SATA blues, SATA board doesn't recognize SATA drive?

[hondablaster]

Obviously you know that SP1 does not naively support SATA.

None of these drivers worked. One of them is a floppy maker.

http://www.msi.com/index.php?func=downloaddetail&type=driver&maincat_no=1&prod_no=611

That hardware your using is old. How did you acquire a brand spanking new one.

@iptech

This can probably be debated or maybe im in the wrong. But as a rule of thumb XP SP1 does not fully support SATA (i choose to call it native, Im not sure of it technically speaking) in an installation mode without assistance from an advanced BIOS in an IDE emulated state. OR with a floppy loaded with a SATA/RAID driver.

Likewise, I owned the MSI Neo Platinum (socket 754) and had SATA in it as well. (very buggy at first) It did not detect the SATA drive inside BIOS also. I think this was an error in the first wave of BIOSes. I cannot remember how I fixed the issue. What I do remember is that when fully loaded even if my extra SATA HDDs were not detected in my BIOS they were active and fully running as extra storage devices when windows was fully booted.

 

[Airframer]

Tried it w/ the SATA/RAID floppy to no avail earlier, SATA is not supported soley by XP until SP3 I believe? I've known the guy for years, and he's ok with going IDE after a short chat. Thanks again for the assistance.

 

[iptech]

@iptech

This can probably be debated or maybe im in the wrong. But as a rule of thumb XP SP1 does not fully support SATA (i choose to call it native, Im not sure of it technically speaking) in an installation mode without assistance from an advanced BIOS in an IDE emulated state. OR with a floppy loaded with a SATA/RAID driver.

Likewise, I owned the MSI Neo Platinum (socket 754) and had SATA in it as well. (very buggy at first) It did not detect the SATA drive inside BIOS also. I think this was an error in the first wave of BIOSes. I cannot remember how I fixed the issue. What I do remember is that when fully loaded even if my extra SATA HDDs were not detected in my BIOS they were active and fully running as extra storage devices when windows was fully booted.

Any operating system can support SATA even DOS, it's the hardware that's the driving factor. As long at the hardware platform supports it and OS can work happily with SATA drives as long as suitable drivers are installed. I've still got Win 2000 systems that run off SATA RAID arrays.

But as I said earlier, if the hardware does not see the drive, suitable driver support within the OS is entirely irrelevant for diagnostic purposes for scenarios such as the one outlined by the OP.

 

[Airframer]

Stupid question, please don't flame

Would a PCI SATA card work in this situation? I've never used one and was curious if anyone had experience with this.

 

[hondablaster]

Good Idea, would it work.... Im not sure. Probably have to make a floppy driver and do the whole F6 thing etc.

What I like to do when im stuck but I have ideas is I go to retail sites that have reviewers one is Amazon.com and another is newegg.com I browse around and look for the product im interested in and see what people simply have to say.

One guy might say....

Works perfectly with my XP SP1 disk and my WD 100 GB drive. Thanks Newegg.... etc.

Another might say. Doesn't detect in my .....
Its a great way to gain knowledge through the experience of others who actually have the product in question in their possession. You can also learn new ways people use these devices.

Happy XP installing, Hondablaster.

 

[hondablaster]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816132007

Take a look at this little beast. Its cheap and people say it works.... The reviews are mixed some say you need to hit F6 and install using the CD and some say it just installs with no problem.

Good Luck.

 

[iptech]

Stupid question, please don't flame

Would a PCI SATA card work in this situation? I've never used one and was curious if anyone had experience with this.

Yes, if you have the suitable operating system drivers there's no reason why not. I used to use a PCI card IDE raid driver in my system, it worked very well. I've even had it working alongside an onboard SATA RAID controller using JBOD.

That said I still think you'd be better off just buying a new motherboard and be done with it. Spending money trying to bodge a 5 year old board to accept a new SATA II HDD just seems a bit pointless. If you were doing it as a professional job for which you hoped to earn a living from then it would be just plain daft.

Doing stuff like this is a great learning experience and you will benefit technically from the experience & knowledge it gives you, but if you're looking to do this type of work as a professional vocation then it would also be a good idea to cost in the time it's taking you to get to a working solution, even if you will never later bill for the job. It'll all help you to be able to cost a job in your head before you invest time and money into a project that the customer will later on bulk at paying for.

You seem like a top guy Airframe who's keen to learn and is not afraid to get hands-on. Even when you're learning it's good to look at jobs like these as potential paying work; imagine your mate is a potential customer, he presents you with a an old piece of kit that he wants you to get working for him. You say yes you can do it, his next questions will be how much will it cost and how long will it take? You answers will be the deciding factors as to whether you enter into a formal business contract with him or not; if yes it will be your efficient and timely execution of the work will determine whether you make a living wage or not.

As a commercial job, this project would be a disaster, but as a learning experience it'll be very useful both from a technical & commercial perspective, so don't give up, get the thing working and relish the challenge.

 

[purple_minion]

If your disk with sp1 doesn't support sata why not slipstream sp3 and possibly driverpacks? Or does the bios not show the drive during POST? Perhaps I missed it.

 

[hondablaster]

I agree with Iptech. I know its not what you want to hear but I would toss that mobo and CPU and even memory.

That whole thing with dual core same amount of ram and a nicer full featured motherboard can run around 90-100 bucks.

 

[Airframer]

I agree with ya'll- shouldn't have even tried it. BUT, now I gotta get it working just so it works- if I don't it will bug me for a while to come.

Picked up PCI SATA adapter from PC Recycle, and it won't boot w/ the 1.5 TB drive plugged in.
However, if I:
1. boot to windows with an IDE drive then
2. plug in the SATA drive to controller
3. go to control panel>administrative tools> disk management
4. wizard pops up and allows me to format/ recognizes all 1.5 TB

I WILL get this working if just for the learning experience (like don't attempt this again, lol) I'll post a detailed follow up tomorrow when I (hopefully) have this working in case anyone else encounters something this hairbrained in the future

thanks again

 

[hondablaster]

What I do remember is that when fully loaded even if my extra SATA HDDs were not detected in my BIOS they were active and fully running as extra storage devices when windows was fully booted.

Yeah same thing happened to me about 6 years ago. When you hit another obstacle toss the board. I was like you once. Take it apart and sell it in parts. Ebay is great for letting go of problem ware.

 

[iptech]

What I do remember is that when fully loaded even if my extra SATA HDDs were not detected in my BIOS they were active and fully running as extra storage devices when windows was fully booted.

Yeah same thing happened to me about 6 years ago. When you hit another obstacle toss the board. I was like you once. Take it apart and sell it in parts. Ebay is great for letting go of problem ware.

When you start replying to your own posts it's time to step away from the keyboard.