Bizarre autodetect problem

[I.C. Koets]

I just bought myself a lot of components, and chucked them together as a PC.
So far so good. Nothing seems to have malfunctioned, all the sounds are
right, I don't get error messages.

The machine is a PIV 3.0 GHz (530) on an Asus p5GD1 motherboard with 512 MB
of Corsair RAM, Asus AX300se video card, with a WD 120 GB SATA drive, a WD
200 GB IDE drive and a NEC 3500A CD-DVD-RW. Pretty toys, right?

What goes wrong is this. My bios detects no POST errors, detect the correct
amount of RAM, shows a pretty picture on my monitor; the works.

When I:
- connect my SATA disk to a SATA socket on the motherboard
- connect my IDE disk to the primary IDE socket
- connect my optical drive to the primary raid (secondary IDE) socket
then my SATA disk is detected, as being the 3rd master HD, my IDE HD is
detected as the primary master HD, and the OD is not listed in the Bios disk
list, even though it does show up in the pre-setup IDE scan screen, without
any other disks.

When I:
- connect my SATA disk to a SATA socket on the motherboard
- Connect both my IDE disk and my optical drive to primary IDE socket on the
board
then my SATA disk is detected, but the other two aren't. On any screen.

When I:
- Connect both my IDE disk and my optical drive to primary IDE socket on the
board, but leave my SATA disk unplugged
then I don't get anything detected. Again.

Switching plugs around doesn't seem to make anything better, and I have had
the IDE disk working; The OD seems to work also, at least it lights up,
ejects, etc.

What is going on? And more importantly, how do I get my three drives all
working at the same time?

Thank you in advance.
And a happy new year.

 

[Trent©]

What is going on? And more importantly, how do I get my three drives all
working at the same time?

Edit your BIOS...

Make sure everything is set to AUTO...and that the SATA is the boot
drive.

Make sure the jumpers are set correctly on all the other drives.
Don't ASSUME you know the jumper settings. Double check them.

Thank you in advance.
Welcome.

And a happy new year.

You, too.


Have a nice one...

Trent©

Follow Joan Rivers' example --- get pre-embalmed!

 

[I.C. Koets]

Make sure everything is set to AUTO...and that the SATA is the boot
drive.

Done that. Not that boot drive should make a difference, as I have not
gotten around to even fdisking yet.

Make sure the jumpers are set correctly on all the other drives.
Don't ASSUME you know the jumper settings. Double check them.

Both checked them AND tried alternative configurations. I tried making the
IDE drive master w/ slave present, single, and slave. It doesn't influence
the main problem, although when I jumper it to slave, it does show up as
slave.

Follow Joan Rivers' example --- get pre-embalmed!

I'll pass.

 

[Trent©]

Done that. Not that boot drive should make a difference, as I have not
gotten around to even fdisking yet.

I guess I don't understand your problem then. If you haven't
partitioned any of the drives yet, what are you expecting to happen?
It seems like your first 'when I' is the way that things should work.

Both checked them AND tried alternative configurations. I tried making the
IDE drive master w/ slave present, single, and slave. It doesn't influence
the main problem, although when I jumper it to slave, it does show up as
slave.

Again...since you haven't partitioned any of the drives...what IS the
'main problem'.

My thoughts...which may or may not help...

You need to tell the BIOS what you want to do in the sequence of
events with the SATA drive.

IDE drive may not recognize ATAPI drive as another drive...depending
on the age of either...so jumpers may not work properly with certain
configurations. Try cable select...with the proper cable, of course.

Many BIOS will not recognize ATAPI device.


Have a nice one...

Trent©

Follow Joan Rivers' example --- get pre-embalmed!

 

[I.C. Koets]

I guess I don't understand your problem then. If you haven't
partitioned any of the drives yet, what are you expecting to happen?
It seems like your first 'when I' is the way that things should work.

Yes, it's what I started out with.
What I would like to see is that the BIOS at least lists all my devices,
which it doesn't. I wasn't going to configure disks if the BIOS doesn't
acknowledge them.

Again...since you haven't partitioned any of the drives...what IS the
'main problem'.

My thoughts...which may or may not help...

You need to tell the BIOS what you want to do in the sequence of
events with the SATA drive.

That works. Under some circumstances. The IDE devices give a lot more
trouble.

IDE drive may not recognize ATAPI drive as another drive...depending
on the age of either...so jumpers may not work properly with certain
configurations. Try cable select...with the proper cable, of course.

Tried that also, doesn't seem to have much effect. Both disks and OD are
less than a week old.

Many BIOS will not recognize ATAPI device.

Because it gets loaded later?
My OD is also not found by my W98SE bootflop.

 

[Trent©]

Yes, it's what I started out with.
What I would like to see is that the BIOS at least lists all my devices,
which it doesn't. I wasn't going to configure disks if the BIOS doesn't
acknowledge them.

The above is from your original post. What's not to configure?...on
the IDE drives. You're good to go!! With the above scenario, you'll
be booting from a standard IDE drive. Once you install an operating
system, you'll have other problems anyway (or not) designating drive
letters and finding other devices.

That works. Under some circumstances. The IDE devices give a lot more
trouble.

You've got 2 IDE drives...and they're both being recognized. I don't
see the problem. Just pick which one you want as the primary boot
drive. I'd use the SATA...especially if its 10M RPM.

Tried that also, doesn't seem to have much effect. Both disks and OD are
less than a week old.

Get your IDE disks running the way you want first. You should do a
firmware update for the OD anyway...and you can't do this until you
get up and running.

Because it gets loaded later?
My OD is also not found by my W98SE bootflop.

Usually there is no problem with modern CDROM's. But writer combos
and DVD's sometime have problems with the BIOS...which are usually
easily overcome by the operating system.

Just plug away. You've got everything recognized that you need.

Good luck.


Have a nice one...

Trent©

Follow Joan Rivers' example --- get pre-embalmed!