GA-7N400 Pro2 SATA never recognized
I have a new system built around a GA-7N400 Pro2 rev. 2 motherboard that I haven't been able to get working right for weeks. I have two IDE hdds from my last system, one of which I am booting from. I am trying to add a 200 gig SATA drive from WD, but for the life of me cannot get anywhere. There is no mention of the drive at anytime during the boot. I have ensured that it is enabled in the bios and tried it in both single and raid mode. When I go under the SCSI boot order device nothing is listed and when I boot into Windows (2k3), there is no mention of anything SI 3512 related or any unknown devices.
I installed the custom ver. C bios that Spinner posted but that didn't seem to help at all.
The drive is a month-old. I bought the drive off a friend I trust, who was able to use it with no problems.
I'm at the end of rope, any advice would be much appreciated.
Thanks!
I installed the custom ver. C bios that Spinner posted but that didn't seem to help at all.
The drive is a month-old. I bought the drive off a friend I trust, who was able to use it with no problems.
I'm at the end of rope, any advice would be much appreciated.
Thanks!
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Comments
WD HDD's are fussy about jumper settings. Only way I could get a single WD Sata HDD recognised on an Abit KV7 was to leave the jumper off. It was then recognised in Win XP.
Similarly, when I set up a RAID 0 setup on the same board as you have with two 120Gb WD Sata HDD's, only way it worked was to have one jumper on setting two (Sata 1) and the other on jumper 3. And all that was done with trial and error as WD's tech support site was down at the time.
The same goes for the SCSI boot device listing in the BIOS - its completely blank unless I have the ATA RAID turned on. I have the Onboard H/W Serial ATA option enabled and the Function set to BASE.
Any other ideas? Thanks
In the instance I quoted above, with the Abit KV7 board (which has the usual two IDE ports and two Sata ports attached to the RAID controller) I used the solitary Sata disk as the main one, with Win XP on it.
Even then, each time I booted I received an error message saying the Raid array could not be set up as there were not enough hard disks for an array. I just clicked Cancel each time and it booted. I did try a RAID array on the KV7 board and all functioned fine.
Is it possible you could try using the Sata disk as the one to boot from? Perhaps disable the IDE drives, try to install XP to the Sata drive, then if successful reconnect the IDE drives and transfer any important data?
Just a thought, I'm clean out of ideas now, I really don't have the experience or knowledge to suggest anything else. Sorry, and good luck.
No, I can't. To be honest I half-figured there just wasn't one, since I've been completely unable to summon such a thing.
Does the SATA drive show up in Disk Management in Windows? (My Computer - Right Click - Manage - Disk Management). I think on your motherboard, the SATA BIOS may only be visible when the SATA function (in the motherboard BIOS) is set to RAID. In BASE mode, it may not purposefully appear. If that is the case, then your disk may simply require formatting in Windows to allow it to become visible in My Computer. So check it isn't sitting in Disk Management waiting to be partioned and formatted before you do anything else.
That to one side, you need to make sure the following motherboard BIOS settings are in place. (I suggest you clear your CMOS and load your fail safe defaults before continuing).
1. Advanced BIOS features--> SATA/RAID/SCSI boot order: "SATA"
2. Integrated Peripherals--> Onboard H/W Serial ATA "enable"
3. Integrated Peripherals--> Serial ATA Function: "RAID" (default) ("RAID" or "BASE" should both work fine, but I suggest choosing "RAID" for now, as I think that will allow you to see the SATA bios info list)
Make sure you're using the latest motherboard BIOS revision, preferably the one I made with the latest SATA controller BIOS.
On a side note, some Gigabyte boards have hidden BIOS settings which can be brought into view by pressing CTRL-F1 whilst in the BIOS setup. I don't think that any of the above listed options will be hidden, but worth noting none the less.
Also, you should unplug any back/front plate USB headers you've got plugged into the motherboard itself. Especially if you aren't using ones which came with the board. It might also be a good idea to unplug any other IDE hard drive PATA or whatever, that you don't need to run the system. e.g Just leave the OS hard drive in and the SATA drive you're trying to install.
Double check you've got the above settings and things as I have specified then post back with the results.
Cheers
No specific reference to the drive or the controller ever comes up either during the boot or in windows (including disk manager).
This is leading me to believe theres some sort of hardware defect with the on-board controller, but I could certainly be wrong.
The system is pretty barebones right now, the only cards installed are a network and video. I also tried unplugging one of the extraneous ide drives, but this also didn't help.
Theres only one unassigned piece of equipment in device manager, but its the IEEE-1394/firewire.
I just applied the new BIOS, but it hasn't helped anything. Still can't choose the SATA under SCSI boot order, theres no SATA splash screen and nothing regarding either in Device Manager.
I'm thinking now my best option might be to verify 100% the drive in another system, try to resell it and get an IDE. Even if the board SATA controller is broken, I've been struggling with this so long I'm not sure I can return it.
Still very much open to any other ideas, however, I'd hate to give up after all this.