New SATA HDD wont show in My Computer

[Rory Deol]

I just installed a Western Digital SE16 750GB SATA hard drive into my
system and cant get it to show in my computer. Struggling through some
ideas I installed XP on the system and got it to boot. However, doing
so won't allow any of my other drives to show (Pioneer DVR a106, HP
1040d DVD, and two WD HD's 120slave & 40master)! This is a new build
and I had to upgrade to SATA from IDE because all of my old drives
were running IDE before I purchased two SATA/IDE converters. The
converters have been running smoothly on my DVD drives and the IDE
cable has been running on my HD's. On my first attempt I simply
plugged the new HD into the SATA on the Mobo and plugged in the power
cable. The OS recognized the drive but wouldn't show it it My
Computer. Device manager saw it and new hardware wizard found it. I
thought this was a master/slave issue so I installed the OS and made
my old HD's slaves. Still nothing. In fact now the PC wouldn't boot. I
would get to Windows screen and it would hang indefinitely. Here are
the configurations I can boot:

1. IDE: 40GB master, 120GB slave, and SATA converters: DVD's (Initial
config)
2. SATA: 750GB and SATA converters: both DVD's (this configuration
only worked once during OS install and now wont show the DVD's)
3. SATA: 750GB and nothing else (after install)
4. IDE: 40GB master, 120GB slave (what I am running now, system wont
see other components anymore)

I am new to SATA, so is there some configuration issue that I don't
know about? I would put my SATA HD as a slave but the jumper
configuration says no such thing about this. Ideally though, I want
the 750GB to be my main drive that runs the OS. What could possibly be
causing this?


PC
CPU: E6750
Mobo: P5K-e Wifi
PSU: PC Power and Coolling Silencer Quad 750W
RAM: 2GB Crucial Ballistix
GPU: Leadtek 8600GT
ODD: HP 1040d DVD-RW, Pioneer A106 DVD-RW
OS: Windows XP Professional

Thanks

 

[spodosaurus]

I just installed a Western Digital SE16 750GB SATA hard drive into my
system and cant get it to show in my computer.

Did you use disk manager to partition and format it?

Struggling through some
ideas I installed XP on the system and got it to boot.

What was on it before? You said you added a drive and it didn't show up
in My Computer, which leads people to believe that a version of windows
(usually xp) was already there.

However, doing
so won't allow any of my other drives to show (Pioneer DVR a106, HP
1040d DVD, and two WD HD's 120slave & 40master)!

What drive did you install XP on?

This is a new build

You said before that you installed a SATA drive into a pre-existing
system with windows on it. Please make up your mind and be specific, it
helps people to help you.

and I had to upgrade to SATA from IDE because all of my old drives
were running IDE before I purchased two SATA/IDE converters.

So what's the exact configuration now, or will I see that below?

The
converters have been running smoothly on my DVD drives and the IDE
cable has been running on my HD's. On my first attempt I simply
plugged the new HD into the SATA on the Mobo and plugged in the power
cable. The OS recognized the drive but wouldn't show it it My
Computer.

Did you use "Disk Management" to partition and format the drive???

Device manager saw it and new hardware wizard found it. I
thought this was a master/slave issue so I installed the OS and made
my old HD's slaves.

Where did you RE-install XP??

Yeah, when all else fails just start randomly plugging and unplugging
things *sigh*

There is no master/slave scenario with SATA.

Still nothing. In fact now the PC wouldn't boot.

Because you haphazardly and hysterically buggered it up. Now decide
where you want your OS, where you want your data, etc etc. Then start
from scratch with the install. OR you can undo whatever the heck you did
(you haven't been clear) and return to the working configuration of
windows before you added the SATA drive.

I
would get to Windows screen and it would hang indefinitely. Here are
the configurations I can boot:

1. IDE: 40GB master, 120GB slave, and SATA converters: DVD's (Initial
config)
2. SATA: 750GB and SATA converters: both DVD's (this configuration
only worked once during OS install and now wont show the DVD's)
3. SATA: 750GB and nothing else (after install)
4. IDE: 40GB master, 120GB slave (what I am running now, system wont
see other components anymore)

Wipe the drives and start from scratch. If you're running winxp pre SP1
(or is it SP2?) then you may need to load a sata driver during install
(that little press F6 option) to get things running. Personally, I find
it much easier to slipstream SP2 so I get a better installation.

I am new to SATA, so is there some configuration issue that I don't
know about? I would put my SATA HD as a slave but the jumper
configuration says no such thing about this.

