First P.C. build, SATA not found

I'm building my first P.C. from scratch and so far I can get it to post. In the bios, the C.D. rom is detected and so is the ram (3200 corsair) but I can't get the brand new WD Sata HHD to show up. The mobo (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-131-449&depa=0) is that and the HDD is the only OEM part. I tried both serial ATA cables that came with it and got the same results with each. The hard drive is a 120 GB 7200 WD1200JD 8MB OEM. The Asus and WD websites didn't help to much either. Any ideas?

 

It probaly wont show up untill you go to install windows. It will ask while the setup files are loading if you want to install any raid drivers, and asks you to push a button. Once the drivers are installed and you will procede to install windows, the drive should be recoginized then.



cooked

 

Tanks you O.C. I just tried that (hit F6 to load raid drivers...) but when I tried to intall windows 2000 it still said no media or disc available to intall windows on.

 

HDD not formated?
Few things to check.
All cables ETC., connected properly.
Boot order CDrom first SATA HDD Second then Floppy.
Make sure you got the correct Drivers on floppy.

Western Digital has great utility to format your HDD, if you bought OEM you can download from thier Web, if you bought Retail that utility came with on cd. Then you can format and set up multiple partitions if you desire.


Once you get up and running set boot order to SATA first, youll boot quicker.

 

Thanks Asus, it didn't come with a floppy but I didn't know I could get it from thier site. I'm gonna try it now, thanks a lot.

 

I made the floppy with the WD diagnostic tools but when prompted the floppy is not being read (after hitting enter there's a 15 second pause and them it asks for the manufacturers floppy again
) and still no HDD is detected. All I found on there website for a floppy to format was the diagnostic tools above. Is there something else tere to add on a floppy? I also tried this (below) but it's still not detected. I don't have another system that can accept an sata HD, is there any other way to test it? Should I return it to newegg as a bad drive ?

 

Ooops, here's the picture.

 

? maybe bad floppy disk?
Maybe bad download?
Maybe bad Floppy Drive?
Maybe IDE cable to floppy drive on backwards ( red wire = pin one) if backwards I believe the lite will stay on.

The diagnostic tool's try download to CD?

The utility on floppy put floppy or CD utility in pc and reboot, what happens next maybe a pause then it should load drivers it takes a minute or two, then should get option of stuff to do.
I have never used the floppy route but I have use CD on Maxtor's and Western Digital's HDD both manufacture utilitys are pretty much the same, great tools.

 

Thanks Asus. I gave up with the WD and assumed that it's a bad drive. I'm returning it so I bought a Maxtor 7200 serial Ata/150 tonite. It only asks for a floppy, but for the life of me I can't find an Win 2000 SATA driver for a Maxtor (it comes with a support CD). On the cd I saved to floppy what was listed as a win2000 sata driver, but when I tried to use it after hiting F6 it said it was a raid controller!?!? I've even googled and just can't find a driver that will allow an SATA HDD to be recognized.
P.S. The processor, ram, cd rom and floppy are all listed in the bios, no Hdd though.

 

The driver you need is the SATA controller driver from the motherboard manufacturer, not from Western Digital. There should be one on the motherboard's CDROM, if you bought the motherboard separately, and the most current one should be available from the mobo manufacturer's website.

Most manufacturers don't give very good help with SATA controllers. They'll have one single driver download. It will be a full Windows installer package that's too big to go on a floppy. Use WinZip to expand the file to its component parts, and the raw driver files you need are usually in the first level folder. Look for a file called "txtsetup.oem". If you see that, you're in the right place. Copy ALL the files from that group (but not the sub-folders) to a floppy and you're ready to start.

 

Thanks GT, it seems you know EXACTLY what I'm talking about. The problem is that there is no mobo disc that came with This Asus board even though I bought the boxed retail version from newegg. On the Asus site There are several driver downloads for my board (P4C800 deluxe) but none for the drive controller. I've submitted 2 requests to Asus tech support (yesterday and today) and tried calling but they are closed. Do you know of anywhere else I can get this driver? It's killing me because it's the only thing preventing me from putting my new system together and there's a TON of updates, downloads and installs to do after it boots up.

 

Here is the download page for my mobo:
http://www.asus.com/support/download/item.aspx?ModelName=P4C800 Deluxe&Type=Latest
Please tell me I'm stupid and the Sata contoller drivers are there and I didn't see them. Should I upgrade the bios?

 

It's there. In the IDE group (confusing; it's not IDE) I always go to ASUS Global site, not the U.S. site. I always have trouble downloading from the U.S. site. Go here:


(KBytes)http://www.asus.com.tw/support/download/item.aspx?ModelName=P4C800%20Deluxe&Type=All


FileName 378ata_100104528.zip Version 1.00.0.26 Date 2003/07/07
Description
Promise SATA378 Driver V1.00.0.26 (ATA Mode)
More...
File Size 959.32

That looks like what you want.

