Vista setup doesn't see hard drive

[diggityDawg]

I've been working on this for over 2 months, so I'm hoping someone can help me get past this...

I built a new system for my brother to run Vista Media Center on. The mobo is a Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4 rev 2.1. The hard drive is a Hitachi 1TB drive, but I've also tried a WD 750AAKS (750GB) which wasn't recognized either. When I run the Vista install it never recognizes the system drive I have installed. I've tweaked the BIOS settings for AHCI and SATA just about every way you can. Right now I've got SATA RAID/AHCI Mode set to Disabled, and SATA Port0-3 Native Mode set to Enabled. I've tried changing the SATA cable, changing the SATA port, and I moved the optical drive off the standard SATA ports and to the Gigabyte SATA ports (purple ports). I've downloaded the current SATA drivers and ALWAYS install them when I come to the screen in Vista setup where it doesn't list any drives. But it still doesn't see any drives after installing the drivers. I've probably run the install about 100 times in the past couple months. The reason it's taken so long is because Gigabyte's tech support line is only open when I'm at work, so I can rarely call and get help. I went through the email support route and it came down to basically, "I don't know, it works here. You can send the board in if you want." But I'm still not convinced that it's a problem with the mobo, and obviously removing it and sending it in for replacement is such a major hassle - hopefully there's a solution I haven't thought of yet...?

I do know that the mobo's firmware version is old, but this system doesn't have a floppy drive, and I haven't been able to get it to upgrade the firmware from a flash drive, even though it's "supposed" to work...

I could really use some help - has anyone seen this before? I don't know what else to do...

Thanks for the help!!

Eddie

 

[hclarkjr]

are the drives seen by the motherboard? are they detected when the computer starts?

 

[diggityDawg]

There's only one hard drive in the system, but yes, it is detected during POST and I can select it as the boot drive in the BIOS settings.

 

[hclarkjr]

there is your problem, you have raid enabled in bios when you are only running one drive. disable raid in the bios and you should be set

 

[hclarkjr]

also plug the hard drive into the first sata slot

 

[hclarkjr]

from looking at your motherboard i see you have 2 different controllers for the sata ports, use the orange ones and plug the hard drive into the slot near the end of the IDE slot

 

[hclarkjr]

vista should have the drivers already integrated

 

[diggityDawg]

Originally posted by: hclarkjr
vista should have the drivers already integrated

Couldn't agree more!!! Vista *should* have the drivers already integrated, but clearly it doesn't. As for RAID, I don't have it enabled - I'm pretty sure I mentioned that in my initial post... I have moved the hard drive cable to a lot of different ports (both orange and purple), but most frequently I've tried it in the first orange SATA slot (near the end of the IDE port).

So, unless I'm missing something, I think I've tried everything you've suggested - but thanks for the replies!!

 

[hclarkjr]

i just read a lot of the reviews on newegg for your board and see that others have had the same problem getting sata to work.

 

[hclarkjr]

when you say i installed the drivers do you mean when it says press F6 to install drivers?

 

[diggityDawg]

Originally posted by: hclarkjr
i just read a lot of the reviews on newegg for your board and see that others have had the same problem getting sata to work.

Can you post the link? I can't find it on NewEgg any more...?

 

[hclarkjr]

link

 

[diggityDawg]

Originally posted by: hclarkjr
when you say i installed the drivers do you mean when it says press F6 to install drivers?

No, I don't get that prompt. When it gets to the screen where you select the drive to install it on, nothing is there, but there's a link to "Load Drivers". I haven't seen the message for hitting F6, like it used to do in XP and older versions of Windows...

 

[hclarkjr]

after reading those reviews i would return the board and buy something else. to many problems

 

[diggityDawg]

Originally posted by: hclarkjr
after reading those reviews i would return the board and buy something else. to many problems

I can try, but after over two months I don't think NewEgg will take it back...

 

[postmortemIA]

nm

 

[diggityDawg]

Originally posted by: postmortemIAif you are not connected to a motherboard chipset SATA ports, it is likely you don't have a driver. Looks like your board has two SATA controllers, one from chipset and another from RAID controler.

It definitely does have two different types of SATA controllers. The standard SATA ports are orange, and the Gigabyte SATA ports are purple. I've tried BOTH, and neither works for the hard drive. BTW, Vista does recognize the DVD drive (obviously, or it wouldn't install) and I've had that connected to both of the ports, works on either. As for the drivers, I downloaded the drivers from the Gigabyte website - actually the ones specified by their tech support - and they don't seem to help at all... When I load them up the system still doesn't see any hard drives.

 

[Drsignguy]

If these are brand new HD's and you install them, the system will see them and you probably will have to format the drives using the supplied disk that comes with them. Or, you can try to use the DVD that comes with vista and boot up with that to format and/or partition the drives. :thumbsup:

 

[diggityDawg]

Well, I tried using the Vista boot disk and that would never see the drive, so I couldn't create a partition or format it. I ended up using a copy of the "Ultimate Boot CD". With that I was able to format the drive as FAT32 (no option to format as NTFS). Then, when I got to the screen in Vista where you choose the install drive, it was listed but obviously wouldn't let me install on that drive, but I could reformat it, which I did, and the install finally worked.

Thanks for all the suggestions and replies!

 

[hclarkjr]

glad you got it figured out and up and running

 

[Drsignguy]

Originally posted by: diggityDawg
Well, I tried using the Vista boot disk and that would never see the drive, so I couldn't create a partition or format it. I ended up using a copy of the "Ultimate Boot CD". With that I was able to format the drive as FAT32 (no option to format as NTFS). Then, when I got to the screen in Vista where you choose the install drive, it was listed but obviously wouldn't let me install on that drive, but I could reformat it, which I did, and the install finally worked.

Thanks for all the suggestions and replies!

Great to see that you have fixed your problem. Figures it was a format deal.......Also, if I remember correctly, I had to install a previous windows on my drive before I installed vista as it is an upgrade. So, by doing that, xp, did most of the work for me......