Old drive failed, new drive problem system un-usable!

[Mike McAlea]

Hi,
I have a major problem, the primary boot drive on my PC has failed, I got a replacement drive immediatly, the replacement is a SATA Maxtor MaxLine III 300gb and it is not been detected therefore i cant use my PC.
My motherboard is a GA-7N400 Pro Bios version F17, I have tried switching cables etc and it is not been detected at all(and is not even spinning up correctly).
It IS been detected if i plug the datacable into the drive AFTER it has spun up(yes it spins up without a problem when datacable not plugged in) but this is obviously not maintainable. I desperatly need to know if there is a way to fix this problem, or if this is a fault related to the Drive or a Motherboard issue with the Drive since i need the computer for work purposes. :bawling:

[primesuspect]

Have you tried the other SATA port on the motherboard? I mean, it's either the controller, the individual port, or the drive. So eliminate the port first. Was your old drive IDE or SATA?

[Mike McAlea]

I have tried both ports on the motherboard, my other drive was not SATA, the storage drive on the system is SATA and that is working fine(on both ports).

[primesuspect]

Well then it's the drive.... If you've eliminated the possibility that it's the cable, the controller, or the ports..

[Mike McAlea]

Oh no! I would just use the Storage Drive as the boot except its near enuff full!
Could it be an issue with the SATA since the drive is SATA-2 and the motherboard isnt exactly new?

[primesuspect]

It could be one of two things:

Either the drive is not compatible with the board or the drive is bad.

I lean towards "bad drive" because if it spins up and detects after you boot, then it's obvious that it is at least somewhat compatible with your mobo.

[Mike McAlea]

I was fearing that, it is detecting once it has spun up but will only spin up without the cable plugged into the board which is why i was hoping it could be a motherboard problem.
Proberly should fill out a returns request thing and send it back?

[primesuspect]

sounds like it :(

[Mike McAlea]

oh well thanks for all your help :thumbsup: :) , any idea how good Maxtor are at getting drives back to you after repairs? :(

[primesuspect]

Really good, but it takes a couple of weeks...

[Mike McAlea]

Really good, but it takes a couple of weeks...
oh dear, i'm going to have to rustle up a drive in the mean time from someware *looks around work*