New Build - Mobo Doesn't Recognize SATA Drives

[farno]

I'm building a new PC with the Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6 motherboard, Intel
E6850 CPU, 2 x 2GB OCZ memory, 3 Seagate SATA hard drives, and 2 DVD-
RW drives. I want to run the 3 hard drives as a RAID-5 array.

Problem: I cannot get the system to recognize any of the 3 hard
drives.

When I turn the system on, I get one short beep and POST starts. I
get the Gigabyte color screen with instructions for entering BIOS
setup, ROM flash, etc. which goes away in a few seconds. Then I see
this:

Port 00 No device detected
Port 01 No device detected
Port 02 No device detected
Port 03 No device detected
Port 04 CD ROM LITE-ON DVDRW LH-20A1L
Port 00 CD ROM LITE-ON DVDRW LH-20A1L

After more typical POST stuff, it finally says: DISK BOOT FAILURE,
INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER.

Assuming the problem is in CMOS setup, I reboot and enter CMOS setup.

The first category is "Standard CMOS Features." The first thing in
Standard CMOS Features is a list:

IDE Channel 0 Master [None]
IDE Channel 0 Slave [None]
IDE Channel 1 Master [None]
IDE Channel 1 Slave [None]
IDE Channel 2 Master [None]
IDE Channel 3 Master [None]

I go to the first line, highlight "[None]" and hit Enter.

The next screen shows this:

IDE AUTO-DETECTION [Press Enter]

I press Enter, a small window says: "Detecting Hard Drive..." and then
I'm back to the same screen with nothing changed.

The next line says: IDE CHANNEL 0 MASTER [AUTO]

Since Auto doesn't work I tried the other two choices - None and
Manual - each time rebooting with no success.

Back at the main CMOS setup screen, I go into the second option,
Advanced BIOS features. Nothing there seems pertinent.

Back at the main CMOS setup screen, I go into the third option,
Integrated Peripherals.

The first line under Integrated Peripherals is:

SATA RAID/ACHI MODE [RAID]

The other options are ACHI and DISABLED - I tried them both without
success.

The second line is:

SATA PORT0-3 NATIVE MODE [ENABLED]

I tried DISABLED without success.

So I'm completely stuck.

A few other points:

1. I tried different SATA cables without success.
2. The 3 SATA hard drives are brand new. I can imagine one bad one
but not three.
3. I switched the power cables between the DVD drives and the SATA
drives without success.
4. The SATA drives seem to be spinning when the PC powers up.
5. I tried plugging the SATA cables from the DVD drives into the ports
that the hard drives were in and the PC recognizes them in every
possible port.
6. I tried the SATA hard drives in the ports that the DVD drives were
in with no success.

Could there be a problem with the motherboard?

Thanks in advance for any help.

farno

 

[Jan Alter]

I'm building a new PC with the Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6 motherboard, Intel
E6850 CPU, 2 x 2GB OCZ memory, 3 Seagate SATA hard drives, and 2 DVD-
RW drives. I want to run the 3 hard drives as a RAID-5 array.

Problem: I cannot get the system to recognize any of the 3 hard
drives.

When I turn the system on, I get one short beep and POST starts. I
get the Gigabyte color screen with instructions for entering BIOS
setup, ROM flash, etc. which goes away in a few seconds. Then I see
this:

Port 00 No device detected
Port 01 No device detected
Port 02 No device detected
Port 03 No device detected
Port 04 CD ROM LITE-ON DVDRW LH-20A1L
Port 00 CD ROM LITE-ON DVDRW LH-20A1L

After more typical POST stuff, it finally says: DISK BOOT FAILURE,
INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER.

Assuming the problem is in CMOS setup, I reboot and enter CMOS setup.

The first category is "Standard CMOS Features." The first thing in
Standard CMOS Features is a list:

IDE Channel 0 Master [None]
IDE Channel 0 Slave [None]
IDE Channel 1 Master [None]
IDE Channel 1 Slave [None]
IDE Channel 2 Master [None]
IDE Channel 3 Master [None]

I go to the first line, highlight "[None]" and hit Enter.

The next screen shows this:

IDE AUTO-DETECTION [Press Enter]

I press Enter, a small window says: "Detecting Hard Drive..." and then
I'm back to the same screen with nothing changed.

