Is my SATA HD dead?

[Dennis]

Hi All,

Just put together a new system but BIOS does not detect drive. It
knows SOMETHING is installed because it tells me which of 4 SATA ports
it's inspecting while trying to detect, but it can't identify the
drive. The drive does vibrate as the PC posts as if it is
running, but falls silent and motionless and cold when the
"auto-detecting 3rd master" begins. Is the drive dead? Or is it
the motherboard?

Thanks for any insight (This is my first experience with SATA.)

Dennis

 

[Ed Cregger]

Hi All,

Just put together a new system but BIOS does not detect
drive. It
knows SOMETHING is installed because it tells me which of
4 SATA ports
it's inspecting while trying to detect, but it can't
identify the
drive. The drive does vibrate as the PC posts as if it
is
running, but falls silent and motionless and cold when
the
"auto-detecting 3rd master" begins. Is the drive dead?
Or is it
the motherboard?

Thanks for any insight (This is my first experience with
SATA.)

Dennis

------------


Just a guess from a know-nothing (me), but is the drive
formatted?

Ed Cregger

 

[tpow]

Hi All,

Just put together a new system but BIOS does not detect drive. It
knows SOMETHING is installed because it tells me which of 4 SATA ports
it's inspecting while trying to detect, but it can't identify the
drive. The drive does vibrate as the PC posts as if it is
running, but falls silent and motionless and cold when the
"auto-detecting 3rd master" begins. Is the drive dead? Or is it
the motherboard?

Thanks for any insight (This is my first experience with SATA.)

Dennis

you may have to load the SATA drivers during the OS installation..........F6

if you have an installation CD they should be on it but they will need to be
on a floppy drive or slipstreamed into the OS to get them onboard.

 

[SteveH]

Hi All,

Just put together a new system but BIOS does not detect drive. It
knows SOMETHING is installed because it tells me which of 4 SATA ports
it's inspecting while trying to detect, but it can't identify the
drive. The drive does vibrate as the PC posts as if it is
running, but falls silent and motionless and cold when the
"auto-detecting 3rd master" begins. Is the drive dead? Or is it
the motherboard?

Thanks for any insight (This is my first experience with SATA.)

Dennis

First thing to try is changing the SATA data cable as they ain't exactly
the most reliable bit of kit.
What do you get if you actually have a look in the BIOS for the drives?

SteveH

 

[johns]

You've got the SATA on port 1 instead of port 0

johns

 

[Dennis]

Hi All,

Just put together a new system but BIOS does not detect drive. It
knows SOMETHING is installed because it tells me which of 4 SATA ports
it's inspecting while trying to detect, but it can't identify the
drive. The drive does vibrate as the PC posts as if it is
running, but falls silent and motionless and cold when the
"auto-detecting 3rd master" begins. Is the drive dead? Or is it
the motherboard?

Thanks for any insight (This is my first experience with SATA.)

Dennis

Thanks to all.

Responses:

According to Western Digital (drive is a wd5000aaks) their drives are
shipped formatted to FAT32. Doesn't matter here because BIOS can't
see the drive anyway.


As for loading the SATA drivers during the OS installation -- I don't
understand . . . what does F6 do? In any case how can I install
an OS on a drive that isn't there? What am I missing? The mobo
manual says nothing about any extraordary measures-- just enable SATA,
which I did. BIOS searches for the drive, and in the right place,
but can not identify and load it. WD's DataGuard CD doesn't see it
either. I've tried everything, including stripping down to none
other than the SATA drive and floppy and video.

My past experience with IDEs is that the drives run continually
whether it is detected in BIOS or not. My new WD does not.

 

[Dennis]

You've got the SATA on port 1 instead of port 0

johns

Hi johns,

I don't understand. There are 4 ports on the motherboard. They're
numbered on the board 1 through 4. I'm plugged into No. 1 (0?).
I've tried the other 3 too. What am I missing? There seem to be no
BIOS settings for this. (AMI BIOS, very sparse)

Dennis

 

[Dennis]

You've got the SATA on port 1 instead of port 0

johns

BTW, my mobo is MSI K9AG Neo2-Digital AM2

 

[Dennis]

Thanks to all.

Responses:

According to Western Digital (drive is a wd5000aaks) their drives are
shipped formatted to FAT32. Doesn't matter here because BIOS can't
see the drive anyway.


As for loading the SATA drivers during the OS installation -- I don't
understand . . . what does F6 do? In any case how can I install
an OS on a drive that isn't there? What am I missing? The mobo
manual says nothing about any extraordary measures-- just enable SATA,
which I did. BIOS searches for the drive, and in the right place,
but can not identify and load it. WD's DataGuard CD doesn't see it
either. I've tried everything, including stripping down to none
other than the SATA drive and floppy and video.

My past experience with IDEs is that the drives run continually
whether it is detected in BIOS or not. My new WD does not.

 

[sandy58]

Hi All,

Just put together a new system but BIOS does not detect drive. It
knows SOMETHING is installed because it tells me which of 4 SATA ports
it's inspecting while trying to detect, but it can't identify the
drive. The drive does vibrate as the PC posts as if it is
running, but falls silent and motionless and cold when the
"auto-detecting 3rd master" begins. Is the drive dead? Or is it
the motherboard?

