Problems installing Vista on SATA drive as third master drive

[Marshall Lymer]

I have an MSI K9NSLI Platinum motherboard with a brand new Seagate
ST3250410AS 250GB SATA drive attached as the third master drive. The
primary master has an old school ATAPI DVDRW. Keep in mind there is no
way I can change a setting in the BIOS (or I don't know how to do it) so
that the SATA device is the primary master drive, so these are permanent
settings; the primary master and slave drives connect to the IDE
connector on my mobo. Now, I’ve tried and tried and tried, but I can’t
do a clean install nor an upgrade of Windows Vista Home Premium x86
(from DVD) on that SATA drive when it is hooked up alone (as the third
master drive).

But here’s the kicker. If I plug in my old regular ATA IDE drive as the
primary master drive, the DVDRW as the primary slave, and leave the SATA
drive as the third master drive, I can install Vista with no problems
onto the SATA drive. I just have to leave my old regular ATA IDE drive
plugged in as the primary master. If I try to disconnect my old regular
ATA IDE drive but leave the SATA drive plugged in by itself, Windows
Vista won’t boot.

What is the deal here? How come I can have the SATA by itself as the
third master and install WINDOWS XP with no problems and have a workable
system, but VISTA doesn’t install. I just paid over $250 for Vista and
I have to use this kind of setup to get Windows Vista to work on a SATA
drive by itself? This is lame. I want to take that old IDE hard drive
out of the box.

Here are my install screens:

First screen: “Windows is loading files...” bar goes to 100% and the
screen advances

Second screen: Black screen with moving green bar and Copyright
Microsoft Corporation on bottom. The green bar just keeps moving on
forever and doesn’t go to the next screen (which would be the colorful
“Install Windows” dialog box where you choose the language,
time/currency, and keyboard, etc.)

Thanks in advance.

 

[DL]

Youve read the mobo manual with regard using a sata drive as boot device?
This may involve connecting the sata to a specific controller port &
adjusting bios settings.

In general terms there is no Sata master setting all sata drives are
'master'

You could allways disconnect all drives, other than the new sata & dvd then
install, if it doesnt then you have a bios setting or sata connected to
wrong port problem

 

[John Barnes]

You need to go into your BIOS and set the boot priority to have the SATA
drive first hard drive in boot order. Read your manual for how to enter
your BIOS

 

[Marshall Lymer]

Thanks for the advice, but for my motherboard, there is no way to change
the boot priority.

I made a mistake buying Vista that's for sure.

 

[John Barnes]

There is no chance that you are correct. Don't know why you can't find it
in the manual or by browsing thru the BIOS but I assure you that there is no
post 1999 BIOS where you can't change the boot priority, and any MOBO that
supports SATA surely does. 99% of the BIOS's that support SATA also support
boot time priority changes. LOOK FOR IT

 

[Marshall Lymer]

You are correct; I think I'm going off on a tangent with this problem. I
shouldn't have stated in my last post that I couldn't change the boot
priority, because you can. That was my mistake. But even when you
change the boot priority in the BIOS, the old ATA IDE drive will still
show up as the primary master and my new SATA drive will still be the
third master drive.

I am starting to think that concentrating on the primary and third
master drive concept has nothing to do with my problems installing Vista
on the SATA drive by itself.

And it still doesn't change the fact that I can't install Vista UNLESS I
keep that old ATA IDE drive plugged in as the primary master on that IDE
port and the SATA drive plugged in as the third master drive.

I just want to get rid of that old ATA IDE drive and do a clean install

 

[John Barnes]

Some BIOS's have a two step priority system. First you select the order of
priority of major categories, i.e. floppy DVD hd etc. Then separately you
set the priority of the HD within that category i.e. IDE SATA1 etc. What
shows up on the splash screen when you go thru POST makes no difference.
You need to enter the BIOS using whatever key it says at the bottom of the
POST screens, often the delete key, when you enter the bios, usually the
main categories are across the top and you need to scroll over the the boot
priority, then enter. Within that section you would generally set up the
DVD drive as first boot and the HD as second boot. Following that, you
would go to the HD priority section and set up the drives in order, in your
case you want the SATA drive as first and if you leave the IDE attached (I
would recommend disconnecting the plug) set it up second. Save the changes
and boot to the DVD. Follow the setup instructions. Have the SATA
controller drivers ready on a thumb drive or floppy so you can install them
where it says 'Load Drivers' on the page where you select where to install
Vista.

 

[Marshall Lymer]

Thanks for your help John. I appreciate your input and would like to
resolve this problem soon. But take a look at the screen where I get stuck:

http://www.blackviper.com/Articles/OS/InstallVista/images/image1_2.html

That's only the second screen in the Vista install process and I can
never get to the page where it asks me to 'Load Drivers.'

This Vista install should be straight forward but it isn't. I've tried
everything in the BIOS and even upgraded my BIOS to the latest drivers
from MSI, but still no dice.

 

[DL]

There are two settings in the bios to use the sata, first set your bios to
defaults, then ammend
1) Set Sata as boot device
2) Config Sata
All sata drives are master
Disconnect all your ide / card reader devices, leave only the sata & DVD
Boot from the DVD assuming the sata is detected delete any partitions, clean
install
If you wish to use raid MSI state to install the drivers during the early
part of the Win installation process

 

[John Barnes]

If you get to the page where you have the scroll bar, you are way past the
load drivers which is on the page where you select the drive to install
Vista on. If you have Vista installed to the point where you are booting to
it to do an upgrade install, you need to hit F8 during the last part of post
and try safe mode. If you can get into safe mode, the odds are you need to
install the latest video drivers for your card as the point of the scroll
bar is where the video driver is loaded.

 

[Marshall Lymer]

No. That is incorrect. The page where I am stuck at is the SECOND
screen in the Vista install process. I can't hit any function keys or
anything, and the screen is stuck there with the green bar just
scrolling away forever (I've left it on that screen for a whole 24+
hours one time). The screen where you select the drive to install Vista
on is the EIGHTH screen in the Vista install process. Trust me, I've
installed Vista on this PC numerous times on the ATA IDE drive with no
problems.

Oh well. This is a dead issue that won't get resolved anyway, so I just
left the old ATA IDE drive plugged in and loaded Vista on the SATA
drive. There is no way I can install Vista on my system with the SATA
drive hooked up alone. It needs that IDE for some odd reason to write
all its boot parameters on. What a hokey setup indeed.

Thanks anyway.

 

[DL]

drive. There is no way I can install Vista on my system with the SATA

drive hooked up alone. It needs that IDE for some odd reason to write all
its boot parameters on. What a hokey setup indeed.

That is completely incorrect

 

[Marshall Lymer]

You are correct DL, I was incorrect-You CAN install Vista on my system
with the SATA drive hooked up alone. Here's how I solved the problem;
All this time pulling my hair out and it was a problem I overlooked from
the outset:

Downgrade (NOT UPGRADE) the BIOS!!

My motherboard:

MSI K9N SLI PLATINUM

version of BIOS downgraded to:

v1.9, dated 2007-09-06

previous version of BIOS used:

v.1.10, dated 2007-10-04

 

[DL]

A month between Bios versions? looks like they have a problem with their
bios