SATA/IDE Adapter & XP

[Solar]

Before I installed XP Pro, recently, I was running Win2k Pro. My MB doens't
have SATA onboard, so I had bought an IDE ported SATA card so I could
install a 160Gb HD. Under Win2k it worked great. No problemo. After
installing XP, updated drivers, and every trick I knew, XP wouldn't
recognise the card. So I gave up and bought another card thinking that it
was the chipset, or poor drivers. And Lo, this new Roswell card will
install, IOW, XP says YEAH, it doth install correctly, and do worketh.
Right? Well, the HD is not accessable, nor does it show in Explorer.
Device Manager shows the Silicon Image SiI 3512 SATALink Controller, and
that it's working fine. However, Disk Management panel show not my WD HD
160Gb.

What am I overlooking?

Thanks.

 

[Solar]

Just in case, I failed to mention that the 160Gb HD is a SATA I drive, as is
the SATA card (SATA I only). Just a fact I left out.

 

[Guest]

Before I installed XP Pro, recently, I was running Win2k Pro. My MB doens't
have SATA onboard, so I had bought an IDE ported SATA card so I could
install a 160Gb HD. Under Win2k it worked great. No problemo. After
installing XP, updated drivers, and every trick I knew, XP wouldn't
recognise the card. So I gave up and bought another card thinking that it
was the chipset, or poor drivers. And Lo, this new Roswell card will
install, IOW, XP says YEAH, it doth install correctly, and do worketh.
Right? Well, the HD is not accessable, nor does it show in Explorer.
Device Manager shows the Silicon Image SiI 3512 SATALink Controller, and
that it's working fine. However, Disk Management panel show not my WD HD
160Gb.

What am I overlooking?

Thanks.

I'm not sure, but you might need to go into the bios and activate the
drive(s).

 

[Solar]

I've thought about that, but the BIOS only has IDE options. Also, I don't
recall having to do that with Win2k. So... I'm not sure either, what I'd do
in the BIOS.

 

[Guest]

If you see the controller in the DeviceManager but don't see the drive listed
in the DeviceManager it usually means the controller has not been configured
to use the attached drive.

All of the SATA controller cards that I have used display a message at boot
time specifying a combination of keys to press to enter the controllers
ROMBIOS configuration screen. This is not the same thing as the normal
ROMBIOS setup for configuring the computer's ROMBIOS settings and is normally
displayed after the post messages displayed by the normal ROMBIOS at boot
time.

Also if the card supports any RAID features you will almost definitely need
to configure the controller in order for it to use any drives that are
attached to it. The Silicon Image website has GUI software tools for this
chipset that should allow you to configure the card correctly from within
Windows.

http://www.siliconimage.com/products/product.aspx?id=29

Look at "Support tools" on the right side of the webpage.

 

[Anna]

I've thought about that, but the BIOS only has IDE options. Also, I don't
recall having to do that with Win2k. So... I'm not sure either, what I'd
do in the BIOS.

Solar:
Let me say at the outset that we ran into so many non-recognition problems
with these add-on SATA controller PCI cards that unless it was crucial for
the user to install a SATA HDD in a system where the motherboard was not
SATA-capable we generally recommended against their use. Although I do have
to add that most of the time they did work without problems - at least the
later-generation cards.

Anyway, that's water over the dam insofar as you're concerned, so try
this...

1. In case you haven't done so, try another PCI slot to install the SATA
controller card.

2. You didn't say, but I assume the SATA HDD is not listed in the "Disk
drives" section of Device Manager. Assuming that's so, right-click on "Disk
drives" and click on the "Scan for hardware changes". Probably won't work
but give it a try. If it *does* result in the drive being recognized you may
have to do this all the time after bootup.

3. I can't remember if you need to jumper that WD SATA HDD in order to
configure it for the 1.5 Gb/s (SATA-I) data interface, so check that out.

4. I know you said that you didn't run into the same problem in a Win2K
system. You were using the same SATA controller card and the same SATA HDD?
So you're reasonably certain there's no problem with the disk itself?

5. If no go, you might want to check with Rosewill (as well as the manuf. of
the previous card) to see if they have anything to offer.
Anna

 

[Solar]

Well, the old card was RAID capable (though not used). The new card isn't
RAID cap. The drive was working fine, until I put in XP. The instructions
for the card didn't say anything, in setup, about onboard BIOS config., only
to point XP to the directory with the drivers on the CDROM. So, hell &
damn. Maybe I'll have to make a dual-boot with Win2k to offload my 100Gb of
data.

