Installing Windows 7 on new system

[Rhombus]

Hi, I downloaded the RC last night for a new system I built, because I didnt have enough money for vista. Well anyways I was installing it and all was well until I got to the step asking where I want to install it, but it is not registering that my hard drive is there. I checked the SATA cables and the power cable and both were attatched securely.

http://i30.tinypic.com/120qejr.jpg

Im sorry if this is the wrong forum for this, but how do I go about getting my hard drive recognized?

 

[zigzag3143]

Hi, I downloaded the RC last night for a new system I built, because I didnt have enough money for vista. Well anyways I was installing it and all was well until I got to the step asking where I want to install it, but it is not registering that my hard drive is there. I checked the SATA cables and the power cable and both were attatched securely.

http://i30.tinypic.com/120qejr.jpg

Im sorry if this is the wrong forum for this, but how do I go about getting my hard drive recognized?

Are there other OS's on the "missing" partitions, or were they created in a different OS?

Ken

 

[SquonkSC]

Hi, I downloaded the RC last night for a new system I built, because I didnt have enough money for vista. Well anyways I was installing it and all was well until I got to the step asking where I want to install it, but it is not registering that my hard drive is there. I checked the SATA cables and the power cable and both were attatched securely.

http://i30.tinypic.com/120qejr.jpg

Im sorry if this is the wrong forum for this, but how do I go about getting my hard drive recognized?

Is the drive a new sata 300 model?

Chances are when your mainboard supports only Sata 150, you have to set the disk to 150, through a jumper.

Sometimes this is printed on the disk, or in the little paper manual that came with the disk.

Most sata disks come without the jumper, so if you have it to select sata 150, you will have to get a jumper from somewhere.
Most computer shop have a few thousand lying around, so you can get them for free.

Good luck

 

[Rhombus]

Well I havent really done anything with my computer yet. This is my first time building one.

When I go into the BIOS, do I need to do something to make my hard drive recognized?

 

[Rhombus]

well i just checked my hard drive and it doesnt say anywhere on it, however this is my mobo:

Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-MA770T-UD3P AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard - AMD Motherboards

and this is my HDD:

Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD5001AALS 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives

 

[SquonkSC]

well i just checked my hard drive and it doesnt say anywhere on it, however this is my mobo:

Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-MA770T-UD3P AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard - AMD Motherboards

and this is my HDD:

Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD5001AALS 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives

Ok, the mainboard is sata 300 too, so that's not the problem.

Is the disk new? First time you use it?

Both sata and power cable connected to the disk?
Have you tried other sata cables?
Have you tried connecting one of the other psu powercables?

Does the disk show up in the bios?

Is the disk size set to AUTO in the bios? (LBA)

Greetz

 

[Rhombus]

Ok, I just tried another SATA Cable/PSU Cable which were in my CD Drive so I know they were working properly, and the hard drive still wont be recognized in the BIOS.

I have it plugged into SATA2_3 on my motherboard, if that means anything... Anyways I go into the BIOS and hit auto detect on all of the IDE Devices and nothing is detected.

Im so frustrated >_> I don't think my hard drive is dead because I can hear it spinning.

 

[TGSoldier]

So your BIOS is not seeing your hard drive. Do you have another system you can try this Hard drive on? A means of verifying it works.

 

[Rhombus]

Well I only have one other computer and its about 7 years old, pretty sure it doesnt even use SATA...

 

[wallyinnc]

Rhombus, is your SATA configured for Native IDE? Have you tried SATA 0_1? Your Mobo manual gives instrucitons to setting up a RAID array but doesn't tell you shouldn't do all that if you are not setting RAID.

 

[Rhombus]

i can try SATA 0_1, i suppose. ill get back to you with how that goes

 

[wallyinnc]

Please do. I hgave a board with a SB700 south bridge (yours is SB710), and I remember there is a situaiton where only the lower SATA connectors will work. I dont'have the manual on me now, I will check later.
Have you touched the SATA configuraiton in the BIOS at all?

 

[Rhombus]

i tried every SATA port with no luck.

and no, i have not touched the SATA settings, although I have tried looking through for relevant things with no luck

 

[wallyinnc]

Thanks. I checked my Mobo specs and the port limitation is in AHCI mode. If you don't have it set up like that, it shouldn't be the case.
Just confirm your SATA settings are all in Auto or Native IDE.

 

[Rhombus]

Here are my settings:

http://i30.tinypic.com/1571zes.jpg

and here is the hard drive page:

http://i29.tinypic.com/2je6715.jpg

as you can see there is a suspicious blank in the IDE Channel 2 Master. when i go to auto detect for that, it takes a while longer, but still doesnt detect anything...

 

[SquonkSC]

Here are my settings:

http://i30.tinypic.com/1571zes.jpg

and here is the hard drive page:

http://i29.tinypic.com/2je6715.jpg

as you can see there is a suspicious blank in the IDE Channel 2 Master. when i go to auto detect for that, it takes a while longer, but still doesnt detect anything...

I think your hard drive's controller is broken.
If the disk is new it might be DOA.
If it's not, a shortage or bad solder on the print plate of the disk might cause this.

Only way to know for sure is to put it into a friend's computer.

Greetz

 

[SquonkSC]

Examining you pictures, it's indeed weird the master2 is not showing anything.

Is the disk on that one?

When you put it on another sata port, does the void skip to another place also in the bios?

 

[Rhombus]

ugh, i guess ill have to RMA it. this is the second thing i have had to RMA on this system. fun stuff...

 

[Rhombus]

Yep. it does skip around.

 

[SquonkSC]

Yep. it does skip around.

Ok, it's definitely the disk. Controller must be broken.

just a word of caution.

Never ever touch any computer part without being grounded.

I know a lot of geeks brag about how they never do it, and nothing ever happened.
Fact is they have no clue. Many bsod's are caused by damaged electronics.

When you look at the prints and chips through a microscope after they have been touched by a statically charged user, it looks like a bunch of comets impacted on it.

This might have happened with the disk, but it might also be a monday morning model.

greetz