Mobo + ATA controller + 80GB drive Problem

[l33t]

Abit BH6 Motherboard (supports only dma/ata 33 IDE devices)
Slot 1 Pent III 500mhz Celeron
PCI SB Audigy
PCI Voodoo3 3000
PCI Linksys NIC
PCI CompUSA Ultra ATA/133 controller card (backward compatible for ide and atapi devices)
IDE CDRW
IDE DVD drive
IDE 12GB Quantum HDD 5400rpm (unknown ata speed, has fresh W2K install on it)
IDE 80GB WD "SE" HDD 7200rpm (ata 100)
Windows 2000 Professional (SP3)
All drivers and bios versions up to date.

Situation 1:
mobo------------->cdrw(master)--->dvd(slave)
mobo------------->12GB(master)--->80GB(slave)
I can:
-Detect 80GB drive in W2K
-Partition the 80GB drive
-Format the 80GB partition
-Create, delete files normally
-80GB drive is working but, at ATA 33 speed

Situation 2:
mobo------------->cdrw(master)--->dvd(slave)
mobo------------->12GB(master)--->no device(slave)
ATA/100card------>80GB(master)--->no device(slave)
I can:
-POST with no errors
-See the 80GB drive in W2K
-Partition the 80GB drive in W2K
-See the 80GB active partition in W2K
I CAN'T:
-Format the 80GB partition in W2k/PartitionMagic
-I can't access the drive

Summary:
-I want ATA 100 80GB HDD to run at ATA 100 speed thru ATA 100 PCI Controller Card.

The problem:
-If I connect the ATA 100 80GB hdd by itself thru ATA 100 Controller, I post, see it in windows but I CANT DO ANYTHING.

Why can't I get the HDD to work thru the controller card? I bought the 80GB drive and ATA controller today.

 

[Twilling]

Interestingly I had the same problem using the same motherboard in a server setup. I still use the BH6 300@450 combo and I have a Maxtor ATA133 30g and a IBM ATA 66 12G. I was using 2 ATA controller cards for each drive, a Promise ATA66 and a Symbios ATA133 controller cards. Nothing was plugged in the the motherboard's IDE drive except CDROM. After much pain and agony, I had an old Samsung 6Gig laying around and plugged it into the motherboard's IDE port as master. Installed Win2000 on the Samsung HD and I could see, write and read the IBM drive, but could not see the Maxtor 30g in windows. Then I plugged the Maxtor into the Promise ATA controller card and presto, everything working fine. In Windows 2000 I could install on any drive I wanted, I just had to have that Samsung plugged into the M/B's IDE port. I think boot information must be stored on a drive plugged into the IDE on the M/B in order for the BH6 to boot a windows installation.

Also you must understand that the BH6 is a dinasour and may have problems booting a operating system without a hard disk plugged into the IDE port, regardless of the windows installation.

 

[l33t]

That's the thing. I have two hard drives:

12GB has w2k installed and p;lugged into motherboard.

80GB installed thru the ata controller that I can't use.

Only way I can get the 80 giger to work is if I hook it up to the motherboard either as a secondary master or a slave.

I can't figure out why I can't use an ATA controller to work with ANY device on this mobo. The only thing I can do is install driver for the card in windows. Other than that, I can't use any device hooked up to it. I am logged on as admin and the card says its w2k compatible.