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Maxtor 6y120Mo (sata) hard drive question

M

ManuTOmanU

Golden Member
Here is my setup:

Abit NF7-S motherboard
Corsair XMS 3200LL (twin pack) 512 MB
AMD Athalon XP 2500+333FSB
Maxtor 120 gig sata hard drive (oem)
ATI All-in-Wonder 9800 pro
Light On DVD.CDRW
used cd-rom


I tried installing windows XP. During the process I installed the SATA drivers. I chose Silicon Image Sil3112 for windows XP. After that was done is said some sort of file couldn't be installed. When I would reboot I got a message saying that no HD could be found. Now I don't even get that far. I get a message saying NTLDR is missing. After looking at posts about NTLDR missing I tried connecting the hard drive to another power switch.

With the all in wonder card the instructions say to remove the power cable from the hard drive and connect the cable (connected to the video card) to the hard drive and a power connector. (would this have anything to do with NTLDR message?

But when I was running windowsXP I was able to reformat and partion the hard drive.

After struggling all day today, I went to Maxtor's web site and downloaded Max Blast version 3.6 and and printed out the manuel. (should have done this before using XP to format and partian the hard drive.

So I put Max Blast in the A-drive and it already tells me windows stuff is on the hard drive and it may be a boot disk and if I continue (bla bla bla)........I tried calling Maxtors 800 number, but they won't be around to help until Monday.

My question is if I continue with the Max Blast will it reformat the hard and repartion it? ( I already created a partion with windowsXP) Will Max Blast reformat both partions or allow me to create partians again? I can't see how this hard drive is a boot disk since I am unable to install windows XP

I just have one hard drive. I won't be doing any raid stuff, etc.........
 
Try setting your motherboard's BIOS to boot from Serial ATA as the first boot device, if you didn't already do that. See your manual under the "Advanced BIOS Features" area for a detail on that. Good luck with your new rig, and may I also suggest bumping the RAM voltage to 2.7 volts and setting it to run synchronously with your CPU's FSB. 😎
 
I just changed the boot up to serial ata........restarted.......got a message NTLDR is missing.......one other thing.......I can't get the bios to detect this hard drive. Could that be my problem? If the bios can't detect the hard drive, can give me a suggestion on how to do that?
 
The BIOS isn't supposed to be able to detect your SATA drive, because it's attached to a PCI controller (yeah, soldered to the mobo, but still PCI-based). You might try setting the BIOS to boot from SCSI, since PCI-based storage controllers of all types are "SCSI" in the eyes of a motherboard and Windows.

Also, make sure you don't have a floppy diskette in your floppy drive... it might be looking to boot from floppy. If that stuff doesn't work, set the BIOS back to boot from SATA and try installing Windows again. You may need to press the F6 key at the very start of Windows Setup when it prompts you, and then put the SATA controller's drivers on a floppy diskette and feed that to Windows when it asks for them. Hang in there! 😀
 
ok....tried scsi as the first boot......restarted and still got that NTLDR is missing message......so I put the first boot back to serial ATA , rebooted and still get the NTLDR message.........when I first boot up I see the Maxtor hard drive and SIL 3112A SataRaid.........I think that is what I installed off the floppy that came with the hard drive.......I am really out of ideas at this point.........Oh and nothing is in the floppy.....I really appreciate your help
 
I haven't been able to install windows due to this NTLDR message.........sometimes I press any key to boot from cd-rom and windows tries to install. But it stops and says it doesn't detect any hard drive.
 
I'd give it another try real fast (meaning, try reinstalling Windows once more). Won't take long with a nice fast rig like that one. 🙂
 
when I restart.......after the words "verifying DMI Pool Data" the message NTLDR is missing comes up and I am told to press Ctrl+Alt+Del............I can't get any farther than that.

I have never been able to install windows XP yet.....that is because windows can't find my hard drive to install it on.

HELP!!!!!!!
 
Ok, start Windows Setup from your WinXP CD-ROM. The first blue screen says to press the F6 key if you'll have mass-storage drivers to install... press the F6 key there. WinXP Setup will get itself going, and then it will ask for the floppy that has the SATA controller's drivers on it. Follow the prompts and WinXP will go

 :light:
:Q ~ Ohhhh! You mean THAT Serial ATA controller! I get it now! 🙂

And now WinXP can see the SATA drive and you'll be able to take it from there just like normal. 😎
 
ok......when I put in the disk (windows setup) syas you have chosen a SCSI adapter for use with windows.........I have 4 choices.......I have narrowed my choice down to Siliconn Image 3112 SATA Raid controller for window XP......or
Silicon Image Sil 3114 SATA Raid controller for winXP

The first time I did this I chose Silicon Image 3112 because according to my motherboard manuel.......it says the Abit NF7s supports Silicon Image 3112A..........so shall I try the Silicon Image 3112 SATA Raid controller?
 
I forgot a step. You picked right with the 3112, but before installing Windows, you need to go into the 3112's own little BIOS and set your hard drive up as a RAID array. See section 5 of your manual, they give a nice overview of that. WinXP won't be able to see your drive until it's been defined as an array. Sorry I didn't remember this step until now 😱

Once the drive has been defined as an array, try WinXP Setup from CD again. Good luck! 🙂
 
section 5 of what manuel?.........I am now farther than I have been all day......it is reformating right now.......do you think I need to do this section 5 thing if it is reformating?
 
I found section 5 in the motherboard manuel........can I do this after reformating? Remember I only have one 120 gig hard drive.
 
My best guess is that it did it automagically. You could go into the 3112's BIOS at any time and check to see how it set the drive up, but if you change its setup then I think that would cause problems. Maybe an NF7-S owner will chime in with some firsthand info.
 
this is what I did to get to this point......made the A-drive, first boot.......cd-rom, next......then ATA thingy instead of Hard drive for 3d boot........then I restarted with the Max Blast version 3.6 in the floppy.......there I was able to install the SATA driver........................then it went to reformat!!!!!!!!!! I think the trick was making the 3d boot the ATA thingy instad of HD0.........I downloaded the Max Blast from the Maxtor site.
 
ok......another problem.......windows asked me to put in the disk with the Silicon Sil 3112.........Now I get a message that setup cannot copy the file:srv.sys..........what does this mean?
 
Originally posted by: ManuTOmanU
ok......another problem.......windows asked me to put in the disk with the Silicon Sil 3112.........Now I get a message that setup cannot copy the file:srv.sys..........what does this mean?
Click to expand...
Does that problem seem to be arising as it searches the floppy diskette for the driver, or did it crop up randomly afterwards? 😕
 
I suggest adding something like "NF7-S owners, help me out here" to your title and editing your top post with the latest situation, see if someone's got a "been-there-done-that" answer for you.
 
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