windows setup cannot find any hard disks....

[stepsinsc]

Still working on getting my first custom built computer up...trying to install winxp...however when the CD finally loads up setup...it detects that the HD is not formatted and needs to be, but then it says the following:'

"Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed in your computer.

Make sure any hard disk drives are powered on and properly connected to your computer, and thatany disk-related hardwareconfiguration is correct. This may involve running a manufacturer-supplied diagnostic orsetup program.

Blah blah blah setup cannot continue"

But the HD is being recognized at boot up, when it detects my IDE devices. I've checked the connections...the HD is hooked up properly to the power supply, and to the IDE ribbon and IDE1 port. Its also set as Master. Any suggestions?

Thanks.

 

[John]

We need more info in order to give you sound advice, preferably the motherboard specs.

XP is requiring drivers from a floppy in order to properly recognize the HDD. Hit F6 at the very beginning of the XP setup (look at the bottom of the screen) and when prompted you hit S to specify addt'l mass storage, then insert the driver floppy for the controller.

 

[rmblam]

Some system specs might help.

Start in the bios. Double check that HD-0 is listed as bootable.

 

[stepsinsc]

sorry:

Giga-bye 8iexp
Pentium 4 2.4BGHz
512Mb Kingston DDR pc2700
WD Special Edition 80Gb HD
Ti4200 128Mb Video
Lite On 40x12x48CDRW

XP is requiring drivers from a floppy in order to properly recognize the HDD. Hit F6 at the very beginning of the XP setup (look at the bottom of the screen) and when prompted you hit S to specify addt'l mass storage, then insert the driver floppy for the controller.

Stupid question perhaps, but I don't have a driver floppy for the Hard Drive...I bought it OEM.

 

[billandopus]

This the same exact message when I tried installing my Maxtor 80gig onto my old comp. My old mobo won't take the 80 gigger so I bought the retail version of the HDD which includes a pci ata 133 controller card to bridge the gap. While trying to install xp pro the OS couldn't find any IDE hard drives unless you had pressed f6 to "install mass storage/scsi controller drivers" that come with the pci ata controller card before XP finished the install setup.

When you boot and your HDD shows up as being detected isn't the same as the OS detecting your HDD in my experience.

So, it would seem that you may need updated IDE Drivers from Gigabyte i'm guessing and install them when instructed by XP otherwise XP won't install as you found out.

Good luck.

 

[rmblam]

That mobo has a Promise Controller on it that allows ATA133 and/or RAID. Windows XP needs the drivers loaded in order to see the drive(s) though the chipset.

The drivers are on your mobo CD or you can get them here: http://www.giga-byte.com/support/d_ip4.htm#link8iexp



"Windows xp
Installing Driver During New Windows xp Installation
Note: Before the Windows xp installing, please copy the whole files in the folder as follows "Other\Promise\20276\ATA133\winxp\" of the Driver CD(Support CD came with the M/B) to a floppy disk.
1. CD-ROM Install: Boot from the CD-ROM. Press <F6> after the message "Press F6 if you need to install third party SCSI or RAID driver" appears.
2. When the "Windows xp Setup" window is generated, press "S" to Specify an Additional Device(s)
3. Insert the Driver diskette into driver A: and press "Enter" key.
4. Choose "Winxp Promise Ultra DMA/ATA133 Controller" from the list that appears on screen, then press the "Enter" key.
5. The Windows xp Setup screen will appear again saying "Setup will load support for the following mass storage devices:" The list will include "Win2000 Promise Ultra DMA/ATA133 controller"..
NOTE: If you need to specify any additional devices to be installed, do so at this time. Once all devices are specified, continue to step 6.
6. From the Windows xp Setup screen, press the Enter key. Setup will now load all device files and then continue the Windows xp installation."

 

[stepsinsc]

I've tried downloading the ATA133 drivers onto a floppy and doing like the setup says but it never works. This is an excerpt from the setup file:

"4. Choose "Winxp Promise Ultra DMA/ATA133 Controller""

But it never says exactly that....it always lists about 4 options and none of them are exactly that, I've been loading the one that says Winxp Promise MBUltra 133 Controller,I guess thats the same thing. I even took the manufacturers CD that came with those drivers on it and copied the files in the Ata133 folder to a floppy so I could install them, but everytime I choose install....it then brings up a screen saying something like 'The file you have chosen is newer than a windows file' and it said I could just use the windows driver but I could also use the one on the floppy...of course I used the one on the floppy. It said it was going to install the files from the floppy (although I never saw the floppy 'thinking'), but then it would act as though it finished, continue back to windows setup, and then on the next screen give me the exact same error that started this thing


HOWEVER, I've noticed during bootup under the part when its listing info about the MBUltra BIOS, it says Detecting for a while but then says the MBUltra BIOS is not installed b/c it can't find the driver. Does this mean I have something hooked up incorrectly?? I have no idea what could be causing this!

Also, the setup says "You must use an 80-wire, 40-pin cable when connecting an Ultra ATA/100 hard drive to the Ultra DMA/ATA133 controller." I've been using the normal IDE ribbon that came with the mobo, is this the right type?