Haven't you done your reading? SATA is much easier than IDE.

Ideally though, I want
the 750GB to be my main drive that runs the OS. What could possibly be
causing this?

See above.

PC
CPU: E6750
Mobo: P5K-e Wifi
PSU: PC Power and Coolling Silencer Quad 750W
RAM: 2GB Crucial Ballistix
GPU: Leadtek 8600GT
ODD: HP 1040d DVD-RW, Pioneer A106 DVD-RW
OS: Windows XP Professional

SP1? SP2?

Thanks

--
spammage trappage: remove the underscores to reply
Many people around the world are waiting for a marrow transplant. Please
volunteer to be a marrow donor and literally save someone's life:
http://www.abmdr.org.au/
http://www.marrow.org/

 

[Rory Deol]

Did you use disk manager to partition and format it?


What was on it before? You said you added a drive and it didn't show up
in My Computer, which leads people to believe that a version of windows
(usually xp) was already there.


What drive did you install XP on?


You said before that you installed a SATA drive into a pre-existing
system with windows on it. Please make up your mind and be specific, it
helps people to help you.


So what's the exact configuration now, or will I see that below?


Did you use "Disk Management" to partition and format the drive???


Where did you RE-install XP??

Yeah, when all else fails just start randomly plugging and unplugging
things *sigh*

There is no master/slave scenario with SATA.


Because you haphazardly and hysterically buggered it up. Now decide
where you want your OS, where you want your data, etc etc. Then start
from scratch with the install. OR you can undo whatever the heck you did
(you haven't been clear) and return to the working configuration of
windows before you added the SATA drive.



Wipe the drives and start from scratch. If you're running winxp pre SP1
(or is it SP2?) then you may need to load a sata driver during install
(that little press F6 option) to get things running. Personally, I find
it much easier to slipstream SP2 so I get a better installation.


Haven't you done your reading? SATA is much easier than IDE.


See above.




SP1? SP2?

I always seem to leave something out of the description. Thanks for
the quick response. I have Windows XP SP2 on both the 40GB and the
750GB. The 40GB and 120GB were in my old system, hence the "new build"
old OS. Unfortunately, I did not use disk manager. Trust me, I'm
really kicking myself now for not doing so considering that it seems
like the first thing I should have done. I would really like to avoid
wiping my 120GB drive as it has all of my important data on it.
However, I have no problem dumping the 40GB. Would that bring me any
closer to a solution? Its good to hear that SATA is the easier
alternative, I was just thinking that there was some conflict with
running SATA and IDE drives at the same time. I thought about the SATA
drivers and figured that if my PC could boot successfully using only
the 750GB SATA drive that there was no issue. Also I have been using
the SATA converters for two weeks with no problems. For now I won't
worry about the missing DVD drives. My current config uses the 40GB as
the master and 120GB as the slave. This boots quite comfortably, just
not while the 750GB is installed. I will go home and troubleshoot some
more tonight as I really don't want to resort to wiping the drive. One
last issue, say I get the system to boot from the 750GB drive and
everything is great, what configuration do I use for the IDE hard
drives? Both slaves? CS?

 

[DonC]

I always seem to leave something out of the description. Thanks for
the quick response. I have Windows XP SP2 on both the 40GB and the
750GB. The 40GB and 120GB were in my old system, hence the "new build"
old OS. Unfortunately, I did not use disk manager. Trust me, I'm
really kicking myself now for not doing so considering that it seems
like the first thing I should have done. I would really like to avoid
wiping my 120GB drive as it has all of my important data on it.
However, I have no problem dumping the 40GB. Would that bring me any
closer to a solution? Its good to hear that SATA is the easier
alternative, I was just thinking that there was some conflict with
running SATA and IDE drives at the same time. I thought about the SATA
drivers and figured that if my PC could boot successfully using only
the 750GB SATA drive that there was no issue. Also I have been using
the SATA converters for two weeks with no problems. For now I won't
worry about the missing DVD drives. My current config uses the 40GB as
the master and 120GB as the slave. This boots quite comfortably, just
not while the 750GB is installed. I will go home and troubleshoot some
more tonight as I really don't want to resort to wiping the drive. One
last issue, say I get the system to boot from the 750GB drive and
everything is great, what configuration do I use for the IDE hard
drives? Both slaves? CS?

Ok, I'll take a quick stab at this --- with some assumptions since your
description of your system isn't exactly clear to my old mind.

