Hardware initiate failed, check device

Associate
Joined
25 May 2004
Posts
1,423
Location
Belfast
edit
Problem:
Second Generation Serial ATA hard drives are not detected when connected to
a VIA or SIS Serial ATA controller. These First Generation Serial ATA
controllers include the following chipsets:

a.. VT8237 (The one used in your board)

b.. VT8237R

c.. VT6420

d.. VT6421L


e.. SIS760

f.. SIS964

Cause:
Our Second Generation Serial ATA hard drives use autospeed negotiation. This
enables our Second Generation Serial ATA hard drives to automatically detect
the motherboard data transfer rate, making it backward compatible with First
Generation Serial ATA data transfer rates. However, because this technology
is so new, some older First Generation Serial ATA controllers are unable to
support autospeed negotiation and cannot recognize the drive. This "drive
not detected" condition occurs when a chipset is incapable of correctly
negotiating the data transfer speed with a Second Generation Serial ATA hard
drive.

Resolution:
a.. You can purchase and install a third party PCI or PCI-Express Second
Generation Serial ATA controller card for your Serial ATA hard drive(s).


b.. To lock the drive at 150 MB/s data transfer rate, install a jumper
shunt on pins OPT1, shown in the picture below.
http://support.wdc.com/images/kb/sataopt1on.gif


c.. If the OPT1 jumper setting does not resolve the issue, please contact
Western Digital Support for further troubleshooting.

I don't have jumper settings damn it!

/edit

I got a new 160GB hard drive, serial ATA. When i connect it along side my current 160GB i get the error 'hardware initiate failed, check device!!!!!!' but if i connect both drives to my SATA raid connectors on the motherboard, it detects them both, but freazes at windows loading screen. What the hell is going on?

Also, i have plugged this new harddrive into a USB - SATA adapter and it works...
 
Last edited:
I presume you've got a controller using one of the abovementioned controllers?

Why can't you put a jumper on the drive to fix it? Do you not have a jumper?
 
The drive has no jumpers on it, brand new seagate. Only has a 4 pin connector (kinda looks like a cdrom audio one) that i don't know what it does
 
cyborg said:
The drive has no jumpers on it, brand new seagate. Only has a 4 pin connector (kinda looks like a cdrom audio one) that i don't know what it does

Umm, the "4 pin connector" as you call it, *is* the jumper block, of which you posted a picture (http://support.wdc.com/images/kb/sataopt1on.gif) already, showing which pins you need to short/jumper in order to lock the drive to SATA I = 150MB/s rate. So, the picture is taken viewing the rear of the drive, so you should be able to match up which pin is which. Just find a jumper from somewhere (old PC, or another drive/card which has a spare jumper not being used e.g. on one pin or in the "unused" position) and put it on the corresponding pins as shown in the picture. Job done!
 
I don't know about your counting, but that picture shows 8 pins. 4 on top, 4 on bottom, the connector on the back of my hard drive is just 4. Like i said, almost like a CDROM audio connector.
 
Its a seagate 7200.10 160GB S/N:6RA0930A. I think nearly all current sata drives must be coming without the old jumpers on them, making old boards like mine, the Asus A8V a bit useless for sata drives.
 
Aha, you were looking at the wrong pic, the pic you linked to is for a Western Digital drive! Here's the right pic (from Seagate's website) which shows which jumper pins to short with a jumper:

http://www.seagate.com/images/support/en/us/cuda_sata_block.gif

That page is reachable from here:

http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.j...toid=4a02242cb043e010VgnVCM100000dd04090aRCRD

by clicking on the "Jumper settings for Seagate SATA hard drives." link towards the bottom.

Hope that sorts you out.

Edit: Aside: I've got same generation board with same chipset controller on (Asus K8V) and haven't yet had problems, although I've not got a drive with the exact jumper layout that you've yet (but I do have SATA II drives.) :-)
 
Last edited:
I can't thank you enough, that worked :D

Really thanks very much, should have seen that link myself I was on that bloody page!! Saved me so much more hassle, thanks again.
 
Back
Top Bottom