New Machine with SATA Hard Drive

[pvanbuskirk]

Hello,

I put together a new computer recently and am trying to install Windows XP on the hard drive. Here are the system specs so I cover the basics:

Motherboard: Gigabyte K8N nForce4 SLI Socket 939 ATX (Supports SATA)
Hard drive: Western Digital Raptor WD740GD 74GB 10,000 RPM 8MB Cache Serial ATA150
RAM: Kingston KVR400X64C3A/1G 1GB DDR400 PC3200

The BIOS loads fine. I have my boot configuration set to (1) CD-ROM (2) Floppy (3) Hard Drive. When I boot with my Windows XP disk in the CD-ROM drive it tells me "Hit any key to boot from CD...". I hit a key and it immediately tells me "No hard drive installed. Hit any key to reboot."

My hard drive is connected to SATA power and cabled into the motherboard using a Gigabyte-provided SATA cable. I've tried hooking it up to all the SATA slots on my motherboard to no avail. The jumpers are set as factory default and should be master or cable select (only one HDD).

When I boot up I think I hear the hard drive spin but can't be sure.

Is there any way to troubleshoot this without having another SATA-compatible machine at my disposal?

Thanks in advance for any help,
Peter

[antgross@pacbell.net]

Originally Posted by pvanbuskirk Hello, I put together a new computer recently and am trying to install Windows XP on the hard drive. Here are the system specs so I cover the basics: Motherboard: Gigabyte K8N nForce4 SLI Socket 939 ATX (Supports SATA) Hard drive: Western Digital Raptor WD740GD 74GB 10,000 RPM 8MB Cache Serial ATA150 RAM: Kingston KVR400X64C3A/1G 1GB DDR400 PC3200 The BIOS loads fine. I have my boot configuration set to (1) CD-ROM (2) Floppy (3) Hard Drive. When I boot with my Windows XP disk in the CD-ROM drive it tells me "Hit any key to boot from CD...". I hit a key and it immediately tells me "No hard drive installed. Hit any key to reboot." My hard drive is connected to SATA power and cabled into the motherboard using a Gigabyte-provided SATA cable. I've tried hooking it up to all the SATA slots on my motherboard to no avail. The jumpers are set as factory default and should be master or cable select (only one HDD). When I boot up I think I hear the hard drive spin but can't be sure. Is there any way to troubleshoot this without having another SATA-compatible machine at my disposal? Thanks in advance for any help, Peter

you have to preload the drivers on to a floppy first. go to the mobo maker website for your pc and get the drivers for the controller you are plugging your sata into. this is usually 'Via' or 'Promise' controller. then, when installing xp over again, it will ask if you want to preload drivers, i believe, and they you insert your floppy and go from there.

[pam123]

An nForce4 board has native SATA support, so no drivers unless it's RAID.
What I do note is that there should be specific steps for enabling SATA in bios as your primary hard drive and you haven't mentioned any of them.
I downloaded the motherboard manual :

http://america.giga-byte.com/MotherB...ultrasli_e.pdf

and I need to know which of the steps you followed in setting up the SATA drive.

[antgross@pacbell.net]

Originally Posted by pam123 An nForce4 board has native SATA support, so no drivers unless it's RAID. What I do note is that there should be specific steps for enabling SATA in bios as your primary hard drive and you haven't mentioned any of them. I downloaded the motherboard manual : http://america.giga-byte.com/MotherB...ultrasli_e.pdf and I need to know which of the steps you followed in setting up the SATA drive.

raid or no raid, he has to install the drivers. I've seenthis problem dozens of times on mbs and it's always the same.

[glc]

So have I, but this is a Nvidia controller, not a Via or a Promise or a Sil.

[antgross@pacbell.net]

Originally Posted by pvanbuskirk Hello, I put together a new computer recently and am trying to install Windows XP on the hard drive. Here are the system specs so I cover the basics: Motherboard: Gigabyte K8N nForce4 SLI Socket 939 ATX (Supports SATA) Hard drive: Western Digital Raptor WD740GD 74GB 10,000 RPM 8MB Cache Serial ATA150 RAM: Kingston KVR400X64C3A/1G 1GB DDR400 PC3200 The BIOS loads fine. I have my boot configuration set to (1) CD-ROM (2) Floppy (3) Hard Drive. When I boot with my Windows XP disk in the CD-ROM drive it tells me "Hit any key to boot from CD...". I hit a key and it immediately tells me "No hard drive installed. Hit any key to reboot." My hard drive is connected to SATA power and cabled into the motherboard using a Gigabyte-provided SATA cable. I've tried hooking it up to all the SATA slots on my motherboard to no avail. The jumpers are set as factory default and should be master or cable select (only one HDD). When I boot up I think I hear the hard drive spin but can't be sure. Is there any way to troubleshoot this without having another SATA-compatible machine at my disposal? Thanks in advance for any help, Peter

ok, ignore previous post. From the gigabyte tech site, this suggests you need to turn of the raid in bios: http://www.giga-byte.com/Motherboard...AQ/FAQ_502.htm

[pvanbuskirk]

Thanks very much for your help.

I got the drive to work and have started loading Windows.

However, when I tried to use the NVIDIA drivers CD before the Windows CD I got a message that said "Your hard drive does not support HPA". I turned off RAID in BIOS but still get this. Is this bad or normal? Should I continue to load Windows or abort? Also could someone please define HPA? I can't find it after a cursory Google search.

Thanks,
Peter

[BobGunderson]

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/H/HPA.html

Short for High-Performance Addressing, an passive-matrix display technology the provides better response rates and contrast than conventional LCD displays. Although HPA displays aren't quite as crisp or fast as active-matrix (TFT) displays, they're considerably less expensive to produce. Consequently, HPA is being used by a number of computer manufacturers for their low-end notebook computers.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/static/ht...-Glossary.html

HPA - Abbreviation for High-Performance Addressing. Developed by Hitachi, HPA is an LCD Passive-matrix display technology commonly found on low-end portable computers. Monitors featuring HPA have higher response rates and contrast, and are capable of displaying up to 16-million colors. However, HPA monitors lack the crisp display that is found with an Active-matrix display.

Wow, they misspelled glossary. That's funny.

[glc]

You don't use the Nvidia CD till Windows is already installed.

[pvanbuskirk]

Great - thanks for your help. All my issues are closed.