ATA questions

  • Thread starter Thread starter Lori Ann
  • Start date Start date
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Lori Ann

I am running Windows XP Professional. I have a newly built PC with NF7-S
v2.0 MB and Western Digital 120GB hard drive connected to onboard Primary
PCI controller. Athalon 2500+ processor. I have I/O Magic DVD RW connected
to PCI secondary controller.

The first time I loaded XP and loaded the Nvidia 3.13 drivers from the web,
it picked up my hard drive and DVD both as SCSI drives. Due to problems, I
flashed the BIOS, reloaded XP, turned off all Serial ATA functions in BIOS
before reloading and my hard drive is picked up now as standard drive. BIOS
sees the entire 120GB. I selected to load the Nvidia ATA drivers instead of
keep standard ones during the install of 3.13 drivers.

My question is--do I need to have any SATA functions turned on in the BIOS
for my hard drive to be recognized correctly? Also, after I installed a
floppy drive it seemed to conflict with the SATA drivers and they would no
longer load. The floppy drive says that it is compatible with NT and does
not say anything about running with XP. I called tech support and they
assured me that it is 100% XP compatible, but now I am not sure. Since
installing the floppy, I have errors showing up in cat2 also received
messages that cat2 was unreadable, but after rebooting the message seemed to
disappear.

If I reload XP with the floppy disconnected do I turn on default SATA in
Bios? Should I go ahead and delete partitions that I created after XP was
loaded? How do I remove cat2 so it can be recreated? It does not seem to
recreate this even after I wrote 0's to my drive and reloaded XP--or could
it be that it did recreate it but the floppy is causing problems?

Any advice would be appreciated--Also have no power or suspend lights on
front case--double checked polarity of led wires and they are all connected
correctly--That is one of the reasons that I do not think that XP is
actually recognizing the hard drive correctly.
 
Is yr hd a sata or ide ?
A sata drive will be identified as scsi.
Having sata drivers loaded will not impact on yr floppy or anything else.
It sound like youve got in a muddle with yr drivers, why did you not install
using mb disk and perhaps leaving the dvd untill the sys was up and running.
If the pwr lights arent working, its either connected incorrectly or faulty.
 
I needed the DVD CD\RW to load XP. My drive is a Western Digital 120GB
Model WD1200JBRTL, IDE-ATA interface connected to 40-pin 80-conductor IDE
interface cable. I left the drive set to the factory default of cable
select the first time I installed and later changed to single drive setup.
It is and has always been connected to Primary IDE controller. I do have
built in SATA 1 & 2 on this board, but I do not have anything connected to
this, nor did I ever. I did leave the BIOS defaults which include SATA &
SATA boot bios options enabled when I originally installed the drive since
this was the default--when I reloaded I turned both of these off.

I did load the chipset & MB drivers that came with it the first time I
loaded the system, but after I called ABIT they said that the drivers on the
CD were too old and I should load the NForce 2 drivers from the NVIDIA
website, which I did.

It seems that the PC was trying to setup the drive as a SATA, but I did not
load the drivers when it asked for 3rd party drivers, since I thought I did
not need them because I had the drive connected to the IDE cable and not the
Serial ATA converter and cable. I did flash the BIOS because there were
issues with properly identifying some Western Digital hard drives, but not
until XP was loaded and the message said that it flashed correctly.

I have double and triple checked the connections--pin1 matched to Pin1 on
cable & power cable plugged into the drive securly. The BIOS recognizes the
drive as a Western Digital 120GB drive connected to Primary IDE controller.
It just seems that somehow it is looking for the ATA drivers and can't find
them. That was why I was wondering if I needed to reenable SATA in BIOS and
go ahead and load the SATA drivers when it prompts for them?

The DVD RW drive does create a virtual drive that is a SCSI controller after
I load the Pinnicle software--Could there be some type of problem with the
boot options that I have setup? I loaded XP with the CD drive setup as
booting first, then floppy and then harddisk. After XP loaded I switched
the boot order back to Floppy, hard drive, and CDRom which is the default.

I also downloaded a diagnostic from Western Digital and it says that the
drive is fine.

There is one more thing that I guess could be a problem--I have had a couple
of messages come up in event manager that the cat2 database could not be
read. It seems that when I reloaded XP, it did not rewrite this file. If
the drive was originally recognized incorrectly and that info was recorded
in the Cat2 file--could this be the problem? I did read an article that
says the only way to get XP to rewrite this file is during an actual
install?

Any info you could give me would be greatly appreciated. I am ready to
bring the PC in to a technician to have it checked, but I am leery of doing
so since I have been burnt with some huge bills for tech service in the past
and still ended up with the same problems afterward.
 
