Latest bios on gigabyte ga-ep31-ds3l motherboard

[DaveBTorq]

I have the above mentioned motherboard with Award Software International Inc F3 Bios.
I am trying to install a 2TB drive and my system is not seeing the disk. It seems to pick up the disk type in the Bios Config list but that's all. I cannot partition nor format this brand new disk.
(1) Do I have to upgrade the BIOS ?
(2) How can I get my system to see the disk in Win 7 disk management ?
Sorry to trouble you, Sir, with my perhaps basic problems.
Best regards
David Barritt

 

[hell_storm2004]

Since you say that it is being detected in BIOS... go into Windows 7. Control Panel --> Device Manager and then you would find an option "Scan the Computer for any changes" or something similar. Click on it and see if it can read the HDD.

Anyways, you dont need to upgrade BIOS to make the PC detect the SATA HDD.

 

[DaveBTorq]

Thank you for taking the trouble to reply.
I will try what you said today. I have looked for the menu item that you mentioned and found it but have to put the sata drive back to try again.
I have approached this problem from two angles, (1) from the gigabyte side and (2) from the windows side (Win 7) but with no luck so far. What I find frustrating is the fact that the motherboard is equipped with 4 sata plugs for the use of and far less ide plugs but the sata drives are difficult to install and get going. Gigabyte are seemingly taking no interest in this common problem (yes, Gigabyte, it is common, there are many many people with this difficulty)
It is the difference between many hundreds of pounds for a new computer or motherboard or just one drive.
Is there anybody who can give a step by step guide on how to partition (my drive is a brand new, raw hard disk of 2TB capacity) and then format my HDD
I'll communicate my test results later today
Thank you once again for your help
David Barritt (UK)

 

[hell_storm2004]

You can Google for the partition guides there are tons of them out there.

 

[DaveBTorq]

Hello Mr Hell storm (sorry I don't know your name)
I first of all tried the original scan for new hardware which changed nothing
I then looked at assigning a new drive, i.e. initialising to allow formatting - no joy.
Anything I do does not allow me, on Win 7 to see the drive I am trying to install.
I have even tried just physically installing only this 2tb drive on its own with nothing else in the computer but any software that comes up on the screen will not see this drive.
I should add that the sata plugs are numbered from 0 to 3 and I have plugged in the drive to channel 0.
Am just about to give up with this motherboard. It's a pity because otherwise it has performed well for the last three or four years.
Thank you anyway for your help
Dave Barritt

 

[hell_storm2004]

Hey dont give up just yet...

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Create-and-format-a-hard-disk-partition

Ok... In Step 2, when you go into Disk Management do you see the drive show up as RAW or something?

 

[DaveBTorq]

Hey dont give up just yet...

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Create-and-format-a-hard-disk-partition

Ok... In Step 2, when you go into Disk Management do you see the drive show up as RAW or something?

No I don't, have not at any time been able to see the drive in raw state or otherwise.

 

[DaveBTorq]

Perhaps one other bit of information that might point us in the right direction- before all this I successfully intialised and formatted a 1TB sata drive. (This has now been removed and is sitting waiting for installation) This was done using a mirror image backup file for an original 500gb disk, then extending the partition size to the full 1TB.
Until I can actually see the new 2TB drive I can't go any further.

 

[hell_storm2004]

After a quick Google... it seems that there are many similar reports like this.

Few things to try:

1. First of all... Go into BIOS, and see what the configuration is for the new 2TB drive. I there should be option of RAID, AHCI, IDE. I think i have my SATA drive configured in BIOS as RAID. Dont remember. Have to go home and check this.

2. Do you have a Win 7 disk? If you have boot from it and see if the drive is detected during the installation. Don't go ahead an install Win7 just format it and come out.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/page-244697_32_50.html

Here's a long discussion about the exact same problem that you have.

Try all the troubleshooting steps given here as well:
http://www.easeus.com/resource/install-sata-hard-drive.htm