Virus or coincidence

[vanvock]

I have a thread in Computer Help about trying to get drivers installed for a SATA controller card to a system (Abit KN8 motherboard & XP Home SP3) that seems to have a dead SATA controller. It has 2 HDD's (WD Raptor & a Segate) which failed to be recognized after a system hang. This happened shortly after an involuntary Windows update. I say involuntary because somehow the setting got changed in updates to auto dwnld & install from what I set it to- notify but let me install. It seems I recall something about MS doing that some time ago in some update. Could it have loaded a virus that took out the disks or was it just coincidence?

 

[Chiefcrowe]

It seems like a hardware problem to me. I doubt that an update would cause that sort of issue.

 

[Mide]

Agreed. If the HDDs are not being detected then it is most likely hardware.

 

[SimMike2]

If the onboard SATA controller went dead, the chances are something else in the motherboard might have problems also. This could translate into problems with addon PCI controllers.

 

[Paperlantern]

An update could have broken the driver, that's possible. Does the computer see the drives outside of the OS? Like in POST or in a CMOS/BIOS/Controller setup screen?

 

[vanvock]

An update could have broken the driver, that's possible. Does the computer see the drives outside of the OS? Like in POST or in a CMOS/BIOS/Controller setup screen?

No it does not. I ran G-Parted & it did not see them either. I also tried moving them to the other channels. Power is good to them. However they are recognized by the PCIE card which leads me to think that the hardware is OK(at least to that point). My problem is getting the driver for the card installed in Windows so that the OS can see them. I've tried the repair install F6 floppy method but XP setup says it can't find the txtsetup.oem file that I know is on the floppy. I also slipstreamed the driver to a DVD (along with SP3, install disk is SP2) which shows up when setup is loading everything but after it finishes loading it can't find the drives & I have to quit setup. What am I missing? Is the MB hosed?

 

[vanvock]

Well, I finally got the drivers to load but the problem's not solved. With the original XP cd(SP1) it still says it can't see the drives. With the slipstreamed (SP3) dvd setup makes it to the point of starting Windows then a BSOD.

 

[vanvock]

Fixed BSOD but it still can't see the HDD after it starts windows & I select Enter to setup now.