New build - drives (IDE and SATA) won't show in bios

[shngrdnr]

'lo all

I'm currently building a new pc, my first (nerve-wracking). I've managed to get to the stage where the pc turns on successfully - all fans turn on, the video output is working. The problem is that the SATA drive I've installed isn't recognised in BIOS, and I'm not sure it's even drawing power.

I'm confident the drive is hooked up properly - the SATA cable is linked to SATA 0 on the motherboard, the power is being drawn from the SATA output on the PSU (makes sense to me...). But still, no joy, the drive certainly isn't being recognised by the system when it boots.

Complicating matters (but possibly pointing to the nature of the problem), I plugged in a DVD Drive via IDE, which drew power from the PSU on an unshared cable - don't think that's essential, but thought I'd mention it. As with the HD, the DVD didn't light up, wouldn't open, and didn't seem to be drawing power at all.

Could this point to a power issue? Could someone give me a checklist?

Cheers

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Full specs

Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300 LGA775 Yorkfield
XFX ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024MB PCI-E video card
OcUK Battle 650W Dual Rail High Efficiency Modular PSU
OCZ Gold 4GB (2 x 2) DDR3 1333MHz ram
Western Digital Caviar Blue 160GB SATA-II 8MB Cache HD

 

[house70]

First, make sure all the power cables are connected to the mobo according to specs.
If the HDD is not spinning, not making any noise at all, it is likely not drawing power. Because same goes for the DVD Drive, at this point I would blame the PSU.
You can try different power cables for each drive, until you find one that works. But even then, you would have a crippled PSU with no possibility of system upgrades later, so I would return the PSU anyways.

 

[shngrdnr]

First, make sure all the power cables are connected to the mobo according to specs.
If the HDD is not spinning, not making any noise at all, it is likely not drawing power. Because same goes for the DVD Drive, at this point I would blame the PSU.

Hey house, thanks for the feedback. Actually, I borrowed a dvd drive from work (don't worry, 'borrowed' isn't a euphemism in this case) and tried it out in place of my own dvd drive, and it worked fine. Funny thing is that it is about four years older than my own drive, which leads me to think that it isn't a hardware compatability issue (though I admit my ignorance in that area) but that my drive is simply busted.

As to the SATA drive, I've already tried as you suggested - different cables, different PSU outputs, with the same result. I'm starting to think it's a duff drive - I notice that it was made in Thailand, and I've read somewhere recently (maybe on Tom's) that drives from there have a high attrition rate. Unfortunately, I haven't got another SATA drive to make a comparison, so I'll have to send it back and see about a replacement.

Could just be bad luck on both fronts - I'll have to take in my hard drive to work tomorrow and see if it works there. If so, guess I'll have to chalk it up as one for Scooby and the gang...

 

[house70]

both drives... that would be bad luck, but NOT impossible, statistically speaking. Once you get another HDD, let us know how it worked out.