New PC build, SATA drive problems

[Rassilon]

Hi all,

I just put together a new PC (first build for me).
The motherboard is an ASUS A8V-E Deluxe, with SATA onboard, and a WD 250GB SATA drive.
it boots fine, i can get into the bios setup, and windows setup opens fine.

But in the bios setup screen, it doesnt seem to "see" the sata drive.
if i set the SATA mode to "IDE" (instead of RAID), a listing for "first SATA master" and "2nd SATA master" both read "none" (i have the drive plugged into the 1st channel, but i have tried both channels to the same effect.)

The windows setup cant find any installed disks. I tried making a driver floppy using the drivers from the CD included with the MB, and windows setup sees this, and i select "VIA raid" something or other for win xp, but it still doesnt see the drive.

Can anyone help?

 

[Severian]

See if there's a setting under IDE devices in the BIOS to enable SATA. It's possible you have it disabled in the BIOS, and it's not available as a boot device in the boot menu.

Sometimes making the driver floppy is tricky; try copying all files to the root of the floppy, as well as in the original folder structure.

good luck

 

[Adam8281]

You probably have to SATA controller drivers off of the CD that came with your mobo. Check out this tutorial: http://www.hothardware.com/forum/messag...?catid=18&threadid=22321&enterthread=y

 

[txtmstrjoe]

Check to see if your Western Digital SATA HD is SATA 3.0 or SATA 1.5. If it's a SATA 3.0 HD, then your situation is one I'm quite familiar with, having run into this myself several months ago.

The problem is due to the motherboard's VIA K8T890 chipset, which doesn't support SATA 3.0 at all. It does support SATA 1.5, but not the later 3.0 spec.

You can still use your HDD, albeit not at the full 3.0GB/sec peak transfer rate your HD is theoretically capable of. You simply need to use a jumper on pins 5 & 6, if I remember correctly, to "downgrade" your HD's SATA spec to SATA 1.5. Your HD will usable in full then.

I ran into this problem when I built my dad's machine several months ago. I used the ASUS A8V-E SE, which is similar to your motherboard (it uses the same chipset, I believe), as well as a 250GB Western Digital SATA 3.0 HD. The BIOS wouldn't recognize the drive. I Googled for a solution, and it worked flawlessly.

Let me know if that helps.

 

[Rassilon]

Thanks txtmstrjoe!
That did the trick, it now shows up in BIOS and the VIA RAID utility.
I got impatient and bought an IDE drive in the mean time, but you can never have too much disc space.
Got everything up and running now.

Cheers!