OT: computer guys, any chance of a lil help?

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metalowns101

metalowns101

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hey all, i recently got a new HDD for my computer. its a western digital 500gb (http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/124228) and it runs via sata. now, my plan was to use my teeny old hardrive for windows (which i have managed to get to work fine, no problems) and then use the other drive for data and storage. when i rig the drive up however, via sata, it does not get read, and i get a load of stuff about bios not being installed. then i tried it plugged into the raid slots on my motherboard. i dont get anything about bios not being installed, but i do get an error message about "array is not defined" or something like that. i tried setting up an array, and in the program thats used to set it up the hardrive is found, and can be used in an array. however, when i actually get into windows and go to my computer, the drive is no where to be seen! so in theory, the computer knows the drive is there, but doesnt! :confused:

anyways, any help would be much appreciated!

note: windows is running fine, and the main hardrive is running fine, i just need this 500gb monster for storage ala films music recording and games.
 
update: windows now wont work properly. even though i installed windows on the working hard drive, it still requires the cd to boot up :thumbsdown:
 
Hmmm...
well if you set up the new drive as part of a raid array, then windows won't see it and your other drive - because it's part of an array - windows will see it as one "logical" drive even though it's two physical drives. Raid is useful but I'm not sure you need it unless you're running a server. Not sure what windows supports raid-wise (stripped, redundant, or both).

You might need to reinstall windows on the small drive.
Run the other drive as a serial ATA -
the error you're getting indicates that you may need to either reconfigure your Bios or run the bios disk that came with your motherboard to load the necessary drivers, or go to the motherboard vendors website and grab the newest Bios release and flash the bios then load the drivers needed.

I'd try going into the Bios first and seeing what you can do in there to enable the sata functions on the motherboard then loading the drivers needed to run the drives.

What kind of Motherboard are we talking about anyway?

EDIT: If you flash the Bios be really careful to do it exactly like the manufacturer describes. You screw that up and you're pretty much finished.
 
^ thanks alot dude, much appreciated! :thumbsup:

i'll give that a go, the windows on the small hard drive is a fresh install done not an hour ago, but it still will not read it. i have the drive plugged into the standard sata (im assuming that stands for serial ata) slot, but it just acts as if its not there?

EDIT: the motherboard is an asus A8V deluxe
 
I just built a new system with a SATA drive and Windows wouldn't load. You have to install RAID/SATA drivers for it to be recognized. I don't know how you'd do it since you installed Windows on a smaller drive, but I can tell you how to do it if you only have the SATA drive connected and are trying to install Windows on it.

When you boot up your computer with the Windows disk in, a screen should come up asking if you want to install 3rd party drivers for either RAID or SATA. Say yes or push which ever key it tells you too. It will take you to a new screen that will give you instructions on how to install the drivers. If you don't have a disk with the drivers on it then you should be able to download one from the ASUS site. It was a little tricky because the drivers were in sub folders on the disk, so I think I opened all the sub folders and saved the "opened" folders on a disk. Once I did this, Windows installed normally. You should be able to get free tech support from either ASUS or the hard drive manufacturer that can help you install the drive step by step over the phone.
 
cheers, but i really wanna keep the small drive with windows on it and use the other for storage. thats what i ran before and it was perfect for me. i have the support disk that i presume has the drivers on it, but i dunno how to use it, if that makes sense!

the exact error messages i get are

"scan devices, please wait...
press < tab > key into user window!

Hardware initiate failed, please check device!!!
the bios does not be installed. press <g> to continue!" then

scanning ide drives...

no drive attached to fastrak controller, the bios is not installed."
 
Yeah you have to load those drivers somehow, but I've never tried it from windows. Did you try just putting the disk in, exploring it, and trying to find drivers you can install from Windows? If you can't do that, I'd be on the phone with tech support. The 20 minute hold time will pay off if you get someone you can understand.
 
yeah, ive tried everything. i have a friend whos dad is great with computers, so he said hed give me a hand. but seriously guys, i really appreciate the help you have given me! this place is second to none for any kinda advice! :thumbsup:
 
I found this:
http://www.chovy.com/personal/install-s ... therboard/

Hope it helps :thumbsup:

So I bought my computer parts on newgg.com, and started assembly all the pieces last night. Turns out my Western Digital Raptor was an SATA harddrive, which is faster than IDE, but a bit more frustrating to get the Windows XP installation cd to recognize it.

Parts:

ASUS A8V Deluxe motherboard

Western Digital Raptor SATA hdd (1)

The steps are not that difficult once you know how:

1) Plug in 1 sata hdd to the first plug in the mother board with sata cable (see motherboard instructions)

2) Enter Bios, choose boot mode: 1) floppy, 2) cd, 3) hdd. At this point, my hdd was recongized by the bios (a good sign).

