My motherboard cannot detect SATA Hard Drives?

by IEEEE Jun 23, 2005 12:32AM PDT

Recently my 1-year old pc suddenly unable to detect the master SATA Hard Disk Drive. So I have no choice but to revert to my old IDE HDD, and meanwhile I purchased another SATA HDD as a back-up to this IDE HDD. But upon installing this brand new SATA HDD, again my pc BIOS cannot detect it. It looks like the problem all the while is concerning the SATA function of my Motherboard rather than the SATA HDD itself. What went wrong?

Discussion is locked

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1. Is this a XP issue?

by r. proffitt Forum moderator Jun 23, 2005 12:37AM PDT

2. Is the BIOS current?
3. Why are the details not in your post? Hint: make/model/version/revision/pictures/stories, etc.

Bob

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Motherboard problem?

by IEEEE Jun 23, 2005 12:59AM PDT

My apologies, here are my system specs:

Operating system: Windows XP Professional sp2
Motherboard: MSI 865PE Neo2-P (2004)
BIOS (as per original, not updated)
Hard disk: Seagate Barracuda 80G SATA (2004)
Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 80G SATA (2005)
Quantum Fireball 20G IDE (2002)

I am now running on the IDE HDD because basically it is the only drive detectable by my pc.

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Why is the BIOS not updated?

by r. proffitt Forum moderator Jun 23, 2005 1:16AM PDT

"BIOS (as per original, not updated)"

I know to update it as I get hardware to sidestep issues like these.

There is another possible issue here, but I can't tell in your posts. You may have tried to install XP onto a SATA drive without supplying drivers along the way. This rarely works. The motherboard manual should detail what's needed.

Bob

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Is updating BIOS a MUST?

by IEEEE Jun 23, 2005 1:37AM PDT

I did not want to temper with the BIOS as long as the pc can operate, this was fine over a year until recently the SATA HDD was suddenly undetectable. I guess I'm wrong. Should/must I update the BIOS?

I was forced to re-install XP on an older IDE HDD and it is working. But a newly purchsed SATA HDD cannot be detected, so I suspect the motherboard's SATA function is damaged.

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For me, it's a must.

by r. proffitt Forum moderator Jun 23, 2005 1:44AM PDT

It's a lesson I learned a long time ago. You can goto the motherboard maker's web page and read what was fixed.

Bob

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A good start...

by jackintucson Jun 23, 2005 3:30AM PDT

IEEE,

Bob recommended a good start. No manufacturer will want to talk to you unless you have up-to-date bios. However, since this failure occurred on two seperate new drives, I suspect you have a motherboard failure. The motherboard should also have more than one SATA port on it. Try moving the cables to a different port (plugs on the board itself) and try that. Hopefully you only have a partail failure of your motherboard's SATA controllers. Let us know OK?

regards
Jack

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Looking at a similar issue as well....

by ausjohnston Dec 1, 2010 10:11PM PST

In my case - a stock HP Media PC M7248N with a MSI MS-7184 AmethystM Micro ATX motherboard. The power in the house went down, so the box took a hard powerhit. After the power came back, the same old SATA root drive that came with the box was undetectable. Looking at it on another box - the disk is fine - that leaves the motherboard.

Same situation... Stock BIOS, No hardware changes - no intervening MSFT updates..... box was working - box takes powerhit - box not working. I conclude BIOS has nothing to do with it.

I was never totally thrilled with this PC. When I first got the box, minor physical shock would cause the system to hang. I reseated all the memory chips and the problem went away. Maybe I'll try punching in the disk parameters manually, but BIOS just doesn't see it.

My motherboard cannot detect SATA Hard Drives?

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