The next line says: IDE CHANNEL 0 MASTER [AUTO]

Since Auto doesn't work I tried the other two choices - None and
Manual - each time rebooting with no success.

Back at the main CMOS setup screen, I go into the second option,
Advanced BIOS features. Nothing there seems pertinent.

Back at the main CMOS setup screen, I go into the third option,
Integrated Peripherals.

The first line under Integrated Peripherals is:

SATA RAID/ACHI MODE [RAID]

The other options are ACHI and DISABLED - I tried them both without
success.

The second line is:

SATA PORT0-3 NATIVE MODE [ENABLED]

I tried DISABLED without success.

So I'm completely stuck.

A few other points:

1. I tried different SATA cables without success.
2. The 3 SATA hard drives are brand new. I can imagine one bad one
but not three.
3. I switched the power cables between the DVD drives and the SATA
drives without success.
4. The SATA drives seem to be spinning when the PC powers up.
5. I tried plugging the SATA cables from the DVD drives into the ports
that the hard drives were in and the PC recognizes them in every
possible port.
6. I tried the SATA hard drives in the ports that the DVD drives were
in with no success.

Could there be a problem with the motherboard?

Thanks in advance for any help.

farno

I'd agree with your conjecture that there's a problem with the mb.
If you have a PATA drive that you could connect (if it has an IDE channel)
that would help confirm this probability.
Just for the heck of it try clearing the CMOS with the jumper and give it
another shot.
If it still doesn't pick up one of the SATA drives I'd suggest either
calling Gigabyte or simply RMAing back to the seller.

 

[Jan Alter]

I'm building a new PC with the Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6 motherboard, Intel
E6850 CPU, 2 x 2GB OCZ memory, 3 Seagate SATA hard drives, and 2 DVD-
RW drives. I want to run the 3 hard drives as a RAID-5 array.

Problem: I cannot get the system to recognize any of the 3 hard
drives.

When I turn the system on, I get one short beep and POST starts. I
get the Gigabyte color screen with instructions for entering BIOS
setup, ROM flash, etc. which goes away in a few seconds. Then I see
this:

Port 00 No device detected
Port 01 No device detected
Port 02 No device detected
Port 03 No device detected
Port 04 CD ROM LITE-ON DVDRW LH-20A1L
Port 00 CD ROM LITE-ON DVDRW LH-20A1L

After more typical POST stuff, it finally says: DISK BOOT FAILURE,
INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER.

Assuming the problem is in CMOS setup, I reboot and enter CMOS setup.

The first category is "Standard CMOS Features." The first thing in
Standard CMOS Features is a list:

IDE Channel 0 Master [None]
IDE Channel 0 Slave [None]
IDE Channel 1 Master [None]
IDE Channel 1 Slave [None]
IDE Channel 2 Master [None]
IDE Channel 3 Master [None]

I go to the first line, highlight "[None]" and hit Enter.

The next screen shows this:

IDE AUTO-DETECTION [Press Enter]

I press Enter, a small window says: "Detecting Hard Drive..." and then
I'm back to the same screen with nothing changed.

The next line says: IDE CHANNEL 0 MASTER [AUTO]

Since Auto doesn't work I tried the other two choices - None and
Manual - each time rebooting with no success.

Back at the main CMOS setup screen, I go into the second option,
Advanced BIOS features. Nothing there seems pertinent.

Back at the main CMOS setup screen, I go into the third option,
Integrated Peripherals.

The first line under Integrated Peripherals is:

SATA RAID/ACHI MODE [RAID]

The other options are ACHI and DISABLED - I tried them both without
success.

The second line is:

SATA PORT0-3 NATIVE MODE [ENABLED]

I tried DISABLED without success.

So I'm completely stuck.

A few other points:

1. I tried different SATA cables without success.
2. The 3 SATA hard drives are brand new. I can imagine one bad one
but not three.
3. I switched the power cables between the DVD drives and the SATA
drives without success.
4. The SATA drives seem to be spinning when the PC powers up.
5. I tried plugging the SATA cables from the DVD drives into the ports
that the hard drives were in and the PC recognizes them in every
possible port.
6. I tried the SATA hard drives in the ports that the DVD drives were
in with no success.

Could there be a problem with the motherboard?