Thanks for any insight (This is my first experience with SATA.)

Dennis

I have a similar MB & bios as yours. I did the double-click on Auto-
set a couple of times before s-ata did it's thing. It shows in the
POST as "3rd IDE Master Samsung 320gb S-ata"
Looks a bit at odd IDE Master showing as S-ata but works.

*Integrated Peripherals.*
On-chip IDE config-Legacy mode
Ata config - Pata only
S-Ata Keep enabled-yes
Pata channel select-both
S-ata ports defin-PO-3rd/PI-4th
Config S-ata as Raid-No

*Cmos*
Prim Master 250gb ata
Prim Slave 250gb ata
Sec master DVD Rw
Sec Slave DVD Rw
3rd IDE Master Samsung 320gb S-ata (auto set double-click)

 

[Bill]

Hi All,

Just put together a new system but BIOS does not detect drive. It
knows SOMETHING is installed because it tells me which of 4 SATA ports
it's inspecting while trying to detect, but it can't identify the
drive. The drive does vibrate as the PC posts as if it is
running, but falls silent and motionless and cold when the
"auto-detecting 3rd master" begins. Is the drive dead? Or is it
the motherboard?

Thanks for any insight (This is my first experience with SATA.)

Dennis

What motherboard? Are you trying to run a SATA II dive on a SATA I
port?

Bill

 

[pg]

Hi All,

Just put together a new system but BIOS does not detect drive. It
knows SOMETHING is installed because it tells me which of 4 SATA ports
it's inspecting while trying to detect, but it can't identify the
drive. The drive does vibrate as the PC posts as if it is
running, but falls silent and motionless and cold when the
"auto-detecting 3rd master" begins. Is the drive dead? Or is it
the motherboard?

Thanks for any insight (This is my first experience with SATA.)

Dennis

Would you mind sharing with us what type of computer (ie, CPU type)
and what SATA drive you're putting on it ?

 

[Dennis]

Okay Sandy, I'll try again & see what happens. My worry is that the
HD is not good & I have no way of knowing. It's an OEM from
Newegg.

 

[Dennis]

What motherboard? Are you trying to run a SATA II dive on a SATA I
port?

Bill

The board supports 3gb. K9AG NEO-2 DIGITAL. I did try the 1.5
jumper anyway . . . didn't work.

 

[Dennis]

Would you mind sharing with us what type of computer (ie, CPU type)
and what SATA drive you're putting on it ?

WD5000AAKS, 500 gb. MSI K9AG Neo2-Digital AM2 AMD 690G board. AMD
Athlon 64 X2 5200+

 

[Dennis]

On Fri, 25 Jan 2008 21:22:08 GMT, (e-mail address removed) (Dennis) wrote:

More information on my problem:

If I hold the drive in my hand as it starts up I can feel some action.
I guess it is spinning. As soon as my screen tells me BIOS is
"auto-detecting 3rd master" the action stops and stays stopped. Does
this mean the drive is no good?

Woe is me.

BTW, where's this "3rd master" coming from, since my board has only
one IDE channel?

 

[Dennis]

On Fri, 25 Jan 2008 16:57:44 -0800 (PST), sandy58 <[email protected]>
wrote:

Hi Sandy,

Your advice turned out not to help. My AMI BIOS doesn't have much in
the way of options. Can't try auto-detect from within CMOS, for
example. Also, I have only one IDE channel. All very confusing.

 

[tpow]

What motherboard? Are you trying to run a SATA II dive on a SATA I
port?

Bill

that would only result in SATA 2 running at 1 speed

 

[tpow]

Hi All,

Just put together a new system but BIOS does not detect drive. It
knows SOMETHING is installed because it tells me which of 4 SATA ports
it's inspecting while trying to detect, but it can't identify the
drive. The drive does vibrate as the PC posts as if it is
running, but falls silent and motionless and cold when the
"auto-detecting 3rd master" begins. Is the drive dead? Or is it
the motherboard?

Thanks for any insight (This is my first experience with SATA.)

Dennis

Lets start again.............have you attempted to load the OS.

 

[pg]

On Fri, 25 Jan 2008 21:22:08 GMT, (e-mail address removed) (Dennis) wrote:

More information on my problem:

If I hold the drive in my hand as it starts up I can feel some action.
I guess it is spinning. As soon as my screen tells me BIOS is
"auto-detecting 3rd master" the action stops and stays stopped. Does
this mean the drive is no good?

Woe is me.

BTW, where's this "3rd master" coming from, since my board has only
one IDE channel?

There is a definite way to know whether your drive is dead or not. If
you can, go download a linux liveCD iso image, and then burn it to a
CD.

Then configure your BIOS so that it'll but on your CD drive. Put that
live CD in the drive, hook up your SATA drive, and then boot up your
machine using the linux liveCD.

If on linux, your SATA drive exists, and it works (assuming it has
been formated), then there's nothing wrong with your hard drive.

This exercise is based on the ability of linux to skip the BIOS info
altogether.

Hope this helps !