Hard Light Productions Forums
Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: redsniper on July 21, 2005, 09:15:14 pm
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The ZIF socket thread isn't getting much attention anymore so maybe a fresh thread will get more responses. Anyway, I've got an A8N-E mobo and its BIOS won't detect my sata HD at all. I've been scouring Google looking for answers and there are plenty of people who can't get Windows to detect a second sata HD or who are trying to set up RAID arrays, but only a couple whose HDs aren't detected by the BIOS at all and they haven't really gotten any answers either. Now then, there are no jumpers on my mobo that affect SATA stuff and all the SATA ports and controllers are enabled in the BIOS. I also have nvRAID turned off since I'm only trying to hook up a single hard drive. So, thoughts and suggestions are welcome and appreciated.
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Any BIOS updates floating around that you haven't applied?
Edit: Does the HD have any jumpers on it, and are you using only _one_ of the power connectors (if it has 2)?
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Is it plugged in? ;)
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Of course it's plugged in and only the molex power connector is attached. I haven't updated the BIOS yet, and yes it has a jumper which I'm pretty sure is configured properly since this HD worked with my old mobo, but I'll check just for kicks.
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the thing you said about RAID, try enableing it, on my board the SATA controler has some sort of integrated RAID thing, and it's the only thing that has any way of controleing the SATA drive, just in the RAID setup say "no raid" or something
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from what I've seen other people say you're supposed to disable it with this mobo if you're only hooking up one sata HD, but I'll give it a shot.
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Bobb has a point, on my mobo it's the same thing - the SATA controller and tne RAID controller seem to be the same thing.
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I turned on the RAID controller and after quitting the BIOS and letting the comp restart the HD showed up in the BIOS. However, when I exited the BIOS and let it restart again it no longer detects it. :(
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well... it did soething.
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also, when XP booted up on the spare HD it detected the RAID controller as new hardware and asked for drivers so I installed them from the mobo cd.
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is XP detecting it?
(rightclick 'my computer' -> manage -> storeage -> disk management)
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No. It was only the RAID controller that it detected, not the disk itself. Since it was disabled until now it saw it as new hardware.
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bump?
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[color=66ff00]It's strange, as far as I know the RAID controller should handle HDD detection. The only thing Win* needs is the driver to talk to the controller.
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Even if this HD has somehow gotten totally buggered (which I doubt is the case) it would still at least show up in the BIOS, right? I mean, as long as it's plugged in and has power the mobo should at least be able to see that there's something there no matter what it's condition.
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Originally posted by redsniper
Even if this HD has somehow gotten totally buggered (which I doubt is the case) it would still at least show up in the BIOS, right? I mean, as long as it's plugged in and has power the mobo should at least be able to see that there's something there no matter what it's condition.
[color=66ff00]I'd like to think so, the only reason you need to install the driver is so that windows can communicate with it.
The BIOS should have all the necessary abilities to detect the drive. Hmmm, have you looked to see if there are any BIOS updates available?
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Yeah, I think I've seen some floating around. I guess I'll have to flash this puppy. Actually, maybe not, I think this mobo has some kind of easier/friendlier BIOS updating thing. I'll see what I can do.
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I'm going to be out of town over the weekend, so I won't be able to work on this. If anyone thinks of anything while I'm gone feel free to post it here.
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Alright, I'm finally back at the house where this computer is. When I first booted it up, it detected the SATA HD with no problem and when it got to Windows (on the other HD not the SATA one) it was detected there as well. I looked through it briefly and it seems all my files are still intact, which is excellent. However, a thing popped up saying I need to restart the comp for new hardware to work, blah blah blah. So I restart the computer and now it doesn't detect the HD anymore. I haven't updated the BIOS yet, but I'm about to. I just don't see how it can help if it's already able to detect the HD with the current BIOS, albeit only rarely. So why the heck could it detect it once and now not anymore? :confused:
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you'r useing windows, right?
the thing about windows you have to remember is that it's fueled by the purest most vile, dark evil ever to blight the universe.
this sort of **** happens.
and before saying windows can't detect it, make sure you have gone into mycomputer->manage
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No no, I mean the BIOS isn't detecting it anymore. It worked once but now I'm back where I started and I can't even begin to explain why. :(
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I just flashed my BIOS; still no luck.
EDIT: Windows is going crazy with 'found new hardware.' It says it found my CD/DVD drive (which was working fine already), and it's finding all kinds of IDE stuff (which must have been working already since it can boot from this old HD). I guess since the BIOS got updated it's re-detecting everything. Didn't mention SATA anywhere though. Bummer.
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Go into BIOS setup and enable reset configuration data (not load defaults), and make sure Plug-and-Play OS is set to NO. Now try again.
EDIT: SATA isn't recognized under Windows, it's recognised as a SCSI device.
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What do you mean 'reset configuration data'? All I can find is 'Load Setup Defaults'
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Reset configuration data is typically under PnP/PCI Configurations submenu. However, if you have a stripped down BIOS with only one or two screens of options (which Asus is notorious for), then good luck finding it. If all else fails, then go ahead and load setup defaults.
Anyway, if you want your BIOS to detect and configure your controllers, then it's best to disable the PnP OS feature... Otherwise it won't do it!