Thanks in advance for any help.

farno

I'd agree with your conjecture that there's a problem with the mb.
If you have a PATA drive that you could connect (if it has an IDE channel)
that would help confirm this probability.
Just for the heck of it try clearing the CMOS with the jumper and give it
another shot.
If it still doesn't pick up one of the SATA drives I'd suggest either
calling Gigabyte or simply RMAing back to the seller.
--

I may have spoken a little too soon to suggest that putting a PATA drive on
the system would confirm that the SATA portion wasn't working. My second
take on this is that the SATA drive should simply be recognized when you
connect it to the mb with power and data connectors and nothing else.
Clearing the CMOS to bring it back to defaults should verify whether the mb
recognizes the drive (s) or not.

 

[farno]

I'd agree with your conjecture that there's a problem with the mb.

At this point I'm convinced it's either the motherboard or the three
SATA hard drives (which seems statistically unlikely). I can't
imagine that somehow I missed a BIOS setting since I tried every
permutation and combination. What seems odd is that all of the SATA
ports on the mobo can detect the two SATA DVD drives without a problem
(which would indicate that the hard drives are all bad!).

I'm going to call Gigabyte and talk to them tomorrow when I get home
from work and am sitting in front of the PC. I'm also considering
buying a cheap SATA hard drive from my local Best Buy and trying that,
since I can always return it. If the new SATA hard drive works then
I'll contact newegg for an RMA number for the mobo.

Thanks for your reply.

farno

 

[farno]

My second

take on this is that the SATA drive should simply be recognized when you
connect it to the mb with power and data connectors and nothing else.
Clearing the CMOS to bring it back to defaults should verify whether the mb
recognizes the drive (s) or not.

Jan,

That's a good point and I agree. When I boot up the PC, the drive
detection is almost the first thing it does. I'll try clearing the
CMOS.

Thanks again.

farno

 

[farno]

Clearing the CMOS to bring it back to defaults should verify whether the mb
recognizes the drive (s) or not.<<

I just tried it - no dice. Honestly, I always thought that was long
shot.

Thanks.

farno

 

[DonC]

At this point I'm convinced it's either the motherboard or the three
SATA hard drives (which seems statistically unlikely). I can't
imagine that somehow I missed a BIOS setting since I tried every
permutation and combination. What seems odd is that all of the SATA
ports on the mobo can detect the two SATA DVD drives without a problem
(which would indicate that the hard drives are all bad!).

I'm going to call Gigabyte and talk to them tomorrow when I get home
from work and am sitting in front of the PC. I'm also considering
buying a cheap SATA hard drive from my local Best Buy and trying that,
since I can always return it. If the new SATA hard drive works then
I'll contact newegg for an RMA number for the mobo.

Thanks for your reply.

farno

I don't think your MB is the problem. I'm in the process of installing a
new MB (ASUS) and have discovered that you have to install SATA drivers
that came with your MB software during the installation of your OS. When
you start the install the OS gives you a chance to press F6, insert a floppy
with the drivers and they supposedly will be installed.

I find this incredible! I had no intention of reinstalling my OS (Win XP) as
I was going from an ASUS MB to another ASUS.

And what if you have no floppy drive?

I'm still in the process of sorting all this out. There are sites on the web
addressing the issue but I'm just starting.

My new MB is working well. Other than the SATA issue and ASUS's poorly
structured driver installation process I'm a happy camper. The computer
lives up to my expectations but doesn't recognize the SATA drives.
Sigh.........

Anybody know of some good websites regarding this?

 

[DONALD McCLEAN]

I'm building a new PC with the Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6 motherboard, Intel
E6850 CPU, 2 x 2GB OCZ memory, 3 Seagate SATA hard drives, and 2 DVD-
RW drives. I want to run the 3 hard drives as a RAID-5 array.

Problem: I cannot get the system to recognize any of the 3 hard
drives.

When I turn the system on, I get one short beep and POST starts. I
get the Gigabyte color screen with instructions for entering BIOS
setup, ROM flash, etc. which goes away in a few seconds. Then I see
this:

Port 00 No device detected
Port 01 No device detected
Port 02 No device detected
Port 03 No device detected
Port 04 CD ROM LITE-ON DVDRW LH-20A1L
Port 00 CD ROM LITE-ON DVDRW LH-20A1L

After more typical POST stuff, it finally says: DISK BOOT FAILURE,
INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER.

Assuming the problem is in CMOS setup, I reboot and enter CMOS setup.

