New Motherboard

[RichN28]

The new MB will not recognize the old hard drives.

My previous MB (socket 775) failed so I installed a new LGA1155 MB and a new Intel processeor. I also iinstalled my two SATA drives. One HD has the Win7 OS plus all the programs. The other HD has all the user data.

When I try to srart the new rig, it tries to reinstall Windows.

Any ideas to fix this without losing info ??

Thanks

Rich

 

[linnemeyerhere]

RichN28,
Welcome to SF. Try pulling the sata cables from all but the boot drive and get it to boot first then plug in the other drives sata cables. This of course is after you double check that all the sata ports are configured (on) in the bios?

 

[RichN28]

Thanks but a question:
How do I know which is the boot drive?

Also, you may have fount the issue. The BIOS sows only IDE drives. These are SATA drives. I was going to ask you how all the sata ports are configured when I discovered this

 

[linnemeyerhere]

RichN28,
This is your issue and it's in your bios settings. All you will need to do is enable all of the sata ports and then save the setting and continue to boot, as you only have one hard drive with the OS on it the system will see it and use that drive to boot and you're good to go.

 

[linnemeyerhere]

RichN28,
After you get a good boot then you can go back into the bios and of all the choices for the first boot device between things like, optical drives, card readers, usb devices and hard drives you can spell out the hard drives which should now be listed as your C drive as the first boot device and this will speed up the boot a little ! Hope this helps?

 

[ezeht]

Might help might not. Rule of thumb is new mobo and or new cpu it is best to do a fresh os install. Sounds like you have built a new rig and are trying to go easy and just pop in your old drives with os installed from your old system and go. That might not work. Some say it is ok and works fine if just pop in a cpu upgrade or maybe a alike mobo etc. You should understand the mobos and cpu's are different and different drivers etc from the last mobo and os install. Quick or lazy is not always the best. Not trying to give ya a hard time or any thing- just saying is all. 775 and 1155 is a large jump and way different mobos.. I really do not think you can skip a fresh os install. Maybe I misunderstand what you are saying- I am sorry if so.

As for which drive is your os drive normally it is the drive plugged into your #1 port on your mobo sata1 etc. Unless when you installed the os you had it install to another drive or not on the #1 port on your mobo. You can try and test them one at a time by unplugging one and try if no good un plug it and try the other.

** As a fact you might figure it out fast- Boot with the windows disc in the drive like you want to install the os- windows will say if the drive you are trying to install to already has the old os installed on it- Bamb! its figured out. It will not say the same thing for your storage drive - well not unless you was running a dual boot os system and 1 os on 1 drive and the other on the other. If you have the old os drive in and is what windows says the old os is on- you can go from there with a fresh install or just hit your reset button or something or turn off the psu button. I do not think the install disc will let ya just back out. Restart the system and remove the disc while it is doing so- if you are not ready to reinstall the os- or trying to read more and figure out what you need or want to do.. It should tell ya fast tho which drive is which.

Best I know the bios only lists all drives as udma #? ata/ ide drives- the bios does not say sata drive etc. None of my bios have any way and can be confusing. The bios will list the drive as boot device maybe or you have to set the boot order like the other fella said. Or drives might show under ide/raid or ahci/raid areas of the bios or ports [interfaces they are plugged into]- but do not actually say if the drives are ide or sata. No bios on any of my systems any way.. You know a ide drive can not be plugged into a sata port or vis versa. It can be confusing. Ha ha I am sure I can be confusing too. I am just trying to add all the info I can..

Mobos default to ide mode and is so you can pop in any hdd drive and get it up and running fast. If using sata drives ahci is the proper mode and you have to manually change it in the bios before os install or you can do a reg tweak after os install. Neither is hard to do. Some mobo manuals are better than others and will tell ya how to set up the mobo for ahci support- it is normally only 2 places in the bios you have to check or change.

AHCI may not be needed to get the system running- Some newer hdd drives or ssd might not work at all or will give ya fits unless it is set up in ahci support. You may not feel you need the added features of ahci but your sata drives will not run at full speeds unless set up in ahci and you do not need a raid to use ahci.

Different mobos and bios are not the same- so I can not tell ya how to enable it on your mobo- the manual or the mobo home site forums them folks can tell ya fast..

My guess is- your new mobo and cpu wants you to reinstall the os freash or it is not going to work. If so Figure out which was your os drive in the other system and plug only it in and reinstall the os. After it is up and running plug in your other drive.. If you can not figure that out or no other system you can try the drives in to at least figure which is the second or storage drive. You might get pissed and have to pick one and have to reformat it to install the os and lose all info on it. If you have to do that- I would pick the largest or fastest drive as the os or c: drive. After it is up and running and if you picked wrong- the other drive will be the last os drive and you have to reformat it for your storage drive on your new system.

I always mark and or install my drives in my system so I know which is which and know what ports on the mobo I plug them into and so not to have like probs you are having now.. I always put my os drive lower in the hdd rack so it is a lil more cooler than my upper storage drive. I normally mark them with perm marker 1 or 2 etc. 1 being my os drive. I might even mark the cables so it is easy to connect them when tons of wires are laying around in the system. Wire/cable 1 plugged into #1 port on the mobo etc- sata1 ide1 etc. Normally if running both ide and sata hdd the ide will be default 1/ or c: or main drive unless you change the boot order. That is more than likely because ide came out before sata drives did. A and b is normally fdd- d is normally a opti drive and e: is storage.

