NEW SATA drive...OEM...no INSTALL disks! WHAT DO I DO?!

[ByTor]

I'm STILL HAVING PROBLEMS........this is so frustrating :-(.........

I have a Data Lifeguard Tools CD that came with my last Western Digital
retail drive that I bought. I used that and created partitions for my new
drive. My new drive was detected with the Western Digital Data Lifeguard CD.

Also, my hard drive description WD 3200JD shows up when my computer loads as
the Primary Drive.............then says the Secondary Drive could not be
found.

There is NO DETECTION of my SATA hard drive whatsoever in BIOS. There is an
option to do an AutoSearch, but nothing is detected (i assume it's because
it's searching the IDE and not SATA). I have no clue what to do anymore.

I even had the option to make bootable disks of the Data Lifeguard Tools CD
from Western Digital and made those........then tried using them from the F6
and S options before Windows loads. They said:
"the file txtsetup.oem could not be found"
(for the bootable diskettes).

Before this (after I partitioned the drive) I tried to install Win XP Pro
normally, then when it seems ready after loading everything, it tells me that
the hard disk is not detected...........

-------------
"Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed in your computer.
Make sure any hard disk drives are powered on and properly ocnnected to your
computer, and that any disk-related hardware configuration is correct. This
may involve running a manufacturer-supplied diagnostic or setup program.

Setup cannot continue. To quit Setup, Press F3."
------------

so no luck there! how can i get BIOS or whatever is causing setup not to
detect the hard drive to DETECT it and INSTALL???!!!!

I also entered the RAID utility and chose to format the new hard drive. It
said all data would be lost. Does this mean i have to repartition the drive
again?

I'M SO CONFUSED, AGGRAVATED, FRUSTRATED, WORRIED...........

and on top of all this I'm a college kid with HOMEWORK!

SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME!

-Mike

I have been following this thread for a bit and am wondering about how
having the SATA on the board during install is changing your disk order
somehow? From what I understand you have Two normal HD's connected to
your Primary IDE controller on the MB correct? I take it you have
another Secondary? Where is your CD Rom connected to? Secondary?

Natively from the way I understand it Windows seeks out "Disk0" for
install.....I wonder if the SATA is being assigned "Disk0" and confusing
your setup?

Can you please tell me the exact model of MotherBoard you have, I'd like
to take a look.......I may be wrong but maybe removing the SATA and
doing an install will tell you if it is indeed the SATA giving you a
hard time. In all this observation I'm wondering if having your two hd's
as primary's on the controller & not the secondary is what's causing
your grief........Maybe installing the SATA after could do the
trick....But than again once you bounce it back in and it changes the
disk order it won't find the OS............

 

[Guest]

That's good news, but there are still no performance
benefits . . .

 

[NobodyMan]

....yet. But there are definite expansion plans for SATA. ATA is
topped out, but SATA technology is just starting and there are big
things in it's future.

Oh, and there IS a slight benefit to using SATA150 over ATA133 -
roughly about a 5 percent increase in speed, give or take a percent.
This will only improve with time.

 

[Paul Knudsen]

Without the install CD's you're out of luck.

SOOooo...head back to EBAY and snag a XP license.

I take it your motherboard supports SATA, but you still may need to
have the drivers on a floppy available. Check your manual.

You know, two drives going bad around the same time is kind of
odd--you sure the problem isn't with your system?

 

[Paul Knudsen]

it's a MIRACLE! I think I got it

Yay.

 

[Paul Knudsen]

This is exactly why I won't purchase SATA drives - they're
not (yet) supported in the BIOS, and there are few if any
performance benefits. The big thing you hear is about
better airflow within the case because the SATA cables are
so small. It's laughable.

Happy SATA user here! It really is a lot faster. I think XP boots in
about half the time.

I bought a WD PCI card which has its own bios. Soon I plan to get
another drive and do RAID (0); not because it's that much more
speedy, just for the coolness factor!