1) I assume you want the 750 SATA to be your boot drive. Yes?
2) I assume you want to keep the 40 and 120 GB drives for access as data
drives --- not to boot from. ??
3) Hopefully your new MB has two IDE channels. If not you'll only be able to
connect two devices.

If yes to all of the above:

1) Connect your 750 SATA to the first SATA drive position.
2) Connect your old 120 GB data drive as the Master on your Primary IDE
channel ( I'm assuming it doesn't have Win XP installed on it)
3) Connect your old 40 GB boot drive as slave on primary.
4) Connect your two DVD drives on the Secondary IDE channel (Master/Slave)

This should boot up and you should be able to see everything unless I
missed something here.

If you get this far, you can tweak you IDE drive positions to improve
performance but keep your old IDE boot drive off of the Primary Master.

Good Luck

PS- This is similar to how I'm setup on my Asus board. I didn't have to
install any SW via F6 during installation of Win XP so I doubt you will
either unless you want to install a Raid setup.

 

[DonC]

Ok, I'll take a quick stab at this --- with some assumptions since your
description of your system isn't exactly clear to my old mind.

1) I assume you want the 750 SATA to be your boot drive. Yes?
2) I assume you want to keep the 40 and 120 GB drives for access as data
drives --- not to boot from. ??
3) Hopefully your new MB has two IDE channels. If not you'll only be able
to connect two devices.

If yes to all of the above:

1) Connect your 750 SATA to the first SATA drive position.
2) Connect your old 120 GB data drive as the Master on your Primary IDE
channel ( I'm assuming it doesn't have Win XP installed on it)
3) Connect your old 40 GB boot drive as slave on primary.
4) Connect your two DVD drives on the Secondary IDE channel (Master/Slave)

This should boot up and you should be able to see everything unless I
missed something here.

If you get this far, you can tweak you IDE drive positions to improve
performance but keep your old IDE boot drive off of the Primary Master.

Good Luck

PS- This is similar to how I'm setup on my Asus board. I didn't have to
install any SW via F6 during installation of Win XP so I doubt you will
either unless you want to install a Raid setup.

Oops, it looks like your board only has one IDE channel. Buy another SATA
drive (200 or 250 GB+) and partition it 25%/75%. Without your DVDs
connected , copy the 40GB to the 25% partition and the 120 to your 75%
partition. Replace them with your DVD devices.

You don't want to hang on to your old IDE HD technology anyway. You can get
a 250GB to 320GB SATA from Newegg for less than $70 shipped free.

 

[Anna]

I just installed a Western Digital SE16 750GB SATA hard drive into my
system and cant get it to show in my computer. Struggling through some
ideas I installed XP on the system and got it to boot. However, doing
so won't allow any of my other drives to show (Pioneer DVR a106, HP
1040d DVD, and two WD HD's 120slave & 40master)! This is a new build
and I had to upgrade to SATA from IDE because all of my old drives
were running IDE before I purchased two SATA/IDE converters. The
converters have been running smoothly on my DVD drives and the IDE
cable has been running on my HD's. On my first attempt I simply
plugged the new HD into the SATA on the Mobo and plugged in the power
cable. The OS recognized the drive but wouldn't show it it My
Computer. Device manager saw it and new hardware wizard found it. I
thought this was a master/slave issue so I installed the OS and made
my old HD's slaves. Still nothing. In fact now the PC wouldn't boot. I
would get to Windows screen and it would hang indefinitely. Here are
the configurations I can boot:

1. IDE: 40GB master, 120GB slave, and SATA converters: DVD's (Initial
config)
2. SATA: 750GB and SATA converters: both DVD's (this configuration
only worked once during OS install and now wont show the DVD's)
3. SATA: 750GB and nothing else (after install)
4. IDE: 40GB master, 120GB slave (what I am running now, system wont
see other components anymore)

I am new to SATA, so is there some configuration issue that I don't
know about? I would put my SATA HD as a slave but the jumper
configuration says no such thing about this. Ideally though, I want
the 750GB to be my main drive that runs the OS. What could possibly be
causing this?


PC
CPU: E6750
Mobo: P5K-e Wifi
PSU: PC Power and Coolling Silencer Quad 750W
RAM: 2GB Crucial Ballistix
GPU: Leadtek 8600GT
ODD: HP 1040d DVD-RW, Pioneer A106 DVD-RW
OS: Windows XP Professional

Thanks

(Rory later adds...)