Could be another prob when your last mobo died it carried your os drive with it. Normally the only 1 thing in your system that can kill everything else is the psu. A bad psu can mess it all up.. Are you sure the last mobo was bad and not the hdd with the os on it? I guess you figured all of that out first- so..

You also need to know the proper interface for your hdd's sata or sataII etc and plug them into the proper ports on the mobo.

Sorry I can not help more- I do hope to have helped some. Hope you get it like it should be soon and you are happy with it.. Them p67 mobos and cpu's are awesome- Ya I think the 1155 is the p67's? 1156 is the p55 if I remember right?

Good luck- Take care..

 

[linnemeyerhere]

ezeht +1

 

[ezeht]

I would write down hdd model numbers and serial numbers. If for nothing else if you go trying to install the os. Or trying to set the boot order in the bios and have 2 same drives- the only way you know 1 from the other is maybe the serial number will be showing beside the drives.

I set my boot order as opti drive first and then main os drive as second and maybe a floppy as 3rd if the mobo even has a fdd- most new mobos have no fdd and maybe no ide either- so. For some things and if your mobo has a fdd you might have to change the boot order so the fdd or maybe a usb drive boots first if say you need to run memtest 86 or something. I normally turn off boot from other devices- which would be usb etc or on all my mobos any way. And is better security that way also.

It will be best for you to try and boot from the windows disc. figure which drive is what and have only it plugged into the mobo- get the os installed- then plug in your other drive.

Windows can bug during install if more than 1 drive is plugged into the system- I seen it here last week. Windows put the os on 1 drive with 1 partition and put the system reserve on the guys other hdd. That is wrong and gave him fits trying to format his second drive for storage. He had to do it all over again and with just 1 drive installed- it was a ssd c: as a fact.. We was all trying to help him get his second drive formatted and made me look real stupid. Its cool tho.

I also leaned something- the system reserve and os partition should be on the same drive. SSD are different and it was a 75gig drive- I figured it put the reserve on the other drive on purpose or is normal for ssd or being a small drive. I was wrong. Some other folks told him right tho- I guess he got it all going- I have not seen him post back yet- or have not looked for the thread etc.

I would set the bios for ahci support. Then install the os. Read your mobo manual or post at its home sites forum start a thread and ask or read through the treads on how to enable ahci support on your or a alike mobo. Your drives will run at their fastest in ahci and if they are sata drives.

 

[ezeht]

Unless I am wrong- doing a fresh os install. W7 will save your old install in a folder so you can go back and move files etc from it to your new os. I do not think it will let you move installed programs tho. After you have moved all info from that last install you want to keep you can delete it and free up disc space.

So plan on reinstalling all drivers and programs and security again. Your storage drive should just plug in and work nothing else needed for it. Other than might have to reboot your system after you add the storage drive. It might work right away- I do not think so tho. It is best to reboot your system after you install a new program or hardware period.

Even after converting or edit or rip lots of videos or photos or music or windows updates or after defrags or after I run security scans it is best to reboot or your system- it can seem to run slower- a reboot fixes it. It is also good to sometimes completely power off the system and let it sit off for 3 to 5 minutes and then reboot- it like resets stuff or something and systems seem to run better after that..

For some odd reason some updates like maybe flash player do not pop up until I have let my system sit completely off for a while. I reboot and flash update pops up. I use to turn off my systems when I sleep. I do not any more they run 24/7 other than my monitor will shut off after 7 to 10 minutes. But most computer probs or break downs happen when you cold start them. Kind of like a car in winter. And during a cold/ or from power off start is the only time the psu will burst power through the whole system and self checks what ever and that surge is when most folks lose a hdd what ever.

A restart and from cold power off start is 2 different things.. To power off and sit for a few minutes and restart is another. It still does the cold boot power burst or surge but the hardware is not cold from sitting off for hours..

Ok I have typed enough- hope you get it going..

See ya..

 

[RichN28]

Many thanks to all. I am now able boot up. My files and the system seems to be running as planned except for the display which I will fix.

When I was unable to have the BIOS recognize the SATAs, I reset all the cables and when I rebooted, the BIOS recognized the drives correctly.

 

[linnemeyerhere]

Rich,
That's great news. Good job on getting the drives to be seen and not having to do a clean install of Windows ! Make sure you review all you devices for the proper drivers. Loading any provided drivers for the mobo and all !

 

[ezeht]

Cool thats great man.

I agree it is always better not to have to do a os install. w7 install is pretty fast- but still takes time to install other programs and tweak the system what ever. I do it when I have to or every 2 years or so.

Ha ha next time you will know to double check cables and stuff and maybe not have any probs at all..

I think it is nap time- I feel hot like a fever maybe.. See ya.

 

[gregrocker]

In most cases WIn7 will not start up on new hardware due to conflicts arising during driver reloading at startup. It freezes at the animation. The solution is to SysPrep the HD first on the old hardware, or boot Paragon Adaptive Restore CD and run on the new HD before booting it. Both remove all drivers, activation and hardware ID which enables it to start at the final stage of installation where drivers are installed.

SysPrep to move HD to another computer