Can't get SATA hard drive working with Soyo P4TVE (Socket 478) mobo; BIOS issue, or?

[HollowRopes]

I'm building a system for a friend but I've ran into a problem I've never had with any previous sytems until now.. The motherboard is a Soyo P4VTE (2 SATA and IDE) and I'm using a good 160GB SATA hard drive and an IDE DVD drive, attempting to install Windows XP. The DVD drive is detected, but for some reason I can't get the motherboard to detect the SATA hard drive. To be honest, I don't really even see too many settings in the BIOS for SATA other than "Enable onboard SATA", which is enabled.

When I go to my standard CMOS settings to select the primary master, slave, etc. my options are:

CD/DVD, ARMD, User, and then a series of numbers (1, 2, 3, and on) equaling random amounts of the hard drive's space, i.e. 1 - 20GB, 2 - 35 GB, 3 - 47GB. I set the Master to the CD/DVD, then the next I've been trying to set as my hard drive (I guess?) The last setting, 46, lists 160GB as the amount, but I've tried that and it still doesn't detect the drive.

When I go into the boot priority settings, I never see an option for SATA; the options I see are these:

CD/DVD, IDE 0 - 4, ARMD FDD, ARMD HDD, BBS 1 - 7, SCSI, and Network.

I try to boot into the Windows XP installation, but I'm eventually told that no hard disk is detected on the computer. I'm not used to using a mixed IDE/SATA style motherboard too well, so I don't know if there's some type of conflict with the two devices or if I'm just using the wrong setting. Anyone have any info on this or any suggestions? I'm willing to try anything now; I was surprised to get this far with the particular system, but it's kinda sad having the biggest problem be a problem detecting a drive and installing Windows. Thanks.

 

[TheGrapist]

hey hollow,don't know if it'd help but i could give you an ide hdd with the other stuff you may buy for this rig for testing etc.

 

[C1]

SATA is usually designated (or associated with SCSI). The ARDM is ATAPI Removable Media Device (so it is not this).

You want the SATA (SCSI) HDD as master (ensure the HDD is so configured) and set as boot then the DvD/CD set (presumably) as IDE 0 (ensure it is jumpered as Master only) and set as second or alternate boot device (after the SCSI).

 

[HollowRopes]

In the "Standard CMOS" section of the BIOS, I'm not able to select SCSI.. I'm only able to select CD/DVD, DVD, User, ARMD, and then the series of numbers from 1 - 46. I tried leaving the "Master" as Auto and then setting the "Slave" as the DVD drive while setting the boot sequence to 1. SCSI, 2. DVD/CD, and 3. Disabled and that also didn't work.

The only thing I can see possibly working is setting the Master as User and then putting in my own variables, but I really know nothing about doing that (maybe I'm in over my head with a SATA drive with an older motherboard like that). I know the SATA drive I'm using works because it's my personal secondary hard drive. I've also booted up with a 10GB IDE drive fine.

At this point I guess I just don't know what to set in the "Standard CMOS" section under the first "Primary Master". I figured that's what I should set the SATA to but it doesn't have the option for SATA or SCSI, that's why I'm so confused. There's only two SATA ports on the motherboard itself so I was hoping to see an option for "xxx-1" and "xxx-2", possibly signifying that it refers to those two ports (if that makes any sense).

The only part where I can select anything close to what I think would work is in the boot sequence itself, and that's only because it offers the SCSI option. I didn't think it would be this complicated doing this; I'll probably just stick to an IDE drive when I finalize the system... I was just hoping to be able to run the computer as it is now and be able to boot into Windows XP just so I can see how it runs before upgrading it.

Just incase it matters, I went ahead and tried the Windows XP installation even after it not showing up in the boot sequence, and of course it told me that there was no hard drive detected.

Any other possible suggestions? Thanks.

 

[hackmole]

I had the same trouble and what was worse was I couldn't install the SATA controller card drivers from my floppy drive (which was the only way the controller card wanted them installed) because for some reason my floppy and any other floppy I connected to the computer would not work. I triple checked cables and everything. So rather than spending a million hours more on it, I had to use my IDE drive to boot and then installed all the drivers from there and then it worked though for some reason it still either losses the SATA drives or shuts down once every 2 hours or so never less than that which is really weird. It may be that your only option is to use an IDE drive as your boot drive and then get a DVD you can connect to extenally by USB. Then it will work.

 

[C1]

For whatever reason, your SATA controllers arent registering or available in BIOS. Recommend downloading and studying the MB's user manual for this setup. If this is an old board, it may well be that SATA connectivity was implemented in anticipation of SATA popularity, but actual SATA support with that BIOS was not included or fulfilled at time of MB sale/release. May even require a BIOS/chipset firmware upgrade to fix.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Is this a Via-chipset motherboard? It sounds like it from the model number. Via's southbridges had gimped SATA support, they only support drives with a physical SATA 1.5G port, they will not negotiate properly with a SATA 3G or SATA 6G drive.

If your drive is an older SATA 3G, it may have a jumper to force 1.5G PHY, try that. If it doesn't, you may be out of luck, unless you purchase a controller card. (Like the Syba 4P 4-port PCI SI3114 controller card, and flash it to the IDE bios.)

Edit: Is it this mobo:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=1030340&sku=S450-2139

 

[lowrider69]

If your drive is an older SATA 3G, it may have a jumper to force 1.5G PHY, try that.

That's what I would suggest also.

 

[corkyg]

Check the mobo manual to make sure there is not a switch or jumper to make the SATA ports active. BTW, SATA drives do not use MASTER/SLAVE. Each has a separate channel.