I always seem to leave something out of the description. Thanks for
the quick response. I have Windows XP SP2 on both the 40GB and the
750GB. The 40GB and 120GB were in my old system, hence the "new build"
old OS. Unfortunately, I did not use disk manager. Trust me, I'm
really kicking myself now for not doing so considering that it seems
like the first thing I should have done. I would really like to avoid
wiping my 120GB drive as it has all of my important data on it.
However, I have no problem dumping the 40GB. Would that bring me any
closer to a solution? Its good to hear that SATA is the easier
alternative, I was just thinking that there was some conflict with
running SATA and IDE drives at the same time. I thought about the SATA
drivers and figured that if my PC could boot successfully using only
the 750GB SATA drive that there was no issue. Also I have been using
the SATA converters for two weeks with no problems. For now I won't
worry about the missing DVD drives. My current config uses the 40GB as
the master and 120GB as the slave. This boots quite comfortably, just
not while the 750GB is installed. I will go home and troubleshoot some
more tonight as I really don't want to resort to wiping the drive. One
last issue, say I get the system to boot from the 750GB drive and
everything is great, what configuration do I use for the IDE hard
drives? Both slaves? CS?

Ok, I'll take a quick stab at this --- with some assumptions since your
description of your system isn't exactly clear to my old mind.

1) I assume you want the 750 SATA to be your boot drive. Yes?
2) I assume you want to keep the 40 and 120 GB drives for access as data
drives --- not to boot from. ??
3) Hopefully your new MB has two IDE channels. If not you'll only be able
to
connect two devices.

If yes to all of the above:

1) Connect your 750 SATA to the first SATA drive position.
2) Connect your old 120 GB data drive as the Master on your Primary IDE
channel ( I'm assuming it doesn't have Win XP installed on it)
3) Connect your old 40 GB boot drive as slave on primary.
4) Connect your two DVD drives on the Secondary IDE channel (Master/Slave)

This should boot up and you should be able to see everything unless I
missed something here.

If you get this far, you can tweak you IDE drive positions to improve
performance but keep your old IDE boot drive off of the Primary Master.

(and DonC later adds...)

Oops, it looks like your board only has one IDE channel. Buy another
SATA
drive (200 or 250 GB+) and partition it 25%/75%. Without your DVDs
connected , copy the 40GB to the 25% partition and the 120 to your 75%
partition. Replace them with your DVD devices.

You don't want to hang on to your old IDE HD technology anyway. You can
get
a 250GB to 320GB SATA from Newegg for less than $70 shipped free.

Rory...
Just to continue along more-or-less the same line as DonC...

1. You've installed the XP OS on your new 750 GB HDD. Presumably the install
went well and the HDD is (potentially) a bootable, functional drive at this
point. Presumably you want to use that HDD as your boot drive, right? And
there's no RAID configuration involved here, right?

2. So with your SATA HDD connected to your motherboard's SATA1 connector
with the *only* other devices connected being your two optical drives - *no*
PATA HDDs connected...

3. And your BIOS settings reflect the default settings and the boot priority
order reflects that the SATA HDD is first in boot priority (or second behind
one of the optical drives).

4. So you can boot without incident and the SATA HDD will boot to a normal
Desktop. Is that right?

5. Assuming the above is the case, are you saying that neither one of your
two optical drives are recognized by the system at this point? You're sure
you've properly connected/configured the optical drives and presumably
neither one is defective, right?

6. I'm sure you understand as Don has indicated that since your ASUS
motherboard has only one IDE channel you will be able to install only two
PATA devices unless you install a PCI controller card in an available slot
to accommodate the extra PATA devices. (I'm assuming that both of your
optical drives are PATA, and not SATA devices.)

Anyway, if I correctly understand your basic problem you may want to respond
to the above.
Anna

 

[Rory Deol]

Oops, it looks like your board only has one IDE channel. Buy another SATA
drive (200 or 250 GB+) and partition it 25%/75%. Without your DVDs
connected , copy the 40GB to the 25% partition and the 120 to your 75%
partition. Replace them with your DVD devices.

You don't want to hang on to your old IDE HD technology anyway. You can get
a 250GB to 320GB SATA from Newegg for less than $70 shipped free.

