Problem with SATA

mvaughnmvaughn
edited May 2004 in Hardware
I've just purchased a new Asus A78NX-Deluxe Motherboard and a new SATA drive.

I want to load Windows XP Pro and boot from the one SATA drive (and only drive) in the system.

Is there something I'm missing? I can't seem to get XP to see the SATA drive.

The Raid controller sees the drive but no the OS.
Since I'm not going to Raid the system do I need to disable the raid?

Anyone have an idea what steps I need to take to correct my problem?

Thanks in advance for any help that's forthcoming !!!

:bawling: Lost in Geekdom !!

Mike V.

Comments

  • EyesOnlyEyesOnly Sweden New
    edited May 2004
    You need i disk with sata drivers. Look in the download section on asus site it should be there. Is you harddrive seagate. if so you can use a handy app called discwizard to setup the harddrive. Look in seagate.com for it. Get the one for floppys.

    Edit
    Here the link for Asus sata drivers.

    Here the link for Disc wizard floppy installer. Just enter your email addy and download it. Doubleklick and follow the instructions. If i remember correctly it should work for non seagate drives as well. :)
  • FlintstoneFlintstone SE Florida
    edited May 2004
    Even if you don't intend to set up a raid with 2 or more drives, you still have to load the sata controller drivers into XP on setup. when you start the XP install, you'll see an option to load any other controller drivers at the bottom of the screen and it tells you to press F6 now to load those drivers. DO THAT. then, later in the loading process, it'll come up and tell you exactly what to do with the floppy disk with the sata controller drivers on it and off you go. XP will then see the controller and the disk hung off of it and give you the option to format etc.

    Enjoy the bew board!!

    Flint
  • mvaughnmvaughn
    edited May 2004
    Thanks Eyesonly..

    I have downloaded the SATA drivers and created the diskettes (it takes two) and I'll try them and let you know what happens.

    I appreciate your help.

    Mike V.
  • FlintstoneFlintstone SE Florida
    edited May 2004
    NO!!!! The raid controller drivers should fit onto a single floppy. That's the only way I know of to load the drivers into XP. Look for the SATA RAID Controller drivers. Not the board drivers. I'll have a look and let you know.

    Flint
  • mvaughnmvaughn
    edited May 2004
    Thanks Flintstone..

    I tried this once before with an MSI board and two different SATA dirves and never got them to work, finally got tired of messing with it and sent them back. I'm pretty sure I had a bad board since I couldn't get either SATA drive to work.

    So now I'm going to attempt it again.

    Does the BIOS have to bet set in any specific order?
  • FlintstoneFlintstone SE Florida
    edited May 2004
    Set the bios to boot from the CD only. Make sure the switch for the sata controller is enabled in the bios. I don't have that board so I don't know exactly which heading it's under but keep looking, you'll find it. Probably something like integrated peripherals or something like that.

    I looked at the asus site and see that when you download the Silicon Image drivers you also get some sort of utility with the download which is why the file is so large. Hopefully, when windows asks for the driver disk, it'll see the driver files on the first disk you load into the floppy drive and be happy. If not, maybe there's a driver available in the S-M downloads section that'll work for that board.

    When you done loading XP, don't forget to go back and change the boot order to the SATA first and anything you want like the cd-rom later. It should then all be good.

    Good Luck,
    Flint
  • mvaughnmvaughn
    edited May 2004
    Question..

    If I disable the Raid does it disable SATA?


    Mike V.
  • FlintstoneFlintstone SE Florida
    edited May 2004
    If you're talking about the controller listed in the motherboard's bios then yes. The motherboard's bios has no idea how you have the disks set up on the controller (raid, only one disk, or jbod), it is just switching the controller on or off.

    Does that help?

    Flint
  • EyesOnlyEyesOnly Sweden New
    edited May 2004
    I don't think you need to disable raid. If i've understood it correctly you should only need to install the drivers and then continue with windows. There is some special option if you want to use raid so i don't think it's on by default. My mobo is the E- deluxe but the bioses are the same in this case.
  • mvaughnmvaughn
    edited May 2004
    Thanks again Eyesonly..

    I double checked my board and it is the A7N8X-E Deluxe.

    If it's the same as yours can you tell me if it has SATA in the BIOS anywhere?

    I mean do I ever set it to boot to a SATA device?

    Thanks to all you guys your great!!

    Mike V.
  • Omega65Omega65 Philadelphia, Pa
    edited May 2004
    If you have the Silicon Image SATA chip then download your drivers from Silicon Image

    Either the 3x12 2X Sata controller or the 3114 4x Sata controller
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited May 2004
    mvaughn wrote:
    I've just purchased a new Asus A78NX-Deluxe Motherboard and a new SATA drive.

    I want to load Windows XP Pro and boot from the one SATA drive (and only drive) in the system.

    Is there something I'm missing? I can't seem to get XP to see the SATA drive.

    The Raid controller sees the drive but no the OS.
    Since I'm not going to Raid the system do I need to disable the raid?
    Okay, well your SATA drive is obviously being detected by the controller, which means that a) the controller is enabled, and b) that it and the SATA HD are working fine. Just make sure your SATA controller has precedence over any other unnecessary boot device (If you need the CDROM to boot XP setup then obviously just set SATA as the secondary boot device).

    When the XP setup begins, when prompted (bottom left of the screen) almost immediately after the blue setup screen first appears, you need to press F6 to tell the setup program that you are going to be installing onto a third party controller. In your case, the SI 3x12 controller.

    You want the RAID drivers, v1.0.0.47, which you can get above from Omega's post, or from Silicon Image, or from the SM-Downloads section. Which ever takes your fancy. Extract them to a floppy disk and use them to provide the XP installation with the drivers when it prompts you, usually just before you would usually get to the "what drive do you want to install on to" part of the setup.

    Let us know how you get on.

    Cheers
  • EyesOnlyEyesOnly Sweden New
    edited May 2004
    Glad to be of service. :thumbsup: I downloaded the sata drivers from Asus site and copyed what seems to be just to drivers not the app to a disc hence why i only needed one. Tomorrow i hope to have the rest of the stuff and start installing. After that i should be able to help you more unless i myself need help. :D

    Check your manual page 4-15 and 4-16. It would take me to long to explain but i'll try if you need help. You do have the manual right?
  • mvaughnmvaughn
    edited May 2004
    :celebrate Thanks to you Eyesonly, Flintstone,Omega65, and Spinner.. :Rocker:


    My system is up and running smoothly !!!! :thumbsup:

    First I tried the drivers from the Asus site and kept getting an error saying it couldn't find a certain "TXT" setup file. SO I then went to the Silicaon Image site and downloaded the generic SI 3xxx drivers and XP found them an loaded on the first try. :celebrate


    Many, many thanks to all of you guys !!

    Mike V.
  • FlintstoneFlintstone SE Florida
    edited May 2004
    Glad to be of service and glad it's humming along!! Still, I'm surprised that Asus didn't include a driver disk in the box with the MB, but I'm glad it's all sorted.

    Enjoy!!

    Flint
  • EyesOnlyEyesOnly Sweden New
    edited May 2004
    So the Asus might not work. :( Thanks for the heads up. I'll download the sil drivers then. It's nice to help people and see them succeed so you're welcome. :thumbsup:
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