Hard Drive not found (XP Installation)

Baker · 2 Feb 2006 at 11:07

Trying to install XP on my new build, recognises all the devices but when I go to actually install XP it tells me that it cannot find a harddrive even though there's a Maxtor 80GB SATA HDD in place. All the cables are in tight, so im running out of things to try. Any advice?

Thanks

/Mike

Dunky · 2 Feb 2006 at 11:41

Sometimes Windows can be funny about certain SATA controllers. If you've got a diskette with your motherboard (or if it was an additional controller then you may have got a diskette with that) then you may need to use that during the install. Near the start of XP install, there's usually a bit which says something like 'Press F6 to load additional drivers' (been a while since I've installed XP so it's something like that - I think it refers to SCSI and RAID as well). When you see that message, hit F6 and put in the diskette and follow the instructions.

Baker · 2 Feb 2006 at 16:52

The SATA drive isnt being recognised in BIOS either though, will that be fixed with the motherboard disk?

vanandjuanunited · 2 Feb 2006 at 16:55

Look and see if it is set to boot from sata - may or may not be an option. Then try reinstall as above.

What mobo have you got?

Baker · 2 Feb 2006 at 17:01

Abit AV8 3RD Eye VIA K8T800 Pro (Socket 939) Motherboard (MB-053-AB)

Dunky · 2 Feb 2006 at 18:23

If BIOS isn't seeing it then the disc won't help. If you're sure that the data cable is working correctly (try a different one) and that there is power to the drive (you can hear it spin up), it may be a faulty hard drive (or even possibly a faulty motherboard). If possible, try the drive in a friend's machine. Or as above, you may need to enable SATA as an option in BIOS

Baker · 2 Feb 2006 at 18:41

Dunky said:
If BIOS isn't seeing it then the disc won't help. If you're sure that the data cable is working correctly (try a different one) and that there is power to the drive (you can hear it spin up), it may be a faulty hard drive (or even possibly a faulty motherboard). If possible, try the drive in a friend's machine. Or as above, you may need to enable SATA as an option in BIOS

Where abouts would i enable SATA as an option in BIOS?

Dace · 3 Feb 2006 at 00:25

What motherboard is it?

(Just want to have a quick glance at the manual to see!!!)

Baker · 3 Feb 2006 at 07:56

Dace said:
What motherboard is it?

(Just want to have a quick glance at the manual to see!!!)

Abit AV8 3RD Eye VIA K8T800 Pro (Socket 939) Motherboard

vanandjuanunited · 3 Feb 2006 at 10:52

Did you install the sata driver that came with the mobo cd or on a floppy?
If not then do as Dunky said when installing - press f6 etc.

Baker · 3 Feb 2006 at 13:36

williamw11 said:
Did you install the sata driver that came with the mobo cd or on a floppy?
If not then do as Dunky said when installing - press f6 etc.

I tried moving the SATA drivers from the CD onto a floppy but with no lucky. Apperantly it should automatically pick up the SATA anyway, its only RAID that needs drivers

AWPC · 3 Feb 2006 at 23:01

Look @ the back of the HD and see if the jumpers are set correctly. If it is your only HD then it should be set to Master.

Also make sure you do not have an optical drive set to be the Master device on the same IDE/SATA channel.

Another thing to check is that the IDE/SATA cable is plugged into the no1 port on the mobo and that in the bios it is set as the 1st boot device. If another device is set as the 1st boot device XP can sometimes fail to detect it in time so reverts to the next device without picking up the HD.