Newbie in trouble - Vista doesn't see HD

[EA_MAN]

Hi All,

I "completed" my first build last week and cannot get Vista to install; it refuses to recognize the HDD.

When Vista asks for the drivers for the HD and I point to the mobo's install disk, Vista can read the disk and see the drivers.
However after it attempts to load the drivers it gives the following message:

"No Drives were found."
"Click Load Driver to provide Mass Storage for Installation"

I have also attempted to specify the HD as ACHI with similar results.

HELP!

The build consists of:

GPU: XFX PVT98GYDLU GeForce 9800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3
Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-MA770-UD3 AM2+/AM2 AMD 770
CPU: AMD Phenom 9950 Agena 2.6GHz
RAM: 4GB OCZ Reaper (2x2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066
PSU: ROSEWILL RP600V2-S-SL-S 600W
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Blue 640GB
OS: VISTA HOME PREMIUM 64BIT
OD: SAMSUNG SH-S222L IDE

Everything powers up, all the hardware is recognized in BIOS.
I attached the HDD to another machine (XP Pro 32-bit) and it was correctly recognized.
Though I could not format the drive successfully with XP(?)

BIOS is Award Software

CMOS:
====
The Optical Drive is set to IDE Channel 0 Master
The HDD is set to IDE Channel 2 Master
Memory is correctly recognized
There's no Floppy Drive.
Floppy is listed as disabled

BIOS:
====
The HDD is specified for Hard Disk Boot Priority
CDROM = 1st Boot Device
HDD= 2nd B.D.
CDROM = 3rd B.D.
(Again, No Floppy)

Integrated Peripherals:
================
OnChip SATA Controller = Enabled
OnChip SATA Type = Native IDE


Thanks in advance!!

 

[Proximon]

This is a SATA drive? I'm not familiar with your boards BIOS, but it seems odd that you would be specifying "Master" for a SATA drive.

Do you have both the SATA cable and SATA power cable connected? If the HD also has a 4-pin molex power socket that should NOT be used.

You should also not need any drivers for the HD. The only drivers you would need would be for perhaps a SCSI drive or RAID controller.

Beyond all that, I would say the drive was bad.

 

[EA_MAN]

This is a SATA drive? I'm not familiar with your boards BIOS, but it seems odd that you would be specifying "Master" for a SATA drive.

Do you have both the SATA cable and SATA power cable connected? If the HD also has a 4-pin molex power socket that should NOT be used.

You should also not need any drivers for the HD. The only drivers you would need would be for perhaps a SCSI drive or RAID controller.

Beyond all that, I would say the drive was bad.

Yes, it is SATA.

Both the SATA power cable and SATA data cable appear to be connected correctly.

Is there way where I can NOT specify Master for the SATA in CMOS?

IDE Auto Detection recognizes at least the size of the drive correctly.
Extended IDE Drive is set to Auto.
Access Mode is Auto as well.

Thanks

 

[Proximon]

No reason for us to get too complicated here. This technology should all be working together just fine.

If you like, you could download the Ultimate Boot CD and perhaps get a successful diagnostic on the hard drive:
http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

You might try switching SATA ports first, although that's not likely an issue.

I'm sure it's either the board or the HD, and I would favor the HD as the problem.

 

[knotknut]

I have had 2 new HDD's that were not recognized. 1 Seagate and 1 WD.
To format the drives I put them in a USB enclosure and formatted on another PC.
Don't ask why they would format Via USB and not SATA, I dont know. All I know is that it worked for me.

 

[ailgatrat]

"The HDD is set to IDE Channel 2 Master "

Shouldn't you only have one IDE device listed here? All other IDE channels should state [None].

"CDROM = 1st Boot Device
HDD= 2nd B.D.
CDROM = 3rd B.D. "

Couldn't help but notice you have the cdrom listed in the boot sequence twice. I'd disable the 3rd boot device option.

"OnChip SATA Type = Native IDE"

Should be AHCI, I think.

To be honest though, I was really tired when I installed mine. Took me three tries before it would finally install properly.

Had to download the ACHI raid drivers from the Gigabyte support page for my mobo. I don't use raid, but if you read the file description, it said that this driver was specifically for single SATA drive use. Go figure. Good Luck.

 

[EA_MAN]

No reason for us to get too complicated here. This technology should all be working together just fine.

If you like, you could download the Ultimate Boot CD and perhaps get a successful diagnostic on the hard drive:
http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

You might try switching SATA ports first, although that's not likely an issue.

I'm sure it's either the board or the HD, and I would favor the HD as the problem.

Thanks.

I will try the UBCD and see what happens.

Thanks again.

 

[EA_MAN]

Thanks.

I will try the UBCD and see what happens.

Thanks again.

*** UPDATE ***

The UBCD worked great with the exception of it would only allow a partition of up to ~148GB.
Still got me by the main issue.

The next issue was several BSOD's that were apparently related to the OCZ Reaper RAM.
Maybe because it is supposed to be 2.2v and the mobo wants 1.8v....

I pulled out first one stick and tried to load windows and then the other which worked.

Anyway, finally got Vista installed, we'll see how we do from here.
I'll keep my eye on the RAM. If it proves to be a problem, I'll replace it with something else and
use it in another build.

Next time, I'll be a little more careful about aligning component specs!

Thanks for your help!!

 

[shortstuff_mt]

You should be able to manually set the RAM speed/timings/voltage to the manufacturers specs in the BIOS. After you do that, it's a good idea to test the RAM with memtest86+ overnight to test for RAM errors. Properly functioning RAM will not return any errors when set to the correct speed/timings/voltage.

 

[Proximon]

Yep, your MB doesn't only want 1.8V... it's just having trouble talking to your RAM and understanding it's needs. :lol: