Vista not recognising hard drive

Hi,

Didn't really know where to post this as i don't know what the issue is but here goes.

I've built a second pc for my son using some left over parts and some new bits and when i try to install Vista it doesn't recognise the hdd. It's recognised in the bios but as i'm installing the OS there's no option of where to install. I've then got an upgrade to Windows 7 but can't get that far.

The system is:

Gigabyte GA MA-770-UD3 rev 1.0(old)
WD Caviar blue 500gb(new)
Cooler Master 500w PSU(second hand)
ATI 4870(old)
2GB DDR2 Ram(second hand)
Athlon 6000(old)

The only option when installing Vista is to install drivers and i suspect it's a mobo driver i need but when i put in the disk that came with the mobo i can't find the correct driver. I've also gone to Gigabyte's website and downloaded to a usb flash drive the chipset driver and sata raid driver but when i try to select them as i'm installing it says no compatible drivers were found?

I thought it might be that the hdd needed formatting so i connected it to my main pc and did that so it's not a connection issue. I've re-installed to the second pc and same thing?

I'm thinking of contacting Gigabyte but my last contact with them wasn't really that helpful, anyone have any ideas?

Try running the W7 upgrade disk asthe ones i ahve used were just normal install disks
Its a problem with vista not having the drivers for the hard drive...had it once myself

Failing that try changing the hard drive config in bios from sata to compatable

Good luck

Do you have AHCI turned on - that's normally the problem.



M.

Thanks i'll give both things a try tonight.

So M4cc45, should AHCI be enabled or is it being enabled that might be the issue? I think it's disabled, i don't know to be honest and i'm at work at the minute. I thought AHCI was something to do with SSD's?

Hi,

I'm still not having any luck.

I tried to load the windows 7 disk and it looks like it will work so thanks for the advise postmanfw, it still didn't recognise the new hard drive though.

I didn't see any option to change the hard drive config in bios from sata to compatable?

AHCI wasn't turned on so i enabled it, downloaded the AHCI sata controller drivers from Gigabyte and tried again. Still no hd listed so i loaded the drivers, it did load but still doesn't show the hd (i did hit refresh and no joy).

I'm stuck, can anyone think of anything else to try?

Thanks

If using an optical drive is it IDE or SATA?

And what ports is the hard drive connected to? And optical drive if SATA?

The DVD drive is an external USB drive. The hd is connected to SataII 0 On the mobo

Try a different sata port on the motherboard as it could be faulty.
Also try a different sata cable

Does the hard drive show up in the bios?