SeaTools diag util

[joshc]

I have the Barracuda 7200.7 160 GB SATA drive and I ran the SeaTools utility and all tests. I have a few questions. FIrst of all it said that SATA Controller 0 was unsupported. At the same time, my hard drive showed up under "Unknown Controller." Is this normal and ok and why is this "unknown?"

Also, my drive shows up as a "Bios Drive", is that ok?

Finally, my drive failed the File structure tests for both my partitions that I created using the Win XP CD on installation. It said they failed with "critical errors". All the other physical tests, etc. passed. Any ideas what's up?

Thanks.

 

[Bozo Galora]

yeah, bios drive is O.K. (0x80, 0x81 0x82 etc.)

unsupported means the utility itself does not recognize the controller chip for SATA

However, there is little info in your post

What is your mobo?
Is this a new drive?
Did you load the SATA drivers from floppy during install
Are you using WinXP SP1 or higher to recognize >137GB HDD?
Have you ever loaded Linux on HDD?
Are there any other HDD?
Is bios set to boot from SATA?
Is SATA enabled in BIOS?
Did you format drive after making parts?
What size parts did you make - how many?

 

[joshc]

Here's the detailed info:

I just built my PC with all new components last week.

Mobo - MSI Neo4 Platinum
CPU - s939 Winchester 3200+
Hard Drive - Barracuda 7200.7 160 GB SATA w/ NCQ

This is a new drive and I loaded the SATA drivers that came w/ my mobo during Windows setup by pressing F6 and then loading the floppy. I am using WinXP w/ SP2 and it is recognizing my drive as 160GB.

This is the only HDD in my system and the bios is set to boot from SATA, SATA is enabled in BIOS. As far as the partitions go, I created both partitions during the WinXP installation process. However, I only formatted the C: partition during install because I forgot to format the other partition. My C: partition(39 GB) was formatted during the installation process. My E: partition(109 GB) was formatted in WinXP after I had already installed WinXP on my C: drive.

thx.

 

[batmanuel]

It's possible that SeaTools hasn't been updated to properly support the nForce 4 chipset SATA ports (you're using the ones running off the chipset, right?). You might be getting errors simply because the hardware is too new for the software at this point. Welcome to the bleeding edge.

 

[Bozo Galora]

well, you did everything right
and you answered all my questions - which most here dont
there seems to be a >137GB prob here
perhaps because you only formatted a 39GB part - no 48 bit LBA enabled
Is your SP2 part of CD??


looks like you may have to reinstall and format both at same time - if it will let you

make sure 48 bit is enabled
HKLM,"System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Atapi\Parameters","EnableBigLba",0x10001,1

edit: what happened to "D" drive??? was that a typo?

 

[joshc]

Hmm, I hear a lot about this >137 GB problem on these forums but if I can actually use both partitions and store files on them is this the 137 GB problem?

I have no problem with formatting and reinstalling so that's why I asked now before I really use my PC...right now I'm just running prime95, etc. My 2nd partition is E: as my DVD/RW drive is D:. I'm not sure why that is D: and my 2nd partition ended up being E:.

Thanks for the help!

 

[joshc]

Also, there is no "EnableBigLba" value under that key in the registry. Is there any way to enable LBA w/o hacking the registry?

 

[MrChad]

Originally posted by: joshc
Also, there is no "EnableBigLba" value under that key in the registry. Is there any way to enable LBA w/o hacking the registry?

Install SP1 or SP2.

If you want a single partition, you'll need to slipstream SP2 onto your Windows CD, boot with the new CD, delete your old partitions, create a single new partition and reinstall Windows.

Or, use a 3rd-party utility such as partition magic to resize your existing partitions.

 

[joshc]

I have XP w/ SP2..I bought the version w/ SP2 on it. It did recognize my drive as 160GB when I was installing but I forgot to format the 2nd partition I created and had to format that in Windows when I was done installing XP.

The problem I have now is that my SeaTools says my HD failed the file structure tests with "critical errors".

Also, I like my 2 partitions but if I have to reinstall winXP to get my 2 partitions setup correctly then I just wanna know what I have to do to get this done the "right way".

thx

 

[MrChad]

I would run chkdsk from the Windows command prompt to check the integrity of your filesystem. chkdsk may be able to correct the problems, if they exist. If Seatools can't identify your SATA controller properly, it may not be able to check the filesystem properly either.

 

[joshc]

Cool, someone mentioned that before but i kind of forgot and i think that is probably what's going on. I'm doing some more reading of the SeaTools docs but chkdsk is a great idea! Thanks.