MSI P6N SLI Platinum SATA problems

[arkraiss]

I just built a new rig. When I started the system up, it booted fine. It asked me to put in a disk to boot from and it read the disk just fine. When I was on the license agreement for installing XP, I heard a click from inside my tower. A wire moved and blocked my CPU fan from spinning. I immediately turned off the computer so my CPU didn't fry and opened the case, moved the wire to a more secure position, and turned the computer back on. Now it won't read my SATA hard drive or DVD burner. After a few reboots it suddenly detected them in the bios again, but still wouldn't read my XP disc from my DVD drive. EDIT: Now it doesn't detect my SATA devices at all. I put in a IDE DVD rom and it ran off of that just fine, but couldn't detect my hard drive to install XP.

Is there any way I can fix this? Or am I going to have to replace my motherboard?

 

[badge]

You didn't mention which MB you have. It sounds like your BIOS 'sees' the HD, but the SATA divers are not installed. You may have to install the SATA drivers from the F6 prompt in order to gain use of your SATA hard drive.

 

[arkraiss]

actually the MB is in the subject of the thread. and it doesnt actually recognise them anymore after i rebooted. ill go into the bios and it shows nothing on any of my SATA lines. how do i install the drivers though when i cant install windows?

 

[badge]

It looks like you will have to install the SATA drivers at the F6 prompt (when windows installation first pops on the screen, at the bottom of the sceen, windows asks if you need to install any drivers). You will need the SATA drivers on a floppy to do so. Again, what MB do you have.

 

[arkraiss]

MSI P6N SLI Platinum

 

[badge]

Ok. I see it in the title. That board should not need SATA drivers installed at the F6 prompt, I did not notice the board when I read your post. I assumed you had an older model MB that needed those SATA drivers. Be sure you have the SATA HD plugged into one of the 'main' SATA controlers. Check your MB manual for 'special' SATA RAID connectors and be sure your not plugged into one of those connectors. Connect the drive to a 'common' SATA connector. Check around in BIOS to see that 'Legacy' support is enabled. You might try defaulting the BIOS too. If you can see the SATA drive in BIOS, you can load windows to it.

 

[badge]

Does your windows installation CD have Service Pack 2? Or is it older with SP1 only? No SP2 present could cause a problem like you are having.

 

[arkraiss]

*types out a long response*..... ok, my friend came over and it turns out it was my boot sequence.... apparently the XP install disc wrote the boot record on my hard drive before i rebooted to fix the wire. the hard drive was set to boot first and the dvd rom 2nd. it just got stuck on the blank hard drive with the boot sector. thanks for the sata advice though. the manual didnt say anything about a "special" sata slot, but i put the HDD on SATA1 and the dvd rom on SATA4 and the bios was able to read them again. thank GOD i dont have to RMA it. thanks for the help

 

[badge]

Glad you got it working.