Sata Autodetect problem

ed2353 · 29 Feb 2008 at 19:42

I recently built a new Computer - Abit IP35 Pro, Core2 E8400, Samsung Spinpoint T500, Windows XP installed. Abits drivers all loaded.

I have a second T500 SATA drive in a Caddy that I use for backups.

When I boot up with the Caddy in place, the Drive is recognised and the 3 partitions are all visible in Explorer.

If the Computer is running when I put the Caddy in, the Drive is not Autodetected.

This system worked on my previous computer, so what have I missed doing?

fobose · 29 Feb 2008 at 22:55

You probably do not have your SATA connectors set for AHCI, which enables hot swapping (i.e, plugging in your drive whilst your PC is on and disconnecting it whilst its on).

Check your Bios options. IIRC changing to AHCI requires a windows reinstall. However I have seen a few websites that tell you how to edit a few registry settings to allow you to skip reinstalling.

ed2353 · 1 Mar 2008 at 12:13

Thanks mate. That was exactly the problem.

I got the Intel Matrix Store driver file from Intel and made a driver floppy disk. On reboot I set the BIOS SATA Drive Function to AHCI and then I did a Windows repair, using F6 to load the drivers.

SATA now works fine. All my Windows XP settings were still OK, but for some reason the Repair Install pushed me back from Internet Explorer7 to IE6!

On reflection, I think I prefer IE6, so no loss there.

Thanks again.

ed2353 · 1 Mar 2008 at 18:11

I spoke (Wrote?) too soon.

I had lost all the Windows updates etc and then Automatic updates failed, etc., etc. After struggling for an hour I gave up trying to sort the mess.

I used my Retrospect backup to restore my system disk to last night and then tried the Registry settings change method. I found a couple of "How to" registry settings fix articles. As luck would have it, the first one did not work, but the second one did. I can now hot swap.

Now if I can get my Optiarc DVD drive to work too..........