You can rename or delete the catroot2 folder, it will be
recreated.


| I needed the DVD CD\RW to load XP. My drive is a Western
Digital 120GB
| Model WD1200JBRTL, IDE-ATA interface connected to 40-pin
80-conductor IDE
| interface cable. I left the drive set to the factory
default of cable
| select the first time I installed and later changed to
single drive setup.
| It is and has always been connected to Primary IDE
controller. I do have
| built in SATA 1 & 2 on this board, but I do not have
anything connected to
| this, nor did I ever. I did leave the BIOS defaults which
include SATA &
| SATA boot bios options enabled when I originally installed
the drive since
| this was the default--when I reloaded I turned both of
these off.
|
| I did load the chipset & MB drivers that came with it the
first time I
| loaded the system, but after I called ABIT they said that
the drivers on the
| CD were too old and I should load the NForce 2 drivers
from the NVIDIA
| website, which I did.
|
| It seems that the PC was trying to setup the drive as a
SATA, but I did not
| load the drivers when it asked for 3rd party drivers,
since I thought I did
| not need them because I had the drive connected to the IDE
cable and not the
| Serial ATA converter and cable. I did flash the BIOS
because there were
| issues with properly identifying some Western Digital hard
drives, but not
| until XP was loaded and the message said that it flashed
correctly.
|
| I have double and triple checked the connections--pin1
matched to Pin1 on
| cable & power cable plugged into the drive securly. The
BIOS recognizes the
| drive as a Western Digital 120GB drive connected to
Primary IDE controller.
| It just seems that somehow it is looking for the ATA
drivers and can't find
| them. That was why I was wondering if I needed to reenable
SATA in BIOS and
| go ahead and load the SATA drivers when it prompts for
them?
|
| The DVD RW drive does create a virtual drive that is a
SCSI controller after
| I load the Pinnicle software--Could there be some type of
problem with the
| boot options that I have setup? I loaded XP with the CD
drive setup as
| booting first, then floppy and then harddisk. After XP
loaded I switched
| the boot order back to Floppy, hard drive, and CDRom which
is the default.
|
| I also downloaded a diagnostic from Western Digital and it
says that the
| drive is fine.
|
| There is one more thing that I guess could be a problem--I
have had a couple
| of messages come up in event manager that the cat2
database could not be
| read. It seems that when I reloaded XP, it did not
rewrite this file. If
| the drive was originally recognized incorrectly and that
info was recorded
| in the Cat2 file--could this be the problem? I did read
an article that
| says the only way to get XP to rewrite this file is during
an actual
| install?
|
| Any info you could give me would be greatly appreciated.
I am ready to
| bring the PC in to a technician to have it checked, but I
am leery of doing
| so since I have been burnt with some huge bills for tech
service in the past
| and still ended up with the same problems afterward.
| | > Is yr hd a sata or ide ?
| > A sata drive will be identified as scsi.
| > Having sata drivers loaded will not impact on yr floppy
or anything else.
| > It sound like youve got in a muddle with yr drivers, why
did you not
| install
| > using mb disk and perhaps leaving the dvd untill the sys
was up and
| running.
| > If the pwr lights arent working, its either connected
incorrectly or
| faulty.
| >
| > | > > I am running Windows XP Professional. I have a newly
built PC with
| NF7-S
| > > v2.0 MB and Western Digital 120GB hard drive connected
to onboard
| Primary
| > > PCI controller. Athalon 2500+ processor. I have I/O
Magic DVD RW
| > connected
| > > to PCI secondary controller.
| > >
| > > The first time I loaded XP and loaded the Nvidia 3.13
drivers from the
| > web,
| > > it picked up my hard drive and DVD both as SCSI
drives. Due to
| problems,
| > I
| > > flashed the BIOS, reloaded XP, turned off all Serial
ATA functions in
| BIOS
| > > before reloading and my hard drive is picked up now as
standard drive.
| > BIOS
| > > sees the entire 120GB. I selected to load the Nvidia
ATA drivers
| instead
| > of
| > > keep standard ones during the install of 3.13 drivers.
| > >
| > > My question is--do I need to have any SATA functions
turned on in the
| BIOS
| > > for my hard drive to be recognized correctly? Also,
after I installed a
| > > floppy drive it seemed to conflict with the SATA
drivers and they would
| no
| > > longer load. The floppy drive says that it is
compatible with NT and
| does
| > > not say anything about running with XP. I called tech
support and they
| > > assured me that it is 100% XP compatible, but now I am
not sure. Since
| > > installing the floppy, I have errors showing up in
cat2 also received
| > > messages that cat2 was unreadable, but after rebooting
the message
| seemed
| > to
| > > disappear.
| > >
| > > If I reload XP with the floppy disconnected do I turn
on default SATA in
| > > Bios? Should I go ahead and delete partitions that I
created after XP
| was
| > > loaded? How do I remove cat2 so it can be recreated?
It does not seem
| to
| > > recreate this even after I wrote 0's to my drive and
reloaded XP--or
| could
| > > it be that it did recreate it but the floppy is
causing problems?
| > >
| > > Any advice would be appreciated--Also have no power or
suspend lights on
| > > front case--double checked polarity of led wires and
they are all
| > connected
| > > correctly--That is one of the reasons that I do not
think that XP is
| > > actually recognizing the hard drive correctly.
| > >
| > >
| >
| >
|
|
 
Do I just rename it thru the Admin account in explorer same as I would
rename any other file?
 
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