Solved New Hard Drive Not Recognized During Boot-Up or Windows 7 Installation

[Oh Great One]

The motherboard is IDE and SATA, and the new hard drives only have SATA connections of course. So, I purchased a power supply SATA adapter and I have a SATA cable running to the motherboard in the first SATA spot (SATA 1 [total of 2 slots]). The BIOS does not tell you which hard drives are recognized, but it allows you to have an initial bootup of first/second/third.

If the mobo has SATA ports why do you need a SATA adapter, and what is a "power Supply SATA adapter?"

Plug the drive you want to install upon directly to SATA1 port alone.

The drive should be detected somewhere in BIOS setup, normally under SATA devices or in the BIOS Boot priority order. It may have its model or serial number to google. If it's now detected then it needs to be reinstalled until it is.

As Doc suggested set SATA controller (where you enabled SATA) to AHCI first to try it.

SATA adapter for the power supply. Look here: COOLMAX SATA POWER ADAPTER 6" Cable - Newegg.com

Apparently, you didn't look at all the BIOS images, there is no section for SATA devices, and the BIOS Boot Priority order only is labelled by HDD-0/HDD-1/HDD-2/HDD-3/CDROM/USB etc. Also, there is no AHCI mode.

 

[AddRAM]

You have to keep trying different bios configurations until the hard drive shows up on the list on the last picture you have in post #11.

Start with setting the bios to defaults and go from there.

 

[Oh Great One]

You have to keep trying different bios configurations until the hard drive shows up on the list on the last picture you have in post #11.

Start with setting the bios to defaults and go from there.

I will get working on that tomorrow when I have a ton of time. I do appreciate everyone's help, and I will try to resolve this with the combination of everyone's knowledge. I will let you know if I can make something happen!

 

[DocBrown]

I just scrolled thru the ECS manual again. What is your DVD drive, IDE or SATA ? What would happen if you disable all the IDE settings ? I just can not find anything about the AHCI in this manual. True this looks like maybe a 1st generation SATA MB connection type. Max of 2gb memory on the MB. Maybe it won't even recognize a 500gb HD ?????? I can't remember what the first SATA HD's were in GB size.

 

[Oh Great One]

I just scrolled thru the ECS manual again. What is your DVD drive, IDE or SATA ? What would happen if you disable all the IDE settings ? I just can not find anything about the AHCI in this manual. True this looks like maybe a 1st generation SATA MB connection type. Max of 2gb memory on the MB. Maybe it won't even recognize a 500gb HD ?????? I can't remember what the first SATA HD's were in GB size.

DVD drive is IDE. I tried disabling all the IDE settings before I posted here and nothing happened. Ummmm, maybe first SATA HD's were only 250GB.

 

[DocBrown]

I am even thinking back in the early days of win7 there was even trouble installing win7 on MB's withOUT AHCI. I hate OldTimers disease.

 

[AddRAM]

There has to be a way to enable ide and sata in the bios, then the sata drive should show up under the boot page.

I`ve always used ide optical drives along with sata hard drives, in the past, never had an issue.

 

[DocBrown]

I'll bet you could get a clean used 500gb IDE HD for $50 or less off eBay.

 

[Oh Great One]

I just bought this hard drive, and I will buy a new Motherboard and CPU before I buy another HD, because IDE is pretty much history, no point in wasting $50 in something old.

 

[Anshad Edavana]

"Windows 7" supports both IDE and AHCI mode by default. AHCI offers some performance improvement over IDE and that is why it is preferred- it doesn't means IDE mode won't work with 7 or AHCI is mandatory.


Your issue will be either ;

- SATA data or power cable connection issues.

- Failed HDD

- SATA 1 compatibility issue. This can be solved by adjusting the jumper ( if available ).


I am not sure why you don't want to check for jumper setting to enable SATA 1 mode to rule out that possibility. I can't say for sure that it will be the issue but definitely worth a try - only cost 0$ and two minutes.

 

[Oh Great One]

"Windows 7" supports both IDE and AHCI mode by default. AHCI offers some performance improvement over IDE and that is why it is preferred- it doesn't means IDE mode won't work with 7 or AHCI is mandatory.


Your issue will be either ;

- SATA data or power cable connection issues.

- Failed HDD

- SATA 1 compatibility issue. This can be solved by adjusting the jumper ( if available ).


I am not sure why you don't want to check for jumper setting to enable SATA 1 mode to rule out that possibility. I can't say for sure that it will be the issue but definitely worth a try - only cost 0$ and two minutes.

The Hard Drive isn't failed because it has Windows 7 installed on it through another computer after I bought it, which I put it on there so when I transfer this Hard Drive to this computer, I didn't have to install it. I have Quad-checked the connections and they are both sound. Do I need to purchase a jumper at a computer store?

 

[Anshad Edavana]

A jumper is nothing but a small connector to short two pins. It will look like this ;

You can unplug a jumper from an old IDE HDD/CD or from an old MoBo. Your local computer shop will have plenty of them.

Can you please post a clear screenshot of the HDD label side and it's connector side ?

 

[Oh Great One]

A jumper is nothing but a small connector to short two pins. It will look like this ;

You can unplug a jumper from an old IDE HDD/CD or from an old MoBo. Your local computer shop will have plenty of them.

Can you please post a clear screenshot of the HDD label side and it's connector side ?

I definitely can, but I am not home currently. I will post one when I can.

 

[DocBrown]

Wait,

You already installed win7 to this new HD in a differet computer (different MB) ?

Sometimes that will work, but it could be your BIG Problem.

 

[gregrocker]

YOu cannot expect Win7 to start on completely different hardware or even with a mobo change without first Adjusting Win7 to boot on new hardware with Paragon Adaptive Restore CD.

I've not seen this cause the HD to not be detected however.

 

[Oh Great One]

Wait,

You already installed win7 to this new HD in a differet computer (different MB) ?

Sometimes that will work, but it could be your BIG Problem.

Hmmmm, I will go to a completely different computer and try and plug in the Hard Drive and sees if it recognizes it.

 

[Oh Great One]

A jumper is nothing but a small connector to short two pins. It will look like this ;

You can unplug a jumper from an old IDE HDD/CD or from an old MoBo. Your local computer shop will have plenty of them.

Can you please post a clear screenshot of the HDD label side and it's connector side ?

I have a jumper now, and here are the screenshots of my Hard Drive.

 

[Oh Great One]

Wait,

You already installed win7 to this new HD in a differet computer (different MB) ?

Sometimes that will work, but it could be your BIG Problem.

So, I tried it out on a different computer (the hard drive). It was recognized, but it wouldn't start the windows. Then I inserted windows install disk and formatted/deleted my "New Hard Drive". Then unplugged from that computer and I'm going to try it in the computer we are trying to get to work. I also have a jumper available if all else fails.

 

[Oh Great One]

Hard Drive still isn't recognized. :/

 

[DocBrown]

I think we need to get that new WD HD back to looking raw like out of the package. NO partitions or formatting. Make a Partition Wizard CD or run Partition Wizard from the other computer to wipe it clean.


:ar: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/93322-partition-wizard-use-bootable-cd.html?ltr=P