AHAH! Asus is finally getting it together. Unzip the file and they've got a "MakeDisk.exe" routine that will make your floppy disk for you automatically. My older ASUS board didn't have that.

 

Damn, I thought that would do it for sure. I used the make boot exe to make the floppy and selected win 2000 after hitting F6 in setup. Several files are installed and after about 3 minutes it goes to "Windows 2000 setup" blue screen and in the grey taskbar it says "setup is starting Windows 2000 and it just hangs there. Any idea what would cause this. Thanks so much for your time.

 

Not sure. Once Windows copies the initial needed files to the hard drive, it will reboot to the drive itself to continue with the installation. Try removing the floppy disk, rebooting the machine, and see if the installation continues normally. If it insists on booting to the cdrom drive, go back into the BIOS and set the SATA drive to boot FIRST, and the CDROM to boot SECOND. The Sata will likely be called SCSI, or OTHER, or some such rather than SATA, although on your newer board, they might have gotten around to calling it SATA properly.

Do you have any other hard drives installed while you're trying to do the Windows install? I've seen times where the install would try... real hard... to install to the IDE drive rather than the SATA (or older secondary RAID) controller drives. Unplug any other hard drives if you've got 'em until the Windows install is done.

If you're getting to the point of Windows recognizing the drive and starting to install, I assume the SATA drive is set up properly in BIOS.

If that doesn't work, try removing any cards/drives from the system except for your floppy, cdrom, and SATA hard drive. Possibly another piece of hardware is causing the install problems. Other hardware can be added back in after Windows is up & running.

BTW, if this is your first install, and you did NOT get a driver disk with your motherboard, there are quite a few other drivers and goodies that you're going to need that should have come with your motherboard, from chipset drivers to hardware drivers for any and all onboard-hardware integrated into your mobo. Go back to that ASUS site link I gave you & grab all the latest for whatever is on your board.

 

I have all unneccesary device removed and no other hard drives plugged in. I rebooted as you suggested and in the bios the Maxtor HDD is listed as "Forth IDE Master" ! Why would it be the "4th IDE" and why won't windows install? I've wasted hours on this now and bought 2 brand new HDD's. I must say I won't buy another Asus ever.

 

It's not ASUS, or the drive, it's the current challenge of installing an operating system on anything other than the standard IDE channels, which are default, and easier. And the challenge of building a computer yourself. It's frequently more complicated than just plugging things in and installing Windows.

Different BIOSes display things differently, but I wouldn't expect to see your SATA drive listed on the standard startup screen as an IDE drive. The FIRST think you should see, after the ASUS splash screen (if yours has that, and has it enabled) is your SATA controller, followed by the drive model. If you DON'T see that, you may need to go into BIOS and enable SATA, or "Other boot device", or "Secondary Controller", or whatever they're calling your SATA controller.

THEN it should go to the standard startup screen showing IDE devices etc.

Then it should try to boot into whatever you've got.

Look in BIOS for ANYTHING related to your SATA controller. Different BIOSes lay things out differently. On mine, in Advanced BIOS Features, I have "SATA & SCSI Boot Order". I set it to boot SATA/SCSI (SATA first; I'm not using SCSI.). Below that is Boot Devices, where you choose which to boot first, second, third, etc. For installing Windows, you need the CDROM to boot first, but once you start rebooting into Windows itself to finish the installation, and for normal use, you want to boot to the hard drive first. On mine, that's simply called "SCSI" for the boot order prompt, so set "SCSI" to boot first (Unless your newer one actually lists SATA; mine doesn't.)

If all that is set properly, it may be something more general. Go back into BIOS and make sure the speed settings for the CPU and RAM are correct. Ram speed setting is usually a multiplier to the CPU's bus speed. You may have the settings for RAM too aggressive/fast, which may make your ram unstable. THAT can cripple a Windows install.

During the Windows install, did you format and make the drive Active? I'm not sure if Windows will let you sidestep that if the drive is unformatted, but if so, Windows can't install on an unformatted drive.

Could be a lot of different things, including defective ram. You can download a ram tester here at MG. Memtest86+
is a good one. Run that to make sure your ram is working properly.

Welcome to the wonderful world of computer building.

If all of this seems overwhelming, you may be better off returning the hardware and just buying a pre-built machine, but you'll learn a lot by staying with it and sorting out all the problems yourself. If you're to the point of installing Windows, you're well down the road already.

 

I refered him to Western Digital for diagnostic utility, not SATA drivers, on another thread he posted something about bad HDD.

