Problem with BIOS/Windows 7 detecting a HDD

[thrice]

Back with another question..

I recently built a computer with Windows 7 and an SSD for booting. I had the drive set to AHCI in the SATA0 port and it installed and booted fine.

Once I had everything up and running I turned the computer off, plugged in a WD 1.5TB HDD in to SATA1 and restarted my computer. My computer booted just fine but when I got into Windows I didn't see the HDD drive. I restarted my computer again and went in to the CMOS. When I go to standard CMOS features I don't see any drives (SSD showed up under IDE Channel 0 Master and optical under 0 Slave before) under any of the IDE Channels.

Any suggestions on what I need to do get all my drives showing up in the BIOS and the HDD showing up in Windows?

Thanks.

 

[Ijack]

Just to clarify - when you say that you don't see the hard drive in Windows do you mean in Disk Management? If it doesn't appear there then you have a problem; if it does then you just need to partition and format it before it will appear in Explorer.

 

[thrice]

Ahh, didn't look in Disk Management, just in Explorer. I'll check that but it should still be seen in my BIOS though correct?

If it isn't in Disk Management should I try a different SATA port? How else could I troubleshoot.

 

[Ijack]

I would have thouth that it should be seen in the BIOS, but if it works don't worry (after all, you say the SSD is not shown in the BIOS but works). If it doesn't appear in disk management then I would try all combinations of SATA ports - and try it with the SSD unplugged (just to see what happens). The results may help someone to narrow down the issue.

 

[thrice]

So here is what I have right now. SSD and Optical plugged in to Port 0/1 set to AHCI, HDD plugged in to Port 4 set to IDE. When I'm in the BIOS the only drive that shows up for the IDE Channel is the HDD under Channel 0 Master. If I have the SSD or optical plugged in to 0-4 they don't show up in the IDE Channel config but they function fine and load in Windows. When I load the computer the Post screen tells me that my SSD is active. I go in to Windows and I can see all drives and I can initialized the HDD for formatting.

During OS installation on the SSD the HDD wasn't even plugged. Previously, before I loaded the OS all drives (SSD, optical, HDD) showed up fine in the IDE Channel config (in IDE state). When I loaded the OS with only the SSD and optical plugged in to 0/1 with AHCI they showed up. So next I went and plugged the HDD in Port 2, went to the BIOS, they didn't show up but the OS still loaded I just couldn't see the HDD. I unplugged the HDD and BIOS still showed nothing in the IDE Channel config. If I plug the HDD in to Port 4 (configed for IDE) with SSD and optical in 0/1 the HDD shows up in IDE Channel 0 Master and when Windows loads everything is fine. I don't know if I should just go with this setting for now since it actually works.

If each drive is working fine for windows I'm thinking my cables would be fine. Same goes with the PSU right? And again for the Mobo, if everything is working it just isn't showing up the mobo (but was before) probably isn't faulty just might be a setting I need to change. Since this is a brand new build there is no other OS or data on any of the drives. I'm planning on updating the BIOS because there is a newer version, I just not confident in how to perform the update.

Here is everything I had for my build that might be pertinent.

Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-890GPA-UD3H
SSD: OCZ Vertex 2 60gb
Power Supply: OCZ 700MXSP
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Green 1.5TB EARS
OS: Windows 7 system builders
CD/DVD ROM: ASUS DRW-24B1ST
Edit/Delete Message

 

[arjunp2085]

If the mainboad is set to AHCI the Drives will not be visible in IDE configuration. You will have to get into "AHCI BIOS"

This screen gets to just after the Post screen I think ctrl+A will get you in to that..

I would strongly suggest that you set all the Drives to AHCI and try to access the Drives..

Bios update will be best way to go forward.
it is very easy.. use this utility to do it it works within windows and has a decent GUI (Just make sure you do not lose power)

@bios ...> utility name

http://gigabyte.com/MicroSite/121/tech_a_bios.htm

 

[Ijack]

If it works then I wouldn't worry about whether the disks show up in the BIOS or not.