3) Disable Promise Raid stuff, enable BootRom thing (I forget the exact wording) - this will enable you to use the VIA raid driver from asus web site, recommended over the Promoise raid driver for speed improvements.

4) Install XP, hit F6 when it asks (bottom of screen), then type “S” to specify the driver for the hdd.

This is where it got tricky for me, I only had the ASUS CD which came with the motherboard, and XP wouldn’t read from it. So I had to buy a floppy drive :-( Then went to asus web site, and found the Via Raid drive (7mb) zip file and extracted it to c:\temp on my win2k box. There is a utility in there somewhere called “MakeDisk.exe”, just run that with a floppy in your floppy drive, and it’ll create the driver disk. Go back into the XP Install, hit F6, then S, and then insert the floppy, just choose the right driver (it should be obvious). Whallah, XP now recongizes the sata hdd so it can then format and install.

Hoepfully this will help people.

You can find the drivers on the “Downloads” page from http://usa.asus.com

Updated: 12/31/04 - Addition of ASUS tech support response:
Click to expand...


[12/30/2004 12:28:00 PM - nick23]

Thank you for your support of our products!

Here are the directions for Installing Windows 2k/XP on the Via RAID controller.

DRIVERS
Download:

We recommend using the latest available drivers when configuring your RAID controller. You can find the latest Via RAID drivers on the ASUS download site:

http://www.asus.com/support/download/download.aspx

If this site is slow, or is having problems, you can also use our download mirror site:

http://www.asus.com.tw/support/download/download.aspx

Place a disk in your floppy drive. Download and unzip the file, then extract the contents to a newly created folder. Double-click on the MakeDisk file, and it will transfer the necessary files to your floppy disk.

Support CD:

If you do not have access to the Internet, then start by browsing the support CD included with the motherboard. Look for the DRIVERS directory.

Inside that is a directory called VIARAID. Open the DRIVER directory that is inside. Make sure to insert a disk in your floppy drive, then double-click on the MakeDisk file in the DRIVER directory. It will transfer the necessary files to your floppy disk.

INSTALLATION

1. Start with clean, blank hard drives connected to the RAID Controller.

These drives will not show up on the motherboard’s BIOS screen.

For a STRIPE array: THIS PROCEDURE WILL DESTORY ALL DATA ON THE DRIVES!

For a SPAN array: THIS PROCEDURE WILL DESTORY ALL DATA ON THE DRIVES!

For a MIRROR: If you want to mirror a drive with existing information you will be asked to copy that information to the new drive. PLEASE BE CERTAIN WHICH DRIVE HAS YOUR DATA. We recommend setting the drive with DATA on it as the primary MASTER, but it will also work on the secondary.

We also recommend backing up any information you do not want to lose.

If you copy the wrong drive, you will lose your information!!

2. Set up your Array:

Upon first boot, the Promise BIOS should tell you that there are an equal number of RAID arrays defined as there are hard drives connected to the Promise controller. Press [Tab] to enter setup, then delete all of the existing arrays. This will not remove any data from your drives. Choose between the defaults, which should be Performance (Stripe), Data Security (Mirror), Safety and Performance (Stripe and Mirror) or Capacity (Spanning).

3. Boot to your 2K/XP CD & start the installation. As Windows is first setting up, at the first blue screen hit the [F6] key to load a third party mass storage driver. If you miss this, you will be warned that there are no hard drives attached. If this happens, restart the machine and tap the “F6” Key a few times as the CD spins up. Windows will go through its install routine, then prompt you for an OEM disk for your MASS STORAGE CONTROLLER. Insert the floppy disk you created earlier, and load the first driver on the list. This will allow you to use your RAID.

LEAVE THIS FLOPPY IN THE DRIVE!

4. Let Windows setup the partition and install:

Choose install to the empty disk & choose NTFS FULL format, not quick.

If you don’t have any other hard disks on your regular IDE channels, there may be a LONG pause after the format; be patient.

5. If your system paused during the install, it will do so again when booting into Windows. Once the install is completely finished, enter the BIOS Setup, go to the MAIN tab, then change “Auto” to “None” for all channels where no drives are connected. NOTE: This applies to your regular IDE channels, NOT your RAID Array.

6. Let Windows run through all of its setup routines and updates.

7. You will now be able to use your RAID disk as a storage device!

Please do not respond to this email. If you need further assistance, contact Technical Support at 502-995-0883 (M-F 8:30 AM - 12:00 AM EST).
Click to expand...
 
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