All SATA drivers would be on the mobo cd for most mobos, abit's usually already on floppy retail mobo.
All sata drivers would need to be unzipped & all folders opened before applying to floppy.

I didnt mean to confuse anyone.

 

After powering up with minimal hardware installed and the windows CD in, I hit delete to enter the bios and make sure the CD rom is the first boot device and notice the Maxtor is listed as the forth IDE master. I hit F10, then after the Asus logo a black screen come up that shows the bios version # and the 378 (even though it's a 478 I believe)sata controller I downloaded and installing from the link you posted earlier. Then it goes to another dos-type prompt that says "no drive is attatched to the controller, bios not installed".

The CD rom is set to boot first. There is nothing in the bios related to a Sata controller.

I got the fastest ram available (3200) for this mobo.

The ram is listed properly at the start up screen and I can't get the point of formatting because the screen just goes black.

I hate to give up but I'm just out of ideas. I still haven't heard back from Asus and I've even tried some things I found by Googling. Is it time to just buy an Alienware? Would Newegg take all of this crap back?
Thanks G.T.

 

@Asus Thanks, the diagnostic tools didn't work so I bought a Maxtor instead. Still stumped.

 

I'd like to stick with getting this to work but I'm stuck again. Now, at the black screen that says "press any key to boot from CD" it says "errror loading operating system" afterward. What could cause this? (yes, it's a legal copy)

 

I've been looking over the specs for your motherboard, and it looks like you've got primary chipset support for two SATA drives and the normal IDE, plus a secondary Promise RAID controller for both ATA and SATA drives specifically in RAID arrays, which you're not doing. Unusual configuration, but a NICE one.

Looking at your mobo manual, you've got 4 SATA connectors on the motherboard. Make sure you're plugged into SATA1, not into one of the SATA_RAID connectors. Although since the primary chipset supports SATA, that may be why your start-up screen is listing the SATA drive.

My understanding is that once SATA is incorporated into the primary chipset, you shouldn't need special drivers to install Windows. But I may be wrong. You're somewhat in uncharted territory here; I've not used a board set up that way.

 

That means it's not reading the CD properly. Did you do anything new to the system? Possibly bumped the CDROM's cable & knocked it loose?

 

Still nosing around in your mobo manual. Looks like the RAID option is "optional". You may not have that on your motherboard. If not, disregard the note about looking for that.

Looks like there are 3 settings in BIOS relating to IDE use.

For Windows 2000 & XP:

"Onboard IDE Operate Mode" should be set to Enhanced Mode.

"Enhanced Mode Support-On" should be set to P-ATA & S-ATA.

"IDE Port Settings" sould be set to Primary P-ATA + S-ATA.

Check those.

 

Yes, I'm plugged into Sata1 and on the Asus website it says the extra drivers are needed. I checked the CD wires and they seemed ok but I push them in a little anyways. Now I get to the blue sceen where windows files are loading but after about 30 seconds of loading various files it says "setup did not find any hard disc drives installed in your computer".... Thanks for keeping me trying G.T. I'm trying not to give up.

 

I'm trying the Sata + Pata setting now, it was only set as Sata before. Afterwards I have to go but I'll post back later on or tommorow if there's other questions. Thank you so much for the patience with me.

 

Do you see the little note, at the bottom IIRC, that says to hit F6 (I think it's F6 anyway) to install your SCSI or whatever (SATA in your case) driver, and then looks for it on your floppy drive? That comes before the actual install starts. What you're seeing sounds like you're missing getting that SATA driver loaded up front.

 

When setting up my current computer I encounted the same problem as you tater.
I got the same sort of "device not detected" after installing the drivers it worked fine, fortunatly my mobo came with a setup disk. I did however install WindowsXP and I am not sure it that aided me at all in getting it all setup...

Hope you get the matter resolved soon...

All the best

 

Thanks guys, and I did install the drivers (the link GT put up) after hitting F6. Haven't heard from Asus yet either.

 

New update, I found the Asus CD (this place is a mess with parts of 4 P.C.'s around) but when I try to boot from it as it says to do the screen goes black after the splash screen with the message "ntldr not found". If I boot it with the winows cd in, after the spash screen I hit F6 to add the drivers but it just continues on to load windows files without giving me a chance to add anything. Wfter a minute or two of loading it either says "no hard disc found, press F3 to end" or on the blue screen it says "Setup is starting Windows 2000" but it just locks up there. Have you guys used this Asus disc? It says to boot from it but I just get "ntldr missing"!!!!

 

Were you able to boot from the disc? What else did you do from that CD?
Thanks

 

The ASUS driver disk is not a bootable disk. You use that AFTER Windows is installed, from within Windows. (RIGHT after Windows is installed, before anything else.) First we've got to get Windows installed. And I'm running out of ideas on what more to check. It's likely something minor that we're missing, but I don't know what.

