Samsung 640gb (SATA300Gb/s) won't show in BIOS

Namistai

Namistai

Namistai

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Hi guys,

I've got a problem with a Samsung 640gb not showing on my BIOS. I'm trying to build a home server using this drive so I can have a central file store for all PC's in the house (using Windows Home Server).

Server specs:

Mobo - MSI KT6V (VIA KT600 northbridge and VT8237 southbridge)
Athlon XP 2800
2x512mb OCZ Gold DDR
Samsung Spinpoint F1 640gb (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...nt F1 640GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD642JJ))

The drive itself is working, I've had it in my main PC (see specs in sig), it's been formatted and has successfully taken data etc. So I'm 100% confident that the drive itself works; it's the interface with the chipset that appears to be the problem.

The problem, I think, is with the SATA 150gb/s mobo with the SATA 300gb/s drive. I've successfully run the Samsung software (http://www.samsung.com/global/business/hdd/faqView.do?b2b_bbs_msg_id=126&orderNum=2) to force the drive to run at 150gb/s, but still the BIOS cannot see the drive. I've tried the drive without using a jumper, and also with the jumper in the two available positions. However, I can't find a diagram or description of the jumpers so not sure if/where I should have a jumper. I've played about with the BIOS to no avail.

This seems to be a common problem with Samsung drives on older mobo's from my (post-purchase) research. I guess my options are to find a resolution to use the drive with my current hardware, or change the mobo or drive. Clearly I'd prefer the former option!

I have an old nForce2 motherboard which I can swap in for the VIA chipset board, but I fear that I'll have the same problems. I'll go away and try this whilst I await some more knowledgable people to read and reply to this thread! ;) :D

Any suggestions or solutions? :confused: All help is much appreciated :)

Cheers,
Nami
 
Yep, latest BIOS version.

UPDATE: I've swapped the motherboard for an MSI nForce2, and I can get the BIOS to see the drive. However, Windows Home Server won't :( I've tried to manually install the SATA driver from floppy (equivalent to the F6 method, but in the new installtion GUI) and it still won't see it :(
 
Quickest and easiest to just drop in a cheap Silicon Image chipset SATA card :)
Any speed difference should be neglible too.

-Leezer-
 
leezer3 said:
Quickest and easiest to just drop in a cheap Silicon Image chipset SATA card :)
Any speed difference should be neglible too.

-Leezer-
Click to expand...

Friend of mine had the same problem with samsung drives on these type of ebay special cards as well, I'd RMA the drive and buy a better brand (since WD, Seagate, Maxtor and Hitachi drives all work fine...)
 
mnet674 said:
Friend of mine had the same problem with samsung drives on these type of ebay special cards as well, I'd RMA the drive and buy a better brand (since WD, Seagate, Maxtor and Hitachi drives all work fine...)
Click to expand...

No comment :confused:
Working on mine though.
For what its worth, the Ebay specials with SATA & IDE ports are actually a VIA chipset (And are some of the plain SATA cards), so he may have one of those.

-Leezer-
 
300Gb/s (gigabits per second) is the bandwidth available on SATA-II, assuming you have both drive and chipset capable. Altho it's pointless of course, given that the drives can't saturate the older 150Gb/s bus! :P

Well the nForce2 mobo see's the drive now but can't get Windows Home Server to see it. I'll try the MS forums for a fix, otherwise it's RMA time and I'll try a WD instead.

Cheers for all your help, any other suggestions will still be welcomed :)
 
i know this may sound a bit weird, but i had the same problem with my WD drive on a nforce6 motherboard. All i had to do was search WD's website for drivers for the hard drive :S
 
leezer3 said:
No comment :confused:
Working on mine though.
For what its worth, the Ebay specials with SATA & IDE ports are actually a VIA chipset (And are some of the plain SATA cards), so he may have one of those.

-Leezer-
Click to expand...

Nah my ebay specials are the 3114 SI chips as are his, they just seem to be allergic to Samsung ;)
 
BlackBat said:
;)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_ATA
Click to expand...

Bah, terminology confuses me! :P Still, the problem remains - and my terminology error doesn't change that :(

Altho as time develops, the problem changes and lessens...... I've tried a few drivers for the nForce2 motherboard and can now get both mobo and WHS to see the hard drive, only now it shows it as having 0GB capacity. So I'm assuming it's still not the correct driver!
 
I don't know if this will help at all :o but there is a piece of software Samsung have on their website that limits the speed of the sata controller (effectively bypasses the auto-speed detection process and hard wires it to sata 150) so that the F1 is "more" compatible with older chipsets.

Might not make a blind bit of difference but hey.
 
I had a similar problem with a SIL3114 board, that a bios update would have cured, however the card had a 'unknown' bios chip so that was out. I have found that all of the SIL3512 cards work no problems, as do the SIL3112 with current bios. This is probably the easist way around your problem.
 
Namistai said:
300Gb/s (gigabits per second) is the bandwidth available on SATA-II, assuming you have both drive and chipset capable. Altho it's pointless of course, given that the drives can't saturate the older 150Gb/s bus! :P

Well the nForce2 mobo see's the drive now but can't get Windows Home Server to see it. I'll try the MS forums for a fix, otherwise it's RMA time and I'll try a WD instead.

Cheers for all your help, any other suggestions will still be welcomed :)
Click to expand...

its 1.5 and 3.0 not 150 and 300...

guy with the wiki link should have pointed it out more clearly
 
Well I've tried everything and I can't get windows to see the drive. I've also tried installing XP SP3 as a temporary measure, and that wouldn't see it either (even with trying the F6 method and various drivers which I'm confident are correct). So the next plan is either a newer motherboard or a PCI SATA card.

Does anyone have any experience with PCI SATA cards? Presumably there should be no major troubles with using a the system drive through one of these, so long as I use the correct drivers?
 
I had the same issue with a recent windows xp reinstall - I used my original release version of xp from way back when and it would not show the correct size of my Samsung 500 meg drive (seemed to be picking up only the first platter or something). I checked the bios and everything was fine so I borrowed an xp disk with sp 2 integrated and it found the full disk size straight away. This was in the install that runs straight from the install disk btw.
 
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