Add-in PCI-e SATA card causing problems

[jpep]

I am trying to install a simple PCI-e SATA 3 expansion card on my workstation. The workstation is a Dell Precision 670 running Windows 7 Professional. The onboard SATA ports handle the primary and secondary hard drives already so I needed a couple of additional SATA Ports forthe two new optical drives I am installing. Regardless of whether I plug in the two new Optical Drives or not, when I get to the Windows Start-up Splash screen, the startup just hangs there. If I remove the card, all is well again. I spent 2 trips to Microcenter (as they suggested) to make sure the card was not bad and another hour on the phone with Dell Tech, who also could not help me. I have only the operating system drive in the boot up sequence, and have even removed all of the other cards except for the graphics card....again same thing.

 

[inzone]

Did you load the driver software for the card first , before you installed it?

 

[jpep]

I first installed the card without drivers installed, as instructed in the setup instructions that came wit hthe card. Windows start-up froze up. Then I pulled the card, installed the drivers and reinstalled the card. Same thing.

 

[jpep]

I finally talked to one of my guys in IT. After trying a clean boot and checking the boot partition setup for Windows 7, he suggested I go with a PCI Card. With some research, we concluded an SATA Gen III card was not going to work in my 670 system. I installed a PCI SATA card instead. May have had to sacrifice speed, but I have my SATA Optical Drives working fine.