MOBO not recognizing CD/DVD player or new Hard Drive

[allamerican02]

Hi,

I inherited a computer from my parents and I am trying to fix it. Best Buy said the hard drive had failed. It is an HP p6210f: http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c01852858

I bought a new hard drive:
(Seagate 2TB Desktop Gaming SSHD(Solid State Hybrid Drive) SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache 3.5-Inch Internal Bare Drive (ST2000DX001))

I also bought some memory and a copy of Windows 10 OEM.

I installed the new hard drive, and the memory, and put the Windows CD in the CD/DVD player. I powered it up and it got stuck at the boot screen. I ran the diagnostic tool that comes with the Motherboard and it said the CPU and the Memory passed, but the Hard Drive wasn't connected. I then went into BIOS and went to the boot priority screen, and it showed that there were no bootable devices detected i.e. there was no hard drive or CD/DVD player detected.

Does anyone know why the MOBO wouldn't detect the new hard drive and the CD/DVD player? I am at a loss and am new to putting a computer together. Thank you for any help.

 

[Rogue Leader]

Did you double check all your connections? They should have both a SATA cable and a power cable. When you turn it on does the CD player light up (should have a small LED on the front)

 

[allamerican02]

Did you double check all your connections? They should have both a SATA cable and a power cable. When you turn it on does the CD player light up (should have a small LED on the front)

Yeah I double checked the connections last night. The HD and CD/DVD are both connected by SATA cables and power cables. I do not remember what SATA sockets they are plugged into on the MOBO.

The CD/DVD player does power up. I am able to open it and put the Windows 10 CD into it.

 

[Rogue Leader]

Did you double check all your connections? They should have both a SATA cable and a power cable. When you turn it on does the CD player light up (should have a small LED on the front)

Yeah I double checked the connections last night. The HD and CD/DVD are both connected by SATA cables and power cables. I do not remember what SATA sockets they are plugged into on the MOBO.

The CD/DVD player does power up. I am able to open it and put the Windows 10 CD into it.

I would try some other SATA ports (if it has any others). You don't necessarily need to use ports 1 and 2, any will work. If you still can't see the drives in the BIOS then that means the SATA controller is bad, and the hard drive wasn't bad in the first place.

Bad SATA controller = new motherboard time.

 

[allamerican02]

Did you double check all your connections? They should have both a SATA cable and a power cable. When you turn it on does the CD player light up (should have a small LED on the front)

Yeah I double checked the connections last night. The HD and CD/DVD are both connected by SATA cables and power cables. I do not remember what SATA sockets they are plugged into on the MOBO.

The CD/DVD player does power up. I am able to open it and put the Windows 10 CD into it.

I would try some other SATA ports (if it has any others). You don't necessarily need to use ports 1 and 2, any will work. If you still can't see the drives in the BIOS then that means the SATA controller is bad, and the hard drive wasn't bad in the first place.

Bad SATA controller = new motherboard time.

Ok thanks. I'll try tonight. Could it be the SATA cables themselves?

 

[Rogue Leader]

Did you double check all your connections? They should have both a SATA cable and a power cable. When you turn it on does the CD player light up (should have a small LED on the front)

Yeah I double checked the connections last night. The HD and CD/DVD are both connected by SATA cables and power cables. I do not remember what SATA sockets they are plugged into on the MOBO.

The CD/DVD player does power up. I am able to open it and put the Windows 10 CD into it.

I would try some other SATA ports (if it has any others). You don't necessarily need to use ports 1 and 2, any will work. If you still can't see the drives in the BIOS then that means the SATA controller is bad, and the hard drive wasn't bad in the first place.

Bad SATA controller = new motherboard time.

Ok thanks. I'll try tonight. Could it be the SATA cables themselves?

I've never seen a SATA cable go bad. Its not like a wall plug where you are plugging and unplugging, its just there. The chances of 2 SATA cables going bad is even slimmer. Hardware failure is far far far more likely.

 

[allamerican02]

I've been doing some research. It looks like this motherboard (M2N78-LA violet) has a history of SATA controller issues.

I'm wondering, if none of the SATA controller sockets work, can I just buy a PCI Express SATA II (3.0Gb/s) Controller Card like this one? Can I install windows and run the hard drive and optical drive like normal with such a card?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815124027

 

[Rogue Leader]

I've been doing some research. It looks like this motherboard (M2N78-LA violet) has a history of SATA controller issues.

I'm wondering, if none of the SATA controller sockets work, can I just buy a PCI Express SATA II (3.0Gb/s) Controller Card like this one? Can I install windows and run the hard drive and optical drive like normal with such a card?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815124027

Yes that definitely should work as a quick fix to this.