BIOS cannot see second SATA HD

[vcarpio2]

I bought a used WD 320 GB SATA 3.0gb/s HD. I tried connecting it in two PCs but both do not see it.

One PC is a Dell XPS 410 with 3 SATA drives already in it -- I installed the 2 additional SATA drives in the past. On the Dell, I had to enable the SATA ports in BIOS because they are disabled by default. It has Vista Home Premium.

The other PC is an HTPC I built in January this year. It has a Gigabyte motherboard and has a 1TB SATA drive. I boot Vista Ultimate off the 1TB SATA drive.

Both PCs take some time during BIOS detection phase but both come up with no new drive found. Vista on both PCs doesn't see the drive, either.

The Dell has SATA AHCI setting in the BIOS. The Gigabyte HTPC has IDE setting in the BIOS.

I also tried connecting the drive via a USB SATA adapter:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16812232002

but still would not see the drive.

I am googling up "bios cannot see sata" for possible solutions. Is the drive dead or am I not installing properly?

Thanks a lot.

 

[vcarpio2]

Just plug the two SATA cables -- one narrow, one wide -- and that's it, right?

Is there a website that gives a nice tutorial on SATA drives?

Thanks a lot.

 

[California Roll]

If a brand new drive wasn't initialized, I could understand windows explorer not seeing it until it was, but not the bios. You bought a used drive, so this shouldn't be an issue. Have you tried other sata cables? Maybe plug this in as the main drive on one of your systems, using the same cable from a working drive.

Also check if your new drive has any jumper settings?

The only time I had a drive not recognized by the bios, the sata cable was bad or I didn't plug in the power all the way.

 

[vcarpio2]

Originally posted by: California Roll
If a brand new drive wasn't initialized, I could understand windows explorer not seeing it until it was, but not the bios. You bought a used drive, so this shouldn't be an issue. Have you tried other sata cables? Maybe plug this in as the main drive on one of your systems, using the same cable from a working drive.

Also check if your new drive has any jumper settings?

The only time I had a drive not recognized by the bios, the sata cable was bad or I didn't plug in the power all the way.

Hi, California Roll -- I think you may be onto something. I downloaded the manual for the drive -- a WD Caviar Blue WD3200AAKS with 320 GB. The manual says don't change jumper settings "for workstation or desktop use". However, the manual also says that factory setting has a "jumper shunt in the Default position (across pins 1 and 2)." I don't remember seeing a jumper shunt at all on any of the drive's pins. I'll try that tonight when I get home.

My responses to your other suggestions:

On the Dell, I did try using the same pair of SATA cables that was connected to my primary HD. I also tried a new SATA cable coupled with a spare SATA power cable from the PSU. Results were the same, that is, BIOS does not see the drive.

On my HTPC, I have not tried using the same pair of SATA cables that are attached to my primary 1TB SATA HD.

Thanks a lot!

 

[vcarpio2]

The manual also says the WD drive comes with "Western Digital's Serial ATA cable with SecureConnect." I don't have that cable. However, the manual says starndard SATA interface cable may also be used.

Does anyone have any experience with a WD without using the WD SecureConnect SATA cable?

Thanks a lot.

 

[California Roll]

Sata cable shouldn't matter, as long as it's working.

Check the jumpers, but there's also the possibility that you got a dead drive.

 

[vcarpio2]

Thanks.

I did hear the drive spinning but with some faint repeated clicks at the start. After that the drive seemed to stop spinning. There was also louder noises (gpu, cpu, and psu fans, the other drive) going on so I didn't know what to make of it. Each drive in my experience also has its own distinctive noise. I'll pay more attention to the sound it makes tonight. Hopefully that's not the case.