I've seen, in internet, a lot of talk about these bloody Silicon Image
chipset PCI cards not liking XP. Of course, I still don't know what the
real problem is.

 

[Solar]

No RAID on the adapter, though the old one had it. Also, on bootup I see
the card flash on the screen for about 2 sec., but not option to config. a
BIOS, or anything else. All of the options, appartently were put into the
driver.

 

[- Bobb -]

You said that you installed XP ..
Did you then "Update XP" / Install Service Pack packs ?
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/303013/en-us

If 160Gb HD - your drive needs 48 bit addressing turned on.

Bobb

 

[Solar]

Yep. SP 2, plus all upgrades as of last wk. when installed.

After talking to Rosewell's tech rep. today, I guess my only alternative is
to install Win2k again as a dual boot, until I can replace the MB. But, it
appears, to me, that XP and these PCI/SATA cards just don't mix. The tech
rep. said he thought it was my Epox MB, but hell, Win2k ran it just fine.
The only variable in this mix is Win XP.

 

[Andy]

You still haven't stated whether the SATA disk drive shows in Device
Manager.

 

[- Bobb -]

Yep. SP 2, plus all upgrades as of last wk. when installed.

Did you try regedit - a lot easier than what you plan on doing.

"EnableBigLba"=dword:00000001
in
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\atapi\Parameters]

as mentioned in http://support.microsoft.com/kb/303013/en-us ?

I agree with you - it can't be the card if it works in Win2000/Bios
Try it - and just reboot. Worst case - you'll waste 60 seconds.
I suspect that since XP doesn't / DIDN'T see it at XP install time it
did NOT install that line. If there is no drive there, it does not
include that entry ( trust me I went thru this on my old PC ). AFTER
adding that line , it saw my drive.

Bobb

 

[Solar]

Yes I did, and it does.

You still haven't stated whether the SATA disk drive shows in Device
Manager.

 

[Solar]

To what line are you referring?

Yep. SP 2, plus all upgrades as of last wk. when installed.

Did you try regedit - a lot easier than what you plan on doing.

"EnableBigLba"=dword:00000001
in
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\atapi\Parameters]

as mentioned in http://support.microsoft.com/kb/303013/en-us ?

I agree with you - it can't be the card if it works in Win2000/Bios
Try it - and just reboot. Worst case - you'll waste 60 seconds.
I suspect that since XP doesn't / DIDN'T see it at XP install time it did
NOT install that line. If there is no drive there, it does not include
that entry ( trust me I went thru this on my old PC ). AFTER adding that
line , it saw my drive.

Bobb

 

[- Bobb -]

To what line are you referring?

1 . Sorry,
The line = the ( line of ) text that they entered. Have you ever edited
your registry ?
If not ( and you don't want to) then ... you mentioned 2 controllers,
but have you tried any other disk ( even a very small one) in place of
THIS one ? If it doesn't see a 10gb drive for instance - then this is
not your problem.

2. But if you're gonna wipe XP anyway, then you might as well BACKUP
then edit your registry. If for no other reason, then to just get
familiar with it on a non-critical install.
Overview is at:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/256986/

Search GOOGLE for " how to regedit edit xp registry " and lots of hits
( To edit the registry... Start- Run - Regedit - click on My Computer,
then File Export and that will export ALL of the info below " My
Compputer" ( everything) to a file. By default it will end in .REG . I
would recommend that you add ".txt " - to save it as "
Registry.reg.txt". By doing that, the default application to open will
be Notepad rather than Regedit when you later go to view the file.
Having done that .... )

In regedit - scroll down to
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\atapi\Parameters]
right click on parameters - New - Dword , call it
EnableBigLba
right click on the x00000000 and modify - make it 1
File- Exit ( or NOW save another copy)
Reboot.
When it boots that bit will be set allowing XP to see the entire drive.

When you're reading about registry often they will abbreviate:
HLKM = HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE folder etc

3. re : your statement:
"this new Roswell card will install, IOW, XP says YEAH, it doth install
correctly, and do worketh. Right? Well, the HD is not accessable, nor
does it show in Explorer."

I didn't understand that : what's IOW ?

4. If we can back up a bit ... since the drive has always been behind a
controller card ... This drive was formatted in Win2000, right ? Is it
FAT, FAT32 or NTFS ? If you skip the controller card , does the bios
see the drive ( even if only 137 gb of it ) ?

Also if still isues could you give one-liners of config then and now
( I've lost the thread). Just bullets like

Win2000
Installed disk card and IDE cable
160 gb drive on port 1
120gb on port 2
formatted disk using WD utility CD
Installed win2k on 160gb drive
etc

good luck.