Finally, looking at my mobo manual its says that "IDE1 and IDE2 provide HDD/CD-ROM with PIO,Bus Master (Ultra DMA33/ATA66/ATA100) operation modes" and "IDE3 and IDE4 are compatible with RAID, Ultra ATA133/100". These drivers I've been installing over and over have been saying MBUltra 133, but is that not for the IDE3 and IDE4 ports which I'm not using?? MY HD is in IDE1, so should I be looking for Ultra DMA33 drivers that the mobo says is for IDE1 and IDE2? Just a thought, I'm not saying its right but it was just my noobie interpretation of the mobo manual.

 

[stepsinsc]

ttt

 

[Mday]

well, i dont know what you have done exactly, since i have not installed XP in a while...

anyway, this is what you can do:
have the drivers handy on a floppy. make sure the drivers are not in a folder, generally, you would have to copy the contents of the winxp folder located several directories deep in the main drivers directory from the manufacturer.
when prompted to press F6 for a 3rd party scsi driver, do so, and insert the floppy.

yes, john said the same thing.

 

[stepsinsc]

I've taken them out of the WinXP directory and put them in the same one as the Txtsetup.oem file that begins the installation, and I've done it with them in the folder. It doesn't matter which way I do it, it says its installing the drivers butthen says no installed hard disks can be found.

Could this be a problem with the settings in BIOS? HD is set as the 3rd drive in my boot sequence.

 

[stepsinsc]

ttt

 

[Tripleshot]

If your HDD is a fresh, new HDD that has not been setup before, try getting a boot disk with fdisk on it and fdisk and set up your hdd that way. When it has a drive letter assigned, maybe the Xp installer willsee it as C and begin boot process.

BIOS sees a hardware and thats it. It still needs to be setup.

 

[stepsinsc]

I've tried doing that with a win98 boot disk, but I get a similar error after enabling fat32, it basically says it isn't seeing a hard disk. I thought that I could set up the HD, i.e. formatting and partitioning through the winxp setup too...

 

[John]

I saw you mention in your original post that the HDD was on IDE 1, but I went out on a limb thinking you needed to install a driver for raid/ata controller since we didn't know what mobo you were working with.

At this point the HDD looks to be jumpered properly, however you might want to set it to cable select just fro kicks. Some HDD's are finicky about the jumper settings. I am not so sure your boot sequence is set to floppy, cdrom, hdd either.

Are you using the ata/raid channel for any other hdd's? If not disable it to speed up the boot time.
XP can partition and format a brand new drive.

Also, the setup says "You must use an 80-wire, 40-pin cable when connecting an Ultra ATA/100 hard drive to the Ultra DMA/ATA133 controller." I've been using the normal IDE ribbon that came with the mobo, is this the right type?

Yes, the ata cable that comes with that mobo should be an 80 wire ata66/100/133 cable.

 

[Tripleshot]

XP can boot and format a clean HDD. I know that. I think the cable select method may cure his ills,as we do not know how it is all configured. If the jumper is set at master on the HDD,and he doesn't have the ribbon master connector pluged in, perhaps that could be the problem. HDD0 should be the primary HDD. HDD1 would be slave, if on the same ribbon cable.

On a ata 66 or 100 80 pin cable, the blue connector goes in the mobo connector, and the black goes on master,with the grey on slave.

 

[stepsinsc]

Tripleshot and john if i wasn't a heterosexual male I would kiss you!

What a stupid mistake, I'm sorry again for all the newb questions but I can't THANK YOU enough for your help. I guess there's a lot to be said for being thorough and making sure you do everything right the first time to avoid things like this, thanks!

 

[billandopus]

Wait a minute, are you using a Maxtor/Promise pci 133 controller card? If you are did you download the Maxtor/Promise drivers? I'm confused whether you did or whether you got some drivers from the Gigabyte site which may or may not be the same.

Additionally, when I was trying to configure my HDD I actually formatted the HDD first and not using XP to do it for me (although it's an option later on during the setup phase). So, whether that made a difference in getting your HDD recognized i'm not sure. I don't think so but what do I know?

All I can offer are these suggestions:

- make sure that your jumper setttings on your HDD is correct. Go to the Maxtor site for more info if you have to. This is really easy to screw up.
- if using a controller card make sure that you download the most recent drivers and load them onto a floppy.
- these drivers should be recognized as "maxtor/promise winxp ata133 scsi drivers" or something like that. Ignore what xp says that the OS drivers should work because they won't and keep the floppy drivers. If you load them up properly you should reach the next screen that allows you to select a partition/HDD to install winxp and whether to format it in ntfs/fat32 ...
- at this point I had already partitioned my 80gig Maxtor using the MaxBlast software into one OS partition and one Data partition.

If you don't get satisfaction you should just call Maxtor Support as they are somewhat helpful. Good luck.

 

[stepsinsc]

I just had the cable selector on the HD and the position on the IDE cable not corresponding, appreciate your help!