Thanks DonC! I set it up like you said and now I can boot my OS from
the 750 SATA and have all three HDD's present in My Computer. The only
problem now is that I can't see my DVD drives! It never fails that
every new addition to my PC stirs up a slew of troubleshooting. But
hey, I guess its all a learning process. I have plugged my 750 SATA
into the SATA1 slot and have been using it successfully. The problem
occurs when I plug my DVD's into any of the other 5 SATA slots. Keep
in mind that I am using a IDE-to-SATA converter for the DVD's, here's
a link to the product:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...em=350016642051&_trksid=p3984.cTODAY.m238.lVI
I had the converters installed and working before the 750 SATA came in
to play. Now I am thinking that during the new install I may have
damaged them. I will try to install them on my HDD's and run them in
that manner to see if the converters respond. Thanks for the help.

 

[Rory Deol]

(Rory later adds...)













(and DonC later adds...)



Rory...
Just to continue along more-or-less the same line as DonC...

1. You've installed the XP OS on your new 750 GB HDD. Presumably the install
went well and the HDD is (potentially) a bootable, functional drive at this
point. Presumably you want to use that HDD as your boot drive, right? And
there's no RAID configuration involved here, right?

2. So with your SATA HDD connected to your motherboard's SATA1 connector
with the *only* other devices connected being your two optical drives - *no*
PATA HDDs connected...

3. And your BIOS settings reflect the default settings and the boot priority
order reflects that the SATA HDD is first in boot priority (or second behind
one of the optical drives).

4. So you can boot without incident and the SATA HDD will boot to a normal
Desktop. Is that right?

5. Assuming the above is the case, are you saying that neither one of your
two optical drives are recognized by the system at this point? You're sure
you've properly connected/configured the optical drives and presumably
neither one is defective, right?

6. I'm sure you understand as Don has indicated that since your ASUS
motherboard has only one IDE channel you will be able to install only two
PATA devices unless you install a PCI controller card in an available slot
to accommodate the extra PATA devices. (I'm assuming that both of your
optical drives are PATA, and not SATA devices.)

Anyway, if I correctly understand your basic problem you may want to respond
to the above.
Anna

1. Yup. You've got it all right. No RAID. I do want the 750 SATA as my
boot device, and the install for XP Pro went well.
2-5. Ok, I tried booting without the two smaller HDD's and with both
DVD's on PATA instead of the SATA converters. As it turns out they
will show in My Computer this way but not when they use the
converters. I assume this means that the converters are bunk, right?
If so, looks like its back to NewEgg.
6. I will do some looking into on the PCI Controllers. Sounds like a
pretty clean solution to my problems.

Thanks for all the help, I really appreciate it.

 

[DonC]

Thanks DonC! I set it up like you said and now I can boot my OS from
the 750 SATA and have all three HDD's present in My Computer. The only
problem now is that I can't see my DVD drives! It never fails that
every new addition to my PC stirs up a slew of troubleshooting. But
hey, I guess its all a learning process. I have plugged my 750 SATA
into the SATA1 slot and have been using it successfully. The problem
occurs when I plug my DVD's into any of the other 5 SATA slots. Keep
in mind that I am using a IDE-to-SATA converter for the DVD's, here's
a link to the product:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...em=350016642051&_trksid=p3984.cTODAY.m238.lVI
I had the converters installed and working before the 750 SATA came in
to play. Now I am thinking that during the new install I may have
damaged them. I will try to install them on my HDD's and run them in
that manner to see if the converters respond. Thanks for the help.

In any event, I strongly suggest that you take the inevitable long term
route -- NOW. Replace your 2 IDE drives with another SATA drive and
dedicate your 2 IDE ports to your DVD drives. You're going to get there
anyway. Why built a nice new system using a kludgey IDE-to-SATA converter?
An SATA drive is rated at 300 MB/s vs. 133 MB/s for your IDE drives. In
fact you have plenty of room on that 750 SATA to copy both of your PATAs
until your new $70 250 to 320MB SATA arrives.

Cheers

 

[DonC]

1. Yup. You've got it all right. No RAID. I do want the 750 SATA as my
boot device, and the install for XP Pro went well.
2-5. Ok, I tried booting without the two smaller HDD's and with both
DVD's on PATA instead of the SATA converters. As it turns out they
will show in My Computer this way but not when they use the
converters. I assume this means that the converters are bunk, right?
If so, looks like its back to NewEgg.
6. I will do some looking into on the PCI Controllers. Sounds like a
pretty clean solution to my problems.

Not clean at all. Why are you trying to hang onto your old IDE drives when
SATAs are relatively cheap and, performance wise, head and shoulders above
PATAs?