Your drive is identified properly in BIOS. You've made the floppy driver disk, and I assume you've made it for Windows 2000 (that driver package supports multiple operating systems). You're hitting the prompt during the Windows install for Windows to load the driver. And the install stops before you get to the point of partitioning and formatting the drive, stating that it's still not finding the hard drive.

Are you SURE you made that driver floppy for Windows 2000? Wrong driver is about the only thing more I can think of. For that matter, did you do a full format (NOT a quick format, which doesn't check for bad sectors) of that floppy disk before setting it up? Floppy disks are notorious for having bad sectors, and if you're using a defective disk, your driver files may be messed up.

 

I've done everything exactly as you stated in your post G.T. but I did do a quick format. I'll thy it again now with a regular floppy format. Thanks.

 

Sorry, the site won't let me edit to add this. Do I use the make-boot exe. or just copy over to the floppy all of the Win2000 files? I've tried both ways earlier with quick format.

 

Well I copied the 2000 files to the floppy and I still get the same damn thing. I'm about to snap! Why could this be? Should I try the makeboot.exe again?

 

The MakeDisk.exe utility should be fine, and should let you choose the Windows 2000 files. Sounds to me like you're doing everything right. Maybe somebody else will have some additional suggestions.




??????? Anybody ??????

 

When I hit F6 to load the extra drivers I select: "Win2000 Promise SATA 378 controller" and hit enter. It seems to install and then it asks to load more files or start windows. I hit "start windows" and several windows files load during the blue screen. I'm doing this as I type. Then, it gives you the options to: Set up windows
Repair
Quit setup
I then hit enter to install window and then come the dreaded blue "NO HARD DISC DRIVES INSTALLED ON YOUR COMPUTER". Hit F3 to quit.

 

Hey Tater!

I gota toss in 2 cents again.

Have you tryed to format your sata hdd with the manufactures utility.
If not do this first.
Is this HDD a Maxtor if so use the "Max Blast" utility to format & partition before you try to load windows.
If it is Western Digital use thier utility "Data Life Guard tools" to format.

A lot of mobo's will not recognize sata hdd till formated and some not until windows is installed.

If the HDD utilities will reconnize the drive, you can format with it.

Did you get HDD utility with your sata, if not download from manufacture web.
if it came with sata hdd it's on cd, if you have to download you may have to download to floppy, either way, insert cd or floppy hdd utility and reboot, the utility will load it's own drivers needed to run it's self.
Boot order must be set to.
1st CDROM
2nd sata, if that is not option then scsi.
3rd floppy

Then try to load windows/F6 sata drivers/etc.

 

Thanks Asus. It's a Maxtor HDD and I did get the MazBlast3 cd with it and it says to boot to it as you said. When I do so, (sata is set as first boot device), I get a black screen with the message "Non-System disc or disc error, replace and strike any key when ready". What would you make of this? I'm getting desperate.

 

Hi im new
but have just done yesterday what u are trying to do
and unfortunalty its a chicken and egg situiation
u will go around the bend trying to do it this way.

what i did was put a second ide hd in and loaded the xp os then.

then i loaded the promise controller files

that way windows could see the sata drive and then i just formatted as usual.

hope this helps
kevin

 

Thanks Kev, I'm desparate and I'll try that right now. If this is what it takes, it's pretty sad on Asus's part.

 

tater
ny board is an asus as well
k8v.
and i can tell u this
the on boot up the computer would not see the sata drive untill the os was loaded, but i couldnt load the os onto the sata because itr wasnt there, so thats why i had to load the xp os onto a normal ide drive, just so i could get a platform from which to load the promise contoller files and once i did that xp could see the new sata drive
good luck mate
kev

 

let us know how u go
cheers kev

 

Thanks Kev, when I load the Sata drivers from a floppy they seem to work but a few minutes after windows starts to load it says " no hdd found". I just tried installing an IDE and In the bios I set IDE config to Sata as the Asus manual says for IDE. That just got a black, dos-type screen. I tried with IDE config set as Pata+Sata also with the same results. Sata drive is still hooked up.

 

tater
when u hooked up your ide hd
did you go to the bios and ask for auto detect hd?
if u did that u should be able to start loaded xp on to your ide hardrive with no probs
cheers kev

 

i wouldnt be trying to load any sata drivers until windows is up and running on your ide drive
kev

 

All IDE settings are set to auto except 32 bit. There is no auto detect listed in the bios though.

 

just some further info

when u load windows, u should get a message asking u to select "f6" for the 3rd party drivers etc, sata drives.
at this point u need to put your disc in with those drivers so windows can copy them.
are u getting this far
cheers kev

 

I was getting that far before with the sata as the only drive in, now I just get a blank dos-type screen on boot-up.