The first category is "Standard CMOS Features." The first thing in
Standard CMOS Features is a list:

IDE Channel 0 Master [None]
IDE Channel 0 Slave [None]
IDE Channel 1 Master [None]
IDE Channel 1 Slave [None]
IDE Channel 2 Master [None]
IDE Channel 3 Master [None]

I go to the first line, highlight "[None]" and hit Enter.

The next screen shows this:

IDE AUTO-DETECTION [Press Enter]

I press Enter, a small window says: "Detecting Hard Drive..." and then
I'm back to the same screen with nothing changed.

The next line says: IDE CHANNEL 0 MASTER [AUTO]

Since Auto doesn't work I tried the other two choices - None and
Manual - each time rebooting with no success.

Back at the main CMOS setup screen, I go into the second option,
Advanced BIOS features. Nothing there seems pertinent.

Back at the main CMOS setup screen, I go into the third option,
Integrated Peripherals.

The first line under Integrated Peripherals is:

SATA RAID/ACHI MODE [RAID]

The other options are ACHI and DISABLED - I tried them both without
success.

The second line is:

SATA PORT0-3 NATIVE MODE [ENABLED]

I tried DISABLED without success.

So I'm completely stuck.

A few other points:

1. I tried different SATA cables without success.
2. The 3 SATA hard drives are brand new. I can imagine one bad one
but not three.
3. I switched the power cables between the DVD drives and the SATA
drives without success.
4. The SATA drives seem to be spinning when the PC powers up.
5. I tried plugging the SATA cables from the DVD drives into the ports
that the hard drives were in and the PC recognizes them in every
possible port.
6. I tried the SATA hard drives in the ports that the DVD drives were
in with no success.

Could there be a problem with the motherboard?

Thanks in advance for any help.

farno

GIGABYTE.com.tw & hardwarelogic.com for references


Hi there!

Like to visit these 2 sites to help in your solving your problem?

Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6 Motherboard Review
.... acquainted with Intel\'s newest chipset via Gigabyte\'s GA-X38-DQ6
motherboard. ... Home > Reviews > Motherboards > Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6
Motherboard Review ...
hardwarelogic.com/news/132/ARTICLE/1811/2007-12-05.html - 25k -
Cached
GIGABYTE - Product - Motherboard - Overview - GA-X38-DQ6
The GA-X38-DQ6 is GIGABYTE next generation, high performance platform
based on ... The GA-X38-DQ6 is also part of the GIGABYTE Ultra Durable
2 Series of ...
gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/...?ProductID=2665 - 71k -
Cached

1.You should install your sata cable in Port 0, try with just 1 disk
first.
2. Stick your XP or Vista into the CD ROM.
3. Try restarting the PC. On rebooting, the OS should try and detect
all devices.

If this works , then attached the other units to other available
ports. You have 6 SATA Ports right?

alvin

 

[Fitz]

It may be that the drives are bare (not formatted). Is there a bootable
disk that came with the drives? If so, try changing the boot sequence in
your BIOS to CD first, then run the setup to format the drive.

Fitz

 

[Brett Kline]

I don't think your MB is the problem. I'm in the process of

installing a new MB (ASUS) and have discovered that you have to install
SATA drivers that came with your MB software during the installation of
your OS. When you start the install the OS gives you a chance to press
F6, insert a floppy with the drivers and they supposedly will be installed.


When you enter the BIOS settings does it detect the hard drive? If not,
have you reseated all cables and checked if jumpers on the hard drive
need to be configured? Most often it's a setting in the BIOS likely
named 'SATA Enhanced' or 'AHCI'.

I find this incredible! I had no intention of reinstalling my OS (Win

XP) as I was going from an ASUS MB to another ASUS.

And what if you have no floppy drive?

Slipstream the SATA drivers for 2000/XP/2003 Server. Vista should allow
adding 'F6' drivers from a USB drive.

 

[Bob M]

At this point I'm convinced it's either the motherboard or the three
SATA hard drives (which seems statistically unlikely). I can't
imagine that somehow I missed a BIOS setting since I tried every
permutation and combination. What seems odd is that all of the SATA
ports on the mobo can detect the two SATA DVD drives without a problem
(which would indicate that the hard drives are all bad!).

