Hard Drive Recognition Problem

[sblake]

I can not get my P4P800 Deluxe to recognize my HDD in the Primary Raid connector. It will recognize it in the Primary IDE connector but I want to use those for my CDROM and CD-RW. Am I missing a setting in the Bios setup? It does not show up in the Bios. In the Boot Device Priority Via VT6410 shows up instead of the hard drive. I need HELP!!!! Thanks

 

[Buz2b]

Silly question but have you loaded the RAID drivers yet?

 

[sblake]

No. I haven't installed the OS yet. I am not rying to set up RAID, I just want to use the RAID connector for my primary HDD boot drive.

 

[Buz2b]

I think you should go about things two ways: Get out the manual and read up on anything IDE and RAID involved. Second clear the CMOS and boot into the BIOS to "poke around" a bit. I found some info from a review by Hardocp:

The IDE Configuration submenu contains options to configure IDE and SATA devices connected to the ICH5R controller. To use the RAID properties available in the chipset, the Onboard IDE Operate Mode option must be set to Enhanced Mode, the Configure S-ATA as RAID option must be set to Yes, and the Serial-ATA BOOTROM must be set to Enabled. The Serial-ATA BOOTROM option enables the ICH5R RAID setup utility available during system startup.

 

[sblake]

Thanks Buz 2b. I tried your possible fix. It did not work for me. Unless anyone can help me I guess I will have to RMA the motherboard.

 

[Matt155]

Load your OS using non raid HD connector, if you are loading Winxp, it will give u a chance to load raid drivers during the install.
When you finish, switch your hd connector to one of the raid connector and it should show up.

 

[Buz2b]

Originally posted by: sblake
Thanks Buz 2b. I tried your possible fix. It did not work for me. Unless anyone can help me I guess I will have to RMA the motherboard.

Might be a bit premature for that. I'd try loading the RAID drivers as Matt155 mentioned and I alluded to in my first response here. It can't hurt. As he said, start the XP OS load. During that process (right at the beginning) there will be a prompt at the bottom of the screen to press F6 (I think, but don't quote me on that) to load RAID drivers. Keep a close watch on the bottom of the screen for this as it doesn't stay there too long. When you see that, press the appropriate key and put the RAID driver floppy in the drive to let it load. It doesn't mean you HAVE to run a RAID configuration but it will give you the option and should enable the RAID ports for use.
At least, that is what I would try before going the RMA route. The other things suggested were in hopes you didn't have to go this route but it looks like you need to try it.

 

[sblake]

Problem solved. Thanks for everyone's help. Buz 2b nailed it. He hit it twice. It was necessary to load the raid drivers prior to installing OS. F6 did the trick and I was able to load the RAID drivers from a floppy. I'm a happy camper again.

 

[Buz2b]

Want a good laugh at my expense? I am trying to do the exact same thing (load RAID drivers) on a new build but can't seem to get it to work. It seems to load and then later stops the load of XP saying it "cannot find any mass storage devices". HDD is hooked up to the RAID port, already previously formatted, set to master, etc. Oh well, back to square one and go back over every detail. LOL! Not!
UPDATE!
Ok, all is well. Seems I had remembered to change the jumper on the MB but when installing it I didn't get it in place properly. Once I reinserted it, all was well. Whew!