SATA Hard drives, Motherboards, and Problems

[CapnClams]

Okay, here's the deal: My friend built a new computer a while back using this motherboard:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813136151
DFI Lanparty nf4 SLI-DR

and this hard drive:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144701
Western Digital 250GB SATA 3.0 GB/S

His computer was never able to properly function. Windows wouldn't install on it properly, and if he was able to get through the installation by just retrying the errors that Windows Setup brought up, he would have a semi-working computer, except for that he couldn't install any programs on it correctly.

He became desperate and RMA'd his:

- Mobo
- Hard Drive
- CPU (don't ask why)

and it still didn't work. So now, becoming desperate, I did some deeper investigations and have come up with the following theory:

His motherboard specs says that it has 4x SATA II slots, and 4x SATA 150 slots. On his physical motherboard, the slots are divided into two groups of four. So I'm thinking that perhaps his hard drive is connected to an SATA slot that only reads SATA 150 drives, thus leading to the malfunctions. And if he were to reformat with his HD hooked up to the other set of SATA slots, he would have more luck.

Another reason I have to back this up is that my computer uses a DFI Lanparty mobo and I have an SATA 150 Seagate hooked up to the same SATA slot that his HD is hooked up to, mine works, his doesn't.

Thoughts? Thanks in advance.

 

[GregANDTCH]

On his physical motherboard, the slots are divided into two groups of four.

I'm thinking maybe the Windows installation needs the SATA IDE drivers
loaded at the start of the install.
Maybe the CD drive is going bad.

YMMV

 

[CapnClams]

The CD drive was brand new, and I'm pretty sure he actually tried using a different one at one point (not positive, will look into it),

but what exactly do you mean by the SATA IDE drivers? Where would he get these, and how would he put them in? Plus, what's "SATA IDE"? His HD was hooked up to an SATA slot on his mobo, I'm a bit confused by what you mean. (Sorry for the ignorance).

Thanks for the suggestions though

 

[orion23]

Each set of 4 SATA connectors is independent.

1st is by Nvidia (BEST, only one that supports SATA II anyway)
2nd by Silicon

Look at the manual and see which set actually is the Nvidia controller and plug the drive to the #1 connector on this controller. You shouldn't need any drivers for this controller.

If you are using the other controller (silicon image) you will neet to download the SATA IDE driver for windows XP 32-bit from the Silicon Image website and provide during the windows setup!