SATA drive not detected in bios - is this normal?

[steve_77]

I was searching the board esp the SATA guide and SATA faq - but cant seem to find what im looking for --all my drives in the past were IDE - but now i got a tyan MB with SATA and IDE - i connected my cdrom onto the ide, and the WD80g SATA to SATA1 - but the SATA drive not detected in bios - is this normal? i guess im wondering i it is typical for a computer/MB with SATA support and IDE support to not list/show the SATA drive on the bios/post boot startup screen?

again i installed a MB with IDE and SATA support - hooked up my old crdom to ide and a brand new disk to SATA - no - O.S. is installed yet but when the system boots and shows how much ram and , the drives and such - it only reports the IDE cdrom and does not show the SATA drive - but when i tried to install the os (linux) the os found it -- but is it typical to not show up on the start-up screen?

if so perhaps this should be added to FAQ or SATA guide --
thanks - steve

[RJ]

is this normal?

No. The drive has to be detected, otherwise you can't use it. Are you sure you connected the drive to one of the native SATA ports rather than one controlled by an extra chip ?
In the latter case, the controller chip has its own BIOS.

RJ

[steve_77]

it is a build in feature of the MB : tyan

It seems like I can use the drive -- started installing linux on it, but on boot up do not see drive in bios screen can only see IDE drives -- am thinking perhaps the SATA controller is brhind a bridge so the bios not intelligent to see it on boot but its there.

at first i though it was power issue or bios setting - tried chnging bios info - nothing then hooked up an IDE power lug thinking that it also had to be connected along with an sata power cable, but that didnt fix it eaither -- think its a bridge, but my linux distro sees the WD drive ok? -- just though it was kinda odd... any other thoughts -- willi hurt if i leave both power plugs hooked up to it? or should i take the IDE 4 pin lug off and only use the sata power plug? (i dont think this is issue)

[RJ]

Seems you're using an external SATA controller. But then, the controller should have an extra BIOS.

What mainboard do you have ?

RJ

[Kareeser]

Yes, it will hurt if you plug both power cords to it. Just stick with the SATA power cable

[steve_77]

how could using both the sata power cable and a legacy power conector hurt the drive? - you sure - that doesnt really make sense...

what would happen if you tried to store data on it when both power recepticles populated?

[cmillar6]

Kareeser is correct, do not use both power cords, you run the risk of frying your drive. Choose one or the other.

[mikeL]

I have a ASUS A8N-SLI Premium, with two WD Caviar 250 hard drives, I use the nVidia controller chip, and the only hardware that shows up in the BIOS is my SATA DVD burner, I can however access my raid setup by hitting F-10, which takes me to the nVidia raid controller.

Mike

[RJ]

you sure

Of course. It is also written as a warning on the drive itself.

RJ