Hello all,

I just purchased a WD1600JS SATA II Drive (160 GB) and a 1st generation SATA Host controller Card for the following system:

P4 2.66 ghz
Asus P4S8X-X motherboard

1 DVD-ROM
1 DVD Burner
1 Maxtor IDE 20 GB HD
1 MAxtor IDE 120 GB HD

I installed the Host card into the MOBO and connected the drive to it as well as a power supply.

My drive is warm which mean its receiving power and my Host card is working properly in the device manager.

The problem is Windows XP does not detect the drive and I have tried using Disk Management, but it doesnt detect it either.

PLEASE HELP ME!!

Did you install the neccessary drivers for the card & drive?

Also from the WD site http://support.wdc.com/techinfo/installation.asp I see:

How to use the Data Lifeguard Tools 11 for DOS floppy disk to partition and format a drive larger than 137GB (128GB binary) for Windows 2000/XP.

http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc....ers.search_fnl

Hey thanks for the quick reply,

I downloaded the lifeguard tool and the Drivers....The lifeguard tool only detects my two other drives and the drivers come in a set of folders and files that I dont know what to do with....now mind you the Controller card came with its own driver and I installed it without RAID....so what do I do now?

Is there any problem with using a generation 1 controller card to support a SATAII dirve or does this only effect the speed of communication between the drive and the CPU?


Thanks

Originally Posted by jephree

Did you install the neccessary drivers for the card & drive?

Also from the WD site http://support.wdc.com/techinfo/installation.asp I see:

How to use the Data Lifeguard Tools 11 for DOS floppy disk to partition and format a drive larger than 137GB (128GB binary) for Windows 2000/XP.

http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc....ers.search_fnl

Hey thanks for the quick reply,

I downloaded the lifeguard tool and the Drivers....The lifeguard tool only detects my two other drives and the drivers come in a set of folders and files that I dont know what to do with....now mind you the Controller card came with its own driver and I installed it without RAID....so what do I do now?

Is there any problem with using a generation 1 controller card to support a SATAII dirve or does this only effect the speed of communication between the drive and the CPU?


Thanks

Assuming that the BIOS is detecting the controller:

Make sure your drive is detected by your SATA controller.

Adding a Second Drive:

http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc....i=&p_topview=1

How do I find out if my BIOS is detecting the controller? I know it shows up in the device manager and its working properly. I also installed the drivers it came with.

The problem is the drive is non-existant in my computer.

Does the controller card have its own BIOS that I need to access, because it seems that there is a disconnect between the controller, CPU and Drive.

The last reply notifies me that the controller has to detect the drive...but that is the problem itself.

Is there a compatibility issue between 1st generation controllers and 2nd generation SATA drives (SATA II)?


thanks

There should be no compatibilty issue. Should be downgradable.

Do you see a Logo screen when you boot or the BIOS POST screen?

If Logo do you know how to view the BIOS POST? Perhaps there is an option on the Logo for Summary? Perhaps press Esc.

The BIOS POST after counting your RAM & detecting your CPU should then go to the Controller Card which does have it's own BIOS. The Controller Card should then show you what it detects as far as drives connected to it.

I used the lifeguard utility downloadable from western digital site and it doesnt detect the hard drive...it says no western digital drive detected....there is also an option on the utility that installs drives but it gives me a checking for space on disks and then notifies me to please wait, but it just stays that way for a long time and does nothing....maybe I have to do that first.

I also read a troubleshooting note on the WD site about how some 1.5GB/s controllers are not compatible with the WD SATA II drive, but a firend of mine who's an expert says there should be no compatibility issues!

ANy other suggestions?


I'm gonna try pressing esc on startup to see if I can access the controller BIOS. My computer doesn't count the RAM, it just goes from the motherboard logo straight into windows.

There should be a setting in the BIOS to run & display the POST.

However if the card is showing up in the Device Manager we can assume that the BIOS detects it.

Whether the card is detecting the drive is the next question and this should be confirmed by the BIOS POST.

Reading your manual:

http://support.asus.com/download/dow...&model=P4S8X-X

I see Delete is the key to BIOS Setup. In the boot menu there is an option to disable the Logo screen. This should show you the BIOS POST screen instead.

Even without this you should be seeing a screen for your Controller Card. The BIOS of the card will not have any access of itself but should display and detect any drives attached to it. It should appear as a secondary BIOS and read Detecting then list any drives detected.

I am also going to move this thread to the hardware section where we may get other ideas.

If what you say is true about the BIOS POst then my computer displays the info way too fast for me to read before it starts windows....I will try to eliminate the MOBO logo on boot.

Thank you very much for the effort