[redsniper]

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.

[WMCoolmon]

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)?

[Kosh]

Is it plugged in?

[redsniper]

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.

[Bobboau]

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

[redsniper]

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.

[WMCoolmon]

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.

[redsniper]

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.

[Bobboau]

well... it did soething.

[redsniper]

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.

[Bobboau]

is XP detecting it?
(rightclick 'my computer' -> manage -> storeage -> disk management)

[redsniper]

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.

[redsniper]

bump?

[Martinus]

[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.
[/color]

[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.

[Martinus]

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?
[/color]

[redsniper]

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.

[redsniper]

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.

[redsniper]

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?

[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.

and before saying windows can't detect it, make sure you have gone into mycomputer->manage