I'm going to call Gigabyte and talk to them tomorrow when I get home
from work and am sitting in front of the PC. I'm also considering
buying a cheap SATA hard drive from my local Best Buy and trying that,
since I can always return it. If the new SATA hard drive works then
I'll contact newegg for an RMA number for the mobo.

Thanks for your reply.

farno

I know this might sound like a stupid question. But did you connect
both cables to your Sata drives and the motherboard? In other words not
only the Sata cable but the power cable too? I worked on a computer
where the owner had pulled his hair out with the same problem. He
thought the Sata cable also ran the power to the drives.
Have you read the motherboard manual? You are probably missing a
setting in the BIOS. The manual will tell you exactly what the settings
are. I know on my Epox board I had 3 different settings in the BIOS that
had to be set before the BIOS would see my Sata drives.

Bob

 

[DonC]

It may be that the drives are bare (not formatted). Is there a bootable
disk that came with the drives? If so, try changing the boot sequence in
your BIOS to CD first, then run the setup to format the drive.

Fitz

Drives have to be detectable by the BIOS before they can be formatted, IIRC.
I can't even see mine.

 

[Michael Cecil]

Drives have to be detectable by the BIOS before they can be formatted, IIRC.
I can't even see mine.

Make sure both the data and power cables are attached properly. Make sure
that whatever SATA controller options are in the BIOS are enabled.

 

[farno]

But did you connect
both cables to your Sata drives and the motherboard? In other words
not
only the Sata cable but the power cable too?<<

Yes to all of the above.
setting in the BIOS. <<

By now I think I could recite the motherboard manual by heart.

I just got off the phone with Gigabyte support. After a lot of trial
and error he was convinced that somehow or other I have three bad hard
drives. This board comes with both the Intel ICH9R controller and a
separate Gigabyte controller for two more SATA drives (where I had the
DVD drives). He had me plug one of the hard drives' data cable into
one of the Gigabyte controller ports and reboot and ... still
nothing.

This means to him that the drives must be bad because neither on-board
disk controller could see the drives, but both can see the DVD optical
drives.

On Wednesday I'm going to buy a small, cheap SATA hard drive and see
if the PC sees it. If so, at least i know what the problem is and I
can get newegg to replace the three drives (with another brand!).

Thanks for your reply and for all the other replies. Will keep you
all informed.

farno

 

[DonC]

both cables to your Sata drives and the motherboard? In other words
not
only the Sata cable but the power cable too?<<

Yes to all of the above.

setting in the BIOS. <<

By now I think I could recite the motherboard manual by heart.

I just got off the phone with Gigabyte support. After a lot of trial
and error he was convinced that somehow or other I have three bad hard
drives. This board comes with both the Intel ICH9R controller and a
separate Gigabyte controller for two more SATA drives (where I had the
DVD drives). He had me plug one of the hard drives' data cable into
one of the Gigabyte controller ports and reboot and ... still
nothing.

This means to him that the drives must be bad because neither on-board
disk controller could see the drives, but both can see the DVD optical
drives.

On Wednesday I'm going to buy a small, cheap SATA hard drive and see
if the PC sees it. If so, at least i know what the problem is and I
can get newegg to replace the three drives (with another brand!).

Thanks for your reply and for all the other replies. Will keep you
all informed.

farno

Farno,

You may have answered this already but I need to check since we share a
common problem -- detection of SATA drives.

Did you install SATA drivers that came with your MB software while doing a
reinstallation of Windows XP? Specifically, did you press F6 when prompted
at the start of the reinstall and insert a floppy with the drivers on it?
These instructions are plastered all over the web.

I ask because this is what I understand to be the problem getting Win XP and
BIOS to recognize the drives.

If I wasn't heading north from Arizona to spend some Christmas time with
family, I'd be doing such an install right now. But I hate to leave the
system midway through the process.

Best of Luck

Don

PS- My new MB is currently happily running Win XP on an IDE drive.

 

[Michael Cecil]

Farno,

You may have answered this already but I need to check since we share a
common problem -- detection of SATA drives.

Did you install SATA drivers that came with your MB software while doing a
reinstallation of Windows XP? Specifically, did you press F6 when prompted
at the start of the reinstall and insert a floppy with the drivers on it?
These instructions are plastered all over the web.

That cannot be the problem. The mobo doesn't need drivers for the bios to
see harddrives. The OS might, but his drives weren't showing up in the
bios setup screen.

