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Just completed first build, HDD not detected

J

janus77

Junior Member
Hi all,

Basically I've just put together my computer, (first time building one), and it's not detecting the SATA HDD. I've got a sata mobo, I've enabled sata in the bios, I've got the HDD plugged in (though there seem to be two power sockets at the back of the HDD - western 200GB, 1 is just a standard power input, the other's like a wider version of the SATA plug).

Any help would be appreciated. I don't have an OS yet, but I figure this problem needs to be solved first anyway?

Any advice appreciated, cheers.
 
Which power connector are you using? The molex, or the SATA power connector?

Also, you might need to install the drivers for your RAID controller. Boot the computer off of the windows CD, and install the drivers from a floppy for the SATA controller.
(FYI--specs [mobo, etc] might help, for those that know more about it).
Tas.
 
I've tried both power connectors, when I use the SATA power I can hear the HDD whining a bit, so I think it's powering up.

I'm only using 1 HDD, do I still need to install the RAID controller drivers?

So if I can boot the computer off the windows CD, can I burn the drivers for the SATA controller to a CD and load from there, or do I need to use floppy? There's a CD came with the mobo which says drivers included. Do I need to install an OS, then install the drivers? How can I do this if the system's not detecting the HDD?

The exact components are:
Mobo - giga-byte Triton K8 NF4 mother board
AMD Athlon 64 3000 Venice
2 x 512 PQI matched pair ram
200G Western SATA HDD
GT7800 Vid card
450W PSU
 
When you are installing windows, if you look at the bottom of the screen at the beginning, it will say something to the effect of "Press F6 to install RAID or SCSi ...". You hit F6, and insert the floppy (yes, you basically need the floppy for this), and it finds the hd, etc. Even though you might not be using the RAID controller to do an array, you are still using that controller.

And you only need one power connector at a time--don't use two. So pick either the SATA power connector, or the Molex, and stick with it.
Tas.
 
Thanks for the advice, greatly appreciated. I was worried I may have stuffed something up with the build. I'll get a FDD and the OS asap and work it out.

So motherboards don't have drivers installed prior to installation of the os? Obviously I'm new to this.

My understanding is that I will insert the windows boot CD, which will prompt me to instal SCSi and Raid controllers, I then install them to a floppy? Once this is done the drivers can be used to detect and load the HDD, at which point I can then proceed with the installation of the OS?

Sorry for my lack of understanding, but I am trying 😀, thanks again.

ALSO - If I had happened to have plugged both power cables into the HDD at once, it wouldn't have damaged it would it?..
 
On nForce 4 motherboards, if you leave the chipset's SATA controller in non-RAID mode, then it would not ordinarily need drivers, it emulates standard PATA and Windows Setup proceeds normally. The choice of RAID mode or non-RAID mode is made in the motherboard's BIOS menus, and you must also connect the drive to the right plugs if the motherboard features more than one SATA controller.

Your motherboard has two sets of SATA ports, two down at the bottom edge and two up high between the CPU and the video card. It appears from the owners' manual that the ones above the video card, up by the CPU, are the "native" ones. If your drive's not already plugged into them, then plug it into one of those two SATA plugs.

Next, refer to page 42 of your manual. See the item in the BIOS's Integrated Peripherals menu, where it says Serial ATA Function ...... RAID? Change that to BASE.

Now fire up Windows Setup and see if it sees the hard drive this time. Use only one of the drive's two power connections at a time, don't plug them both in at once.
 
**WRONG PICTURE ADDED** - Trying to find correct model.

Basically I've had the HDD connected to each of the 4 red SATA connectors at the bottom of the picture just to the left of the bus ports. I can't find any other SATA connectors on the mobo..

So I"ll try disabling RAID mode in the bios, I'll change the Serial ATA function to BASE.

I don't have an OS yet, so I'll have to get on to that too..
 
You can download a free 120-day trial of WinXP Professional x64 Edition from this page if you want to hold off on purchasing for a while.

Also, say again what exact model of mobo you have? That's not the Triton K8 that I've got a manual for, must be a different variant. 😕
 
Ok, so I copy the driver files from the CD to a floppy, then insert the winXP boot CD, hit F6 to load SCSi and Raid drivers, then insert the floppy, install the drivers, and all should work well? Fingers crossed, now to find a floppy drive....
 
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