Problems installing new SATA.

[BlueForce]

I just buildt a new computer, ASRock Mobo, Hitachi SATA 80GB HD, Celeron 2.4 GHz and so forth. The computer was running fine for a week and a half (playing Doom3 etc.). Yesterday my brother in law was playing a game, turned off the computer, left, and when he came back and tried to turn it back on this is the msg on the screen:

NTLDR Missing
CTRL+ALT+DEL to restart

I tried to put in the XP disk to run "repair XP", but it just went to the c promt in DOS, I typed chkdsk but it couldn't find the HD. I then tried to reboot into safe mode but it only made it into about 5 lines before it stopped. I then tried to reinstall XP and followed the instructions, pushing F6 to install drivers, then XP tells you to push enter to continue install XP, R for repair, or F3 to exit. I push enter and the next message I get on the screen is:

"Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed on your computer.

Make sure any hard disk drives are powered on and properly connected, and that any disk related hardware configuration is correct. This may include running a manufactorer supplied diagnostic or setup program.

Setup can not continue, press F3 to exit."

At this point I have triple checked the connections, only the SATA power connector, not the legacy 4 prong, and data cable is connected to the SATA, and come to the conclusion that he HD is shot. I buy a new HD, Maxtor 120 GB SATA, follow the instructions and end up at the exact same sad end as described above.

At this point I'm pulling out my hair. Any suggestions as to what went wrong?


Admission: I connected both power lines (SATA & Legacy 4 prong) to the first HD at the same time for a few minutes by mistake. Could this have fried the Mobo?

[bhc92]

Have you checked the bios, strangely enough I have noticed on one or two machines recently that the SATA option in configuration drops out and has to be reset.
It is worth a look, I had a similar thing with an ASUS board recently, it even changed the boot sequence.

[BlueForce]

Well when I post it recognizes the HD just fine, and in the boot sequence in BIOS I can pick the HD as first option. It seems it's when Windows gets installed the problem occurs.

[Paul Komski]

I tried to put in the XP disk to run "repair XP", but it just went to the c promt in DOS, The XP CD shouldnt take you to a C prompt- so don't understand that one. Is this a normal WinXP installation CD and with the BIOS setup boot order beginning with CDROM.

This may include running a manufactorer supplied diagnostic or setup program. Have you tried this?

The message about ntldr being missing comes from the boot sector on the hdd so it cant be totally bad. The ntldr missing message usually appears when the boot process cant find/identify the correct windows partition because it is hidden, has moved or is otherwise corrupted.

To run a repair installation (not a repair from the recovery console) you should boot to the installation CD, choose new installation, press F6, install THE CORRECT WINXP SATA DRIVERS FROM A FLOPPY and continue to the point where the installation finds the old installation. You can then choose to repair it (an in place upgrade as MS calls it) or delete the partition and then do a clean reinstallation into the newly created vacant space.

[BlueForce]

The XP CD shouldnt take you to a C prompt- so don't understand that one. Is this a normal WinXP installation CD and with the BIOS setup boot order beginning with CDROM.

When you boot using the XP cd you can either install XP or repair XP, if I chose repair it goes to the DOS promt. Maybe this is normal in XP, but in 2000 I remember it looking different.


Quote:
This may include running a manufactorer supplied diagnostic or setup program.
Have you tried this?

Yes. I tried using the diagnostic program that came with the maxtor drive. The HD seemed to just be hanging there, no results after 20 min although the LED was on. It said it should take up to 1 min.

install THE CORRECT WINXP SATA DRIVERS FROM A FLOPPY


Yeah I downloaded the latest SATA drivers from the mobo website today. I used the ones that came with the maxtor drive last time, maybe I should have used the ones that came with the mobo. I'll try that when I get home.

[saphalline]

Admission: I connected both power lines (SATA & Legacy 4 prong) to the first HD at the same time for a few minutes by mistake. Could this have fried the Mobo?
Possibly... Have you tried using the other SATA port on the mobo? The other thing it could have done is fried the PSU. At this point, I'd look into trying those SATA drives in another computer. If they work, then your hardware is definitely the problem. Also, maybe try updating the BIOS?

[BlueForce]

Possibly... Have you tried using the other SATA port on the mobo?

I thought you couldn't use SATA2 unless SATA1 is in use?

The other thing it could have done is fried the PSU.

Hmm but everything else powers up just fine, and the HD powers up, lights on but nobody home.

At this point, I'd look into trying those SATA drives in another computer. If they work, then your hardware is definitely the problem.


Only problem is I don't know anybody with a SATA enabled computer, as far as I know anyway.

Also, maybe try updating the BIOS?

I know it's embarrasing, but I've never done that before. Do you "just" find an updated BIOS from VIA (the mobo comes with a VIA chipset) download it and...?

[Paul Komski]

Repairing repairing using the recovery console (http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/repair_xp.htm#How%20to%20access%20the%20Recovery%2 0Console:) is not the same as a repair installation and you are taken to a C:\windows prompt not to a C:\ prompt.

PS - only just saw your recent reply.
I thought you couldn't use SATA2 unless SATA1 is in use?
SATA1 and 2 are independent of each other so it shouldn't matter which one you connect to. Selecting which one is the boot device is a different matter - and different BIOS do this in different ways - particularly if they are installed onto a RAID array.

Also, maybe try updating the BIOS?
Possibly - but this wouldn't be my first choice since (a) the drive was working OK and (b) the drive is actually accessible but not booting to windows any more.

Since the maxtor utilities were hanging I would try downloading a fresh maxtor utility or even just see if you can see the partition(s) with fdisk from a win98 boot floppy or, better still, a third party partition manager such as Ranish.

[BlueForce]

Repairing repairing using the recovery console is not the same as a repair installation and you are taken to a C:\windows prompt not to a C:\ prompt.

I don't know if it makes a difference but I was taken to the c: prompt not c:\windows when trying to use the recovery console.

SATA1 and 2 are independent of each other so it shouldn't matter which one you connect to. Selecting which one is the boot device is a different matter - and different BIOS do this in different ways - particularly if they are installed onto a RAID array.

Ok I'll try that too. I do not use RAID.

Man I wish I could just leave work, go home and see if any of this works.

if the maxtor utilitities give it a clean bill of health it sounds like a software problem.

I'm not sure I would call it a clean bill of health, it said to wait for 20 min after which I turned it off, but never gave me an diagnose. This was the maxtor drive. I didn't use the utility on the Hitachi drive.

Dang it! Stop editing your post! :)

Allright I'll look for another utility.

[BlueForce]

Ok I got at least half the problem solved. I put in the new Maxtor drive, downloaded the latests SATA drivers from VIA (from a another computer) and rebooted with