 

[DonC]

That cannot be the problem. The mobo doesn't need drivers for the bios to
see harddrives. The OS might, but his drives weren't showing up in the
bios setup screen.

That was my initial thought too but what I've read leads me to believe that
there's a possibility. Farno and I are not the first guys to run into this
problem. It appears to be widespread and independent of MB brand or type.
While all the advise to check the cables, BIOS settings, etc., etc. are well
meaning they're off target. I built my first PC in 1993 and have probably
built a dozen by now for self, friends and family members. I've also done
numerous upgrades. This situation is by far the weirdest I've ever run
into. I have two SATA-capable MBs and neither can see the drives. Both MBs
function perfectly otherwise. The likelihood that the all the drives and MBs
are defective is extremely remote.

 

[Michael Cecil]

That was my initial thought too but what I've read leads me to believe that
there's a possibility. Farno and I are not the first guys to run into this
problem. It appears to be widespread and independent of MB brand or type.
While all the advise to check the cables, BIOS settings, etc., etc. are well
meaning they're off target. I built my first PC in 1993 and have probably
built a dozen by now for self, friends and family members. I've also done
numerous upgrades. This situation is by far the weirdest I've ever run
into. I have two SATA-capable MBs and neither can see the drives. Both MBs
function perfectly otherwise. The likelihood that the all the drives and MBs
are defective is extremely remote.

As HAL might say, PEBKAC.

 

[DonC]

As HAL might say, PEBKAC.

We shall see. Haven't been stumped yet : )

 

[Michael Cecil]

I'm building a new PC with the Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6 motherboard, Intel
E6850 CPU, 2 x 2GB OCZ memory, 3 Seagate SATA hard drives, and 2 DVD-
RW drives. I want to run the 3 hard drives as a RAID-5 array.

Problem: I cannot get the system to recognize any of the 3 hard
drives.

When I turn the system on, I get one short beep and POST starts. I
get the Gigabyte color screen with instructions for entering BIOS
setup, ROM flash, etc. which goes away in a few seconds. Then I see
this:

Port 00 No device detected
Port 01 No device detected
Port 02 No device detected
Port 03 No device detected
Port 04 CD ROM LITE-ON DVDRW LH-20A1L
Port 00 CD ROM LITE-ON DVDRW LH-20A1L

After more typical POST stuff, it finally says: DISK BOOT FAILURE,
INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER.

Assuming the problem is in CMOS setup, I reboot and enter CMOS setup.

The first category is "Standard CMOS Features." The first thing in
Standard CMOS Features is a list:

IDE Channel 0 Master [None]
IDE Channel 0 Slave [None]
IDE Channel 1 Master [None]
IDE Channel 1 Slave [None]
IDE Channel 2 Master [None]
IDE Channel 3 Master [None]

I go to the first line, highlight "[None]" and hit Enter.

The next screen shows this:

IDE AUTO-DETECTION [Press Enter]

I press Enter, a small window says: "Detecting Hard Drive..." and then
I'm back to the same screen with nothing changed.

The next line says: IDE CHANNEL 0 MASTER [AUTO]

Since Auto doesn't work I tried the other two choices - None and
Manual - each time rebooting with no success.

Back at the main CMOS setup screen, I go into the second option,
Advanced BIOS features. Nothing there seems pertinent.

Back at the main CMOS setup screen, I go into the third option,
Integrated Peripherals.

The first line under Integrated Peripherals is:

SATA RAID/ACHI MODE [RAID]

The other options are ACHI and DISABLED - I tried them both without
success.

The second line is:

SATA PORT0-3 NATIVE MODE [ENABLED]

I tried DISABLED without success.

So I'm completely stuck.

A few other points:

1. I tried different SATA cables without success.
2. The 3 SATA hard drives are brand new. I can imagine one bad one
but not three.
3. I switched the power cables between the DVD drives and the SATA
drives without success.
4. The SATA drives seem to be spinning when the PC powers up.
5. I tried plugging the SATA cables from the DVD drives into the ports
that the hard drives were in and the PC recognizes them in every
possible port.
6. I tried the SATA hard drives in the ports that the DVD drives were
in with no success.

Could there be a problem with the motherboard?

Thanks in advance for any help.

farno

The instructions are very explicitly spelled out on p77+ in the manual.
Did you try them? Unlike some manuals, this one seems pretty well done.