BIOS Cannot read SATA

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Rouen

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I just built a computer for a friend of mine with the following stats

AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Socket 939
AV8 Abit Motherboard
2x 256MB Corsair XMS DDR400
ATI Radeon 9000 Pro
Western Digitial Caviar 160GB SATA
Toshiba Combo Drive (CD-R/DVDROM)
NEC Floppy Drive

I got everything turned on, I make the BIOS come up, and its not reading the SATA Hard drive. I tried using another cable, failed. I used another SATA port, failed. I can't get it to read this dang thing. I'm starting to think that the board doesn't support SATA, yet it comes with a floppy Disk that is clearly marked SATA DRIVERS. I can't boot from that disk, I've tried. IT has Windows XP/2003 marked on it. So basically I need a hard drive with Windows to install drivers onto a HD that isn't being read. Doesn't work that way.... I dunno why they put SATA drivers on a disk, my motherboard read my SATA drive right away...I've also tried using the CD ROM, no avail.

I've searched out for a BIOS update, but it doesn't include a fix for the SATA.

What do I do?
 
UPDATE

Her mobo won't recongize my old 80GB IDE Western Digital HD, OR her own 160GB Sata WD Cavier HD. However, it DOES recongize my 80GB SATA Hitachi, which my OS is on.

She OKed the next idea, but I might have to backup my SATA onto my old IDE HD and format it for her, and I'll take the 160GB and format it for me, since my computer does recongize the 160.

I guess ABIT sucks? lol
 
1. Shrink your sig, it's way too huge.

2. Go through the BIOS and make sure the SATA/RAID controller is enabled as I've had a couple boards where they are disabled by default and of course that'll lead to it not recognizing the drives.

as for not seeing the IDE drives I don't know unless you didn't have your jumpers set on those correctly.

Either way, like I said go through the BIOS and check for that kind of option
 
I've combed through the BIOS with a fine tooth comb. Nothing works.

However, I took my 80GB Hitachi SATA and hooked it up to her computer. It didn't come up in the BIOS, but right after the POST it asked me to go into the RAID menu. I did see the drive in the RAID menu, so I knew it was detected. However, it doesn't read hers.

Her SATA drive does come up in my computer however.

(I got rid of some content in sig, good enough?)
 
I had a very similar problem recently, asked for help here as well lol. Ended up sorting it out by putting a jumper on pins 5 & 6 on the SATA drive. Don't know what that means but it worked
 
Yes I did. I followed the advice of many friends of mine. The SATA Driver Disk that came with the board did not work. I tried going to viaarena.com and downloading the appriopriate set of drivers there.

I noticed that MY SATA, the one I use in my computer, has no jumper pins.

The SATA that I used in my new build, the one that isn't being read by the new computer, does in fact have some jumper pins, but it came with no jumpers, nor can I find a diagram for jumpers relating to that drive. I'll give you guys the model number for it...

Its a Western Digital Caviar SE SATA Hard Drive 160GB
Model # - WD1600JS

Edit------ I checked underneath of the HD, i saw four labels corresponding to the columns of jumper pins, there are 8 pins, 2x4'

Column 1, SSC, Column 2, PM2, Column 3, OPT 1, Column 4, OPT 2

Does this help?

Second Edit:

belveder said:
I had a very similar problem recently, asked for help here as well lol. Ended up sorting it out by putting a jumper on pins 5 & 6 on the SATA drive. Don't know what that means but it worked

Hey, I'm glad you brought that up. I'm looking at the diagram on my Hard drive, i can't believe I didn't notice it before. There is a small picture of the jumpers, and two labels. I'll type them as I see it

Jumpered Pin 1 and 2 Enable SSC (Spread Spectrum Clocking)
Jumpered Pins 5 and 6 enable SATA 150MB/s only operation.

Damn, this thing didn't come with any jumper heads I guess you can call them, the pieces you use to connect the jumpers. I'm heading to the junk shop now, I'll post to see if it did work after all. I'll be back.
 
Double Post, but end of topic

I purchased the jumper head a store. It was funny, they had just closed, and the girl told me they didn't sell them. I thought that was funny because I BOUGHT A DIME BAG OF THEM at their store before. Turns out the manager only had a single jumper. He charged me FIFTY CENTS, 5-0 CENTS. I was like "Dude, thats outrageous, you would lose money if I bought taht with my credit card"

I gave him 2 quarters rofl...

I took it home and the ba**ard booted right up.

Thanks Belveder for the slap to the face lol I'm so blind.
 
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