Knock, knock. Who's there? Your Hard drive failing.

Softball · Post by **Softball** » 19 Jun 2008, 10:47

It shouldn't detect the drives as IDE, it should detect them as SATA. Check your BIOS and see if you have to enable SATA on the MB.

Another thing, set the jumper on your CD/DVD drive to SLAVE, and plug the cable into the 2nd IDE controller on the MB just to be sure.

Sabre · Post by **Sabre** » 19 Jun 2008, 10:50

Actually, I disocvered a Hard Disk Boot sequqence page in the BIOS. Identifying the drives on two seperate channels. THe SATA drives is marked with an M, which I interpret to mean Master? Should I just install the OS?

Sabre · Post by **Sabre** » 19 Jun 2008, 10:53

Under IDE device config page, the SATA's are enabled.

Sabre · Post by **Sabre** » 19 Jun 2008, 10:58

The hard disk boot priority is set to my IDE drive first and then my SATA, and I can't change the order on this page. HOwever, i can change the boot sequence to detect which driver I want the comp to look at first. So I guess I got two choices. Try and install the OS on the sata drive and hope that redirects it as the master (that's not gonna work) or disco all drives save the floppy, cdrom and sata hd.I'm not sure. The IDE and SATA are on Seperate channles, but I can't get the mobo to recognize sata as channel 1.

VEGETA · Post by **VEGETA** » 19 Jun 2008, 11:06

just set boot priority to the specific drive and go with it, should work. Also note you will not have a ide drive in here right, so if it looks ide first o well

Sabre · Post by **Sabre** » 19 Jun 2008, 11:38

Ok, I still have a problem. Here is my configuration

I have a CD/RW Rom set to secondary master on IDE 2
I have a DVD ROM set as slave on IDE2

I have a 20GB HD on set to slave on IDE 1 (this drive has critical info on it including my copy of IL2 install)

I have my SATA Drive on Sata 1. Sata appears enabled on my MOBO

No master drive is detected.

So what should I do?

Softball · Post by **Softball** » 19 Jun 2008, 12:49

Unplug everything except the SATA drive, and see if the MB detects it.

What is the name brand of the SATA drive? You may have to change the jumper on it to make your MB think its a SATA 1.0 drive. Like I was explaining earlier, you might have a SATA 2.0 HD and a SATA 1.0 MB, the HD will need to be downgraded via the jumper setting.

Link I found: http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview ... id=2146296

Also, check in your BIOS and check the boot order for the system, ie the SATA controller before the IDE controller. Not sure if you BIOS has those options, but I know mine does.

Gator · Post by **Gator** » 19 Jun 2008, 12:50

I would definitely pull the plug on the 20GB drive to minimize any "accidents." Then, I would go from there ...

Sabre · Post by **Sabre** » 19 Jun 2008, 14:46

Sorry SB, I should've clarified prior to starting this conversation that I read the manual on this HD, which is a Seagate Barracuda. It said, I shouldn't need to put the jumper on the HD except if the drive goes undetected. The BIOS acknowledges the HD's presence. So I'm not sure. I'll unplug all and start from there. If you have any other thoughts about whether or not I should add the jumper, let me know.

Softball · Post by **Softball** » 19 Jun 2008, 14:51

Ah, ok.

If the BIOS detects the HD, then you should be able to install the OS. Unplug all but the CD ROM and the SATA drive. Set the BIOS to boot to CD-ROM first, put in your Windows XP CD, reboot and run the Windows install setup program from the CD. See if Windows detects the SATA HD.

Sabre · Post by **Sabre** » 19 Jun 2008, 14:55

Unplugged the 20gb drive and the comp still doesn't recognize the Seagate as the master drive. Only recognizes it as the Channel 2 master. Maybe that's the way it works. Should the SATA drive take the first spot in the bios list?

Sabre · Post by **Sabre** » 19 Jun 2008, 15:09

Ok, seeing no other course of action, I've decided to install windows xp. Windows install sees the Seagate as the only viable drive to install on. The first stage of install is formatting the drive. I choose to do a thorough format rather than leave anything to chance. Is it typical for this portion of the process to be very slow? It is crawling...or is that the biproduct of the fact I don't have a jumper on this thing? thoughts?

Softball · Post by **Softball** » 19 Jun 2008, 15:31

Set the CD ROM as the first boot device, then SATA as the 2nd Boot device.

Yes, that is normal on a thorough Format. What size is the drive? I usually set a 100GB partition for the C Drive, and the remainder of the space as a Data drive (D:, E:, F:, etc..). Sounds like you got it working.

Sabre · Post by **Sabre** » 19 Jun 2008, 18:50

grifter has a dedicated external hard drive just for porn... lol

Hammer · Post by **Hammer** » 19 Jun 2008, 19:14

the drive on the single channel should be set to master, not slave...

you should set your install drive as the primary hard drive to boot from.

you will be safe if you unplug the other hard drive, then install, then put it back into the mix.

just make sure the sata is set in the bios as the boot drive.

Softball · Post by **Softball** » 19 Jun 2008, 23:06

the drive on the single channel should be set to master, not slave...

I believe he was doing that to help troubleshoot why the SATA HD wasn't being detected. If it's set to slave, the MB wouldn't point to that drive for the boot sector, no?

Sabre · Post by **Sabre** » 20 Jun 2008, 09:02

new problem:
I've got the OS installed on the sata drive. When I installed, I didn't register the product out of laziness. Now when I go to windows update, it seems it doesn't want to install anything. I imagine it's because I didn't register. I use regiwiz, but it fails to send the registration to microsoft. How critical are those security updates? I guess I"m going to reinstall windows and register during process. sigh.

Softball · Post by **Softball** » 20 Jun 2008, 10:23

I have never registered my Windows XP installs. Just activate your copy either by phone or through the internet; then you should be able to get the updates.

Sabre · Post by **Sabre** » 20 Jun 2008, 11:12

Not following you. what's the difference between registering and activation? hmm

Also, should I be setting up my comp to connect directly to the Internet if I'm on a router? My comp is the main computer in the household...sigh I can't remember how I did half this stuff.

PanzerMeyer · Post by **PanzerMeyer** » 20 Jun 2008, 11:30

Sabre wrote:Not following you. what's the difference between registering and activation? hmm

Activation is where you validate your copy of Windows with Microsoft so that your install wont be disabled after 30 days. Registration is where you set up an account with Microsoft and it serves as a record keeping aide for them in the future if you ever need to call for tech support.

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