bios can't see my sata hd - Honda Forum / Acura Forum

CpHaAtN · 10-24-2006, 10:11 AM

i can't get my bios to see my sata hard drive. i only have ONE sata so there will be no raid. i want to boot off of it but it does not recognize it. this is the setup i have:

asus a8v deluxe
1 maxtor 300gb sata hd
1 wd 200gb uata hd
windows xp x64 pro

the bio has been flashed and updated to the latest firmware. i can see the hd in windows and it's functional, but i just wanna boot from it? can anyone help?

IntegraTypeRS · 10-24-2006, 10:17 AM

are you installing windows onto it? if you when windows setup starts you have to press the button that asks you to install third party drivers. have your sata driver read on a floopy(i believe cds will work as well). you load the driver and install windows as normal. make sure you have the sata drive connected by itself. d/c all other ide hard drives. you can reconnect them after windows is done installing. on my asus board i have to set my first boot order to "scsi."

i'm not sure if this will fix the bios recognition though. but it's what i had to do to boot off my sata drive

CpHaAtN · 10-24-2006, 01:03 PM

windows was already loaded because i just copied the old hd onto the new sata. but i'll try what you said when i get home. thanks.

GameTraveler · 10-24-2006, 02:08 PM

I think you need to go into the second BIOS screen you have on that board. That has the Promise Sata controller on it as well. After the initial BIOS screen, there's a Promise BIOS loadup screen (was it CTRL-S?, can't remember since I no longer have a board with a Promise device onboard...).

You'll probably need to change the RAID/SATA only settings for the Promise there, and then go back to your board's BIOS to point to the Promise as the first controller to boot from.

CpHaAtN · 10-24-2006, 11:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GameTraveler

I think you need to go into the second BIOS screen you have on that board. That has the Promise Sata controller on it as well. After the initial BIOS screen, there's a Promise BIOS loadup screen (was it CTRL-S?, can't remember since I no longer have a board with a Promise device onboard...).

You'll probably need to change the RAID/SATA only settings for the Promise there, and then go back to your board's BIOS to point to the Promise as the first controller to boot from.

ctrl-s didn't work for me. it's weird that i'd have to unplug my other ata hard drive in order for the bios to recognize my sata one. and as soon as i plug the ata back in, i'm not able to set the sata one as a boot device anymore. this is really strange.

after disconnectiong the other ide hd, i tried to re-install windows onto the sata drive. i pushed F6 to load scsi (or whatever it says) on there and i put in the floppy disk that had the sata driver i downloaded from the asus site. once i began to install windows, it asked for that floppy again, but this time it didn't recognize it. i'm so confused.

Rev ATARI · 10-25-2006, 12:05 AM

Back up all your info on the IDE drive you need, then format and remove the drive, install the SATA drive format and install windows on it. After windows in done installing completely, turn off the computer and reinstall the IDE drive.

I have had this issue before and this always works for me.

GameTraveler · 10-25-2006, 01:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CpHaAtN

ctrl-s didn't work for me. it's weird that i'd have to unplug my other ata hard drive in order for the bios to recognize my sata one. and as soon as i plug the ata back in, i'm not able to set the sata one as a boot device anymore. this is really strange.

after disconnectiong the other ide hd, i tried to re-install windows onto the sata drive. i pushed F6 to load scsi (or whatever it says) on there and i put in the floppy disk that had the sata driver i downloaded from the asus site. once i began to install windows, it asked for that floppy again, but this time it didn't recognize it. i'm so confused.

Part of what Rev ATARI said. But also that you're boot order in your motherboard BIOS should be pointed at the other SATA controller--I'm guessing at this one, since your motherboard has a SATA controller with a Promise chip (second BIOS screen you see on boot-up) and the VIA SATA controller which you can access through the first BIOS screen (pressing Delete I think).

Boot option on your primary BIOS. Set your boot device priority to point at the SATA controller you're using.

Oh, I had it wrong on the Promise BIOS screen, you need to hit CTRL-F to enter the FastBuild Utility. But TAB after the POST will get you into the Via SATA controller screen.

CpHaAtN · 10-25-2006, 11:01 PM

i've tried everything and nothing works. the only thing that comes close is disconnecting the ide hd, then installing windows xp 64 pro on it. but then it'll ask for the raid combo disk or something like that in the a: drive. i thought it was the f6 disk, but that disk doesn't work for it.