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Originally posted by Bobboau
you'r useing windows, right?
the thing about windows you have to remember is that it's fueled by the purest most vile, dark evil ever to blight the universe.
this sort of **** happens.
Mostly true, but in this case the kernel is the only factor in the equation and the WinXP kernel is actually pretty damned good, comparable in many ways to UNIX.
They just ruined it by putting a whole load of cosmetic bull**** on top of it.
Besides, this sounds to me like a faulty mainboard or disk. I've had problems before where a disk wasn't detected on the first bootup after pressing the power button, but on subsequent resets would work fine. That fault was typically due to either a fault in a disk's onboard controller or a bus misconfiguration. Since SATA doesn't use Master/Slave designations for drives, I doubt it's the latter in this case.
Hang on... jumpers? On a SATA disk? They don't need jumpers.
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Originally posted by Descenterace
Hang on... jumpers? On a SATA disk? They don't need jumpers.
Yes, maybe he mistook a PATA drive for a SATA one. :wtf: "Why won't this damned connector go in!?!?!?"
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Look, this is definitely a SATA drive and it definitely has a jumper on it too. Like I said earlier, the one time it was detected I was able to browse the disk just fine so I don't think anything is seriously wrong with it. I know it's not impossible for this mobo to detect this HD since it's done it twice, I just need to find out how to make it happen consistently.
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*Hands redsniper an is_sarcasm() function. :p*
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is_grumpy_that_comp_isn't_working(redsniper)
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Considered removing the jumper? You never know: it might solve the problem. Anything's worth a try.
Just remember where it was so you can replace it afterward...
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I changed the SATA cable just for kicks then reset the BIOS settings to default. No detect. I then put all the settings back the way I had them including activating the RAID controller. Detected!:cool: It still isn't getting detected all the time, but when it isn't detected I can go into the BIOS, disable the RAID controller, go into the BIOS again, turn the controller back on, and then it will be detected. Now obviously I don't want to do this every day but for now it will work since I'm just trying to get my files backed up before I reinstall Windows.
Now then, I've backed up almost everything I want but there's one hitch. I've got a folder where my downloaded anime, music, pictures and other junk go. At some point in time I did something to limit access to this folder (not a password) all it says when I try to open it is '*folder path* is not accessible Acces Denied'. So I need to know how I can hack around this and get my stuff. I've already tried the Recovery Console on the Windows cd and that'll only let my access the WINDOWS folder.
Help please. :o
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Alright, the SATA drive is still only being detected intermittently. When it isn't detected I can restart the comp several times and eventually it will detect it again. Now then, I've found a trick for getting around the security on the one folder. By booting from the Win2k floppies I can then go into the Win2k recovery console which gives me full access to the main HD. Unfortunately, I'm not very familiar with DOS environments. I can browse through the various folders easily enough but I don't know how to copy files from one drive to another (and yes I tried 'copy source [destination]'). I also got my hands on a knoppix .iso which I'll try to figure out this evening.
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Maybe it's just my imagination but it seems like this SATA disk is getting detected less and less frequently. I had to restart the comp probably about 10 times before it was detected. It would be impractical to keep this up, there's got to be a way to fix this and I just replaced a mobo so I don't want to have to replace one again. Anyway, I'm gonna see if I can get anywhere with knoppix. Wish me luck, I guess.
EDIT: :eek: Knoppix is hardcore!
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Okay, why can't I copy any files from one hard drive to another in Knoppix? Does it matter that some are NTFS?
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Have you done a dd? You shouldn't be copying individual files anyhow.
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What's a dd? and why shouldn't I be copying files? How else am I gonna get them off the SATA disk and backed up?
EDIT: found out how to make HD's writable in knoppix.
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dd is a Unix program that does sector-level operations on disks. If you're not familiar with it then it's not something you want to be messing around with as it can severely **** up your disks.
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w00t w00t! I got all the stuff backed up that I want to back up thanks to Knoppix. With that out of the way we're back to the problem of the BIOS more often than not failing to detect the SATA HD. There doesn't seem to be anything that correlates to whether it gets detected or not. It even got detected once when the RAID controller was off. :wtf:
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ARR! (http://www.techsupportforum.com/images/avatars/Mr_Smeade.gif)
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Is... that a good thing?
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It's a sort of angry, frustrated, pirate kinda bump.
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Like I said before...
HAVE YOU TRIED REMOVING THE JUMPER ON THE BACK OF THE SATA DISK?
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It has jumper pins but there's no jumper on them and the documentation says not to put a jumper there.
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Didn't you say earlier that there was a jumper on the back of the drive?
I'm well aware that SATA disks have jumper pins on them, and that they're almost never used. But the way you put it suggested that there was a jumper installed on them...
OK, I need more sleep.
And alcohol.
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I don't like bumping such an old thread but I'm not getting anywhere with this. I've been talking with some guys on a real tech support forum but they mostly suggested stuff I had already tried and now they don't seem to be responding. I guess I'll try the Asus support forums next. Anyway, yes, I did say there was a jumper on the HD but after actually looking at it I see that I was mistaken.
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The best thing you could do at this point is pull the drive out and test it in a known good system (aka somebody else's computer).
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This town is a technological vacuum. I don't know anyone with a SATA compatible system and I wouldn't be surprised if mine is the only one around.