Stumped with A7V333 problem. Begging For Help

[datajunkie]

Gentlemen,
Im dyin right now trying to get my new system up and running. First, the specs:
Athlon XP1800 unlocked
Antec 430W PSU
Asus A7V333 w/RAID Bios Ver 1006 (I think,bad memory)
756 MB Samsung DDR333 true PC2700 RAM
Gainward CF4 Ti200
Thermalright AX-7 w/Vantec Tornado HSF
D-Link NIC
Win XP Pro
Lite On DVD 16x
Lite On 40/12/48 CDRW
80Gb Western Digital Special Edition

Anyway, currently only the RAM,MB,CPU,DVD,FDD,HDD, and GPU are hooked up because Im doing a new install and I dont need the rest installed yet. Here's my problem......

I fired up the systam and went into the Bios Setup. Everything was kosher including my recently unlocked CPU. I could clearly see all IDE devices and floppy drives in the BIOS. Time to do the OS install.....
I start the Win XP install and got to the point were it asks to do the first restart of the system. I instruct it to do so, but when my system started up my Bios could no longer find my Hard Drive. CRAP!! I was stumped. The HDD is good because XP was formating it and writing files to it. I checked all connectors, re-installed XP up to the same point, re-formatted, etc. I still cant get the freakin BIOS to recognize the HDD. BTW, I have the Bios set to autodetect the HDD. I dont know if that is an issue, but the more information I give you the more likely you can help. Please Help.

Louis

Show me the Data. No ticket, No laundry!

 

[RISC_Free]

I don't know your specific MOBO, but I have encountered similar HD issues on others. These are the places I'd look.

1) Check the Jumper on the HD. Especially WD can do what your saying if the jumper is set for Master and it's the only drive on the cable.

2) Go back to the BIOS and highlight the drive and the <Auto> setting. Most current BOISs, pressing Enter will both show what the BIOS detects about your drive and allow you to make changes. In this case, you just want to see that your drive is actually there and the setting are correct.
Assuming your drive was not detected at all...

3) Recheck your cable connections (I KNOW you did, but actually press the connector into the MOBO, it can lift just a little but still look fine in that mass of cables.)

4) Try a different IDE cable. (Swap the one for the CDRW/DVD if you don't have another handy, you just want to see that the cable's not the issue).

5) Try your drive in another computer if available. Or if you have an old IDE card, plug that in and watch on boot to see if it detects the drive. (Be sure your BIOS is not set for 'silent boot', 'quick boot', 'hidden', or some other setting that hides all the startup messages.

6) Try another drive if available. (I have an old 1.6G WD just for such checking.)

HTH, and good luck.

 

[Scarface]

Im having the same problem too, with An Asus A7S333 Though. I took my hardrive in and the guy told me it was broken and gave me a new one under warranty. When u got home to try my new one it detected nicely, but when i restarted it wouldnt detect it. Im thinking its a Fan and Heat Issue. Because ever since i got my Asus Mobo my computer has been really hot.

 

[Lysd3xic]

I would recommend that you set the HDD's jumper to "cable select" and not manually set to master or slave.

 

[Billy57]

Since you have a RAID board, make sure your IDE cable is on the main channel. I made this mistake and my bios wouldn't recognize my HD.

Music equals changing frequencies in space over time!

 

[datajunkie]

Here's an update guys.

Things that I have done and plan to do.......

Things Done:
1. Physically Changed the IDE Cable
2. Confirmed that the HDD is on the Primary IDE Channel (Not RAID)
3. Disabled RAID via on-board jumper.
4. Semi-confirmed that HDD is functional. I can see/hear that the disk is formatting during XP install and I also see that files are being written to the HDD.
5. Interestingly enough I screwed around with the BIOS and noticed the following. Stay with me because this is truly funky... When I change the Primary Master (HDD) to USER SPECIFIED HDD (some bogus HDD values)instead of AUTO then save and exit from the BIOS I get an non-system disk error. Exactly what you would expect, right? Here comes the goofy part. When I restart again and enter the BIOS to change the Primary master back to AUTO it magically detects my HDD now? WTF! Me thinking that everything is all good now I save and exit......Upon reboot the darn thing loses its mind and cannot find the HDD anymore. I hope that this explanation is readable, but that exactly what is happening. Its like the BIOS forgets that there is a HDD there.

What Im gonna try now:
1. I try setting the HDD to Cable Select instead of Master and see what happens.
2. I'll pull another HDD from one of my other computers and see what happens.
3. Maybe I'll try a Win98 install instead of XP as a test.
4. If nonoe of that works, i'll flash the BIOS to either version 1007 or 1008. Dunno yet.
5. Lastly, if Im still screwed I'll call Asus Tech Support and waste money on a Long Distance call. BS.
6. RMA either the MOBO or HDD. I dont think anything is broken, just some type of BIOS/Harware conflict.

Thanks for the input everyone. Anymore ideas are appreciated.

Louis



Show me the Data. No ticket, No laundry!

 

[ridgid]

hmm, sounds like the battery on the MB could be bad?

check to see if other changed values in your bios have been reset

I usualy set the time and check it on reboot

ridgid

 

[datajunkie]

I was thinkin the same thing, but the systme clock keeps good time. Maybe I have a bad EEPROM that wont save my settings correctly, but it seems to maintain all of my other settings just fine? This one's real strange. Im no expert, but I am fairly experienced at dealing with this stuff. I think I'll go ahead and flash the Bios , because the symptoms that I am seeing look like some software related fluke. Dunno.

Show me the Data. No ticket, No laundry!

 

[datajunkie]

SUCCCESS!!!!!
I removed the Jumpers to my HDD, which puts it in cable select mode and everything worked fine. Up and running smoothly. Thanks All.

Show me the Data. No ticket, No laundry!

 

[inorganic]

I have experience with two mb A7S333. Both had the same problem - they can not boot even via floppy when PnP OS in BIOS is set to YES. When it is NO - everything was perfect. Btw ECS K7S6A is about 10% faster then A7S333 in RAM tests and believe me - K7S6A is REALLY STABLE AND RELIABLE.

 

[Crashman]

Hmm, Asus is getting kinda funny with BIOS lately, I smell a payoff! Check this out, Asus scrapped their plans for their 735 board becuase VIA threatened to short supply anyone offering one. Then Asus got REALLY SCREWY with their A7A266 BIOS, and people who had perfectly great systems started having all kinds of problems with them after the upgrade. Now they have the A7S333 with a 10% performance disadvantage! Think Asus is crippling these boards on purpose? Is Asus the evil left hand of VIA now?

<font color=blue>By now you're probably wishing you had ask more questions first!</font color=blue>