in the bios. I have one source, either the data or legacy plugged in the back of the HD. All SATA should be enabled if you view the picture. I've tried different SATA ports. I will try Load Optimized Defaults when I get back from work.

 

[kardofaces]

I just updated my bios but got nothing. I ordered a new HDD but I'm still curious as how this one doesn't work or is not noticed.

 

[ubercake]

Can you post a picture of the HDD when you get it connected? The back of the HDD and the mother board where it is connected?

 

[kardofaces]

http://img225.imageshack.us/g/dsc00257es.jpg/

 

[ubercake]

http://img225.imageshack.us/g/dsc00257es.jpg/

You have it connected correctly. Do you have a different SATA cable to try to connect the drive to the motherboard?

When you put this old drive in another system, is it recognized? Did you, in fact, try it on the SATA III ports?

 

[kardofaces]

I've tried it on all the ports with three different cables. I also used the SATA6 cable in the SATA6 port. Maybe some day I'll hook up my old system and see if it works. If it does, I'll be utterly confused. Hopefully my new one will be recognized instantly.

 

[ubercake]

For your sake, I hope that old drive has gone bad and the new one is recognized. Keep us posted.

 

[WyomingKnott]

Could it have anything to do with the fact that all of your SATA ports are set to DISABLED? I know that my Dell mobo will not see a perfectly valid drive attached to a port until I enable the port.

I know that it says "not present," but with the port disabled it may not check for the presence of the disk.

Do you have any drive that is currently working on that mobo? All the ports say disabled / not present.

Note: While most motherboards are nicely behaved and detect a drive if it's there, I have dealt with at least one where the system will not boot unless all empty ports are set to DISABLED. Pretty weak, in my opinion.

BTW, if that solves problem #1, the next question is: is the drive partitioned and formatted.

 

[kardofaces]

Unless you know of a command in Dos or something to turn on/off SATA ports, I don't see a settings for that. The SATA Configuration list is showing the hotplug option. I've already tried turning those on on the SATA port I'm using.

I only have one drive. I did plug in my external one and it detects that and a usb fine but I don't plan on installing windows on that. I did mention above that I have yet to format my HD; although not partitioned, because I should be able to format it on the Windows 7 clean install.

 

[WyomingKnott]

Not in DOS, in BIOS. Where it says "DISABLED" on each of your ports is my guess, but only as an analogy from working with the Dell mobo.

DISABLED is just such an unusual setting that I would start by trying to change that.

 

[kardofaces]

Not in DOS, in BIOS. Where it says "DISABLED" on each of your ports is my guess, but only as an analogy from working with the Dell mobo.

DISABLED is just such an unusual setting that I would start by trying to change that.

The SATA Configuration list is showing the hotplug option. I've already tried turning those on on the SATA port I'm using.

My bad luck continues. I'm getting random shutdowns and hearing clicking, I believe, from this hard drive. I don't know if it's something I've done but when I plugged it in: I immediately installed Windows 7, updated it, installed the drivers that came with the motherboard, and installed my video card driver. Among other programs I downloaded, I can't say anything has been done to cause issues with the hard drive.

I tried starting up Total War: Shogun 2 and World of Warcraft only to have a long loading process and then a shutdown. I got one shutdown randomly and one will trying to do the Windows Experience Index. I also had a blue screen.

Sometimes when I boot my HDD isn't found, usually after a shutdown. Please, if anyone knows any place that could assist me further, let me know.


Edit: I had a crash during PCMark05 as I expected. Usually when these shutdowns happen, the HD is lost and I hear clicking. I was going through the bios settings to get the HD found. (I didn't change anything I haven't already) Now I can't even get into bios settings before it shuts down.

Edit Edit: After browsing the web for a bit, everything has begin to boot properly. I'm about to test some games again.

FYI: System can't be overheating. I have the chassis open and next to a window. Sensors claim everything to be 20-40 Celsius.

Edit Edit Edit: I also believe I have a malfunctioning ATI HD 5770. The reason I decided to upgrade my computer was because my video card was hanging up (VPU Recover) while playing games. I assumed it was because my motherboard was old even though they supported each other.

Turns out I'm having the same issue using FurMark as I did before I upgraded. I can only assume this will translate the same while playing games. World of Warcraft is coming up fine at the moment. I have yet to try TW: Shogun 2.

Edit 4lol: Shogun 2 is working. More edits to come if it crashes. One thing I prominently changed; unaware as to the consequences, was a switch on the back of the PSU from 230 to 116. That and turning Windows 7 theme to classic.