Asus M5A78-MLX Plus won't recognize SATA HDDs

Jerome7

Honorable
Dec 28, 2012
2
0
10,510
Hi - I have replaced a fried MoBo with the Asus M5A78-MLX Plus MoBo and installed a FX-4100 CPU. I have 2 HDDs - one SATA that should be my boot drive and a brand new SATA. I Connected the power and data cables but the BIOS is not recognizing either drive (but does recognize the DVD drive- it is an EIDE that I am using an adapter to connect to the MoBo). I can get BIOS up and can boot off the DVD with a Win 7 64-bit Install disc but there is no option when install asks for a drive to install Win 7 (OS is Win 7 Home Premium 64-bit). No indication the HDDs are getting power (can't hear them and have used both the SATA and old power cables. Using new 400w Power Supply ). Have switched from IDE to AHCI in SATA Config area of BIOS but still not detecting the drives - any suggestions? I did have a new Gigabyte MoBo that I had the same trouble with and ended up returning. I have had the boot drive connected to a system at a computer repair shop and it was recognized, so I don't think it is the drive. Thanks for any suggestions!
 
Use the sata drive with software on it. Don't try using both drives together. Windows may think both are boot devices. After windows loads with one drive, you should be able to hook up the second sata drive while windows is running in achi mode. Windows will detect the new drive and may decide to format it. I use maxblast 5.0, good cloning software if one of your drives is maxtor or seagate, since my old sata II drives are seagate and maxtor. It's great to have an older drive backed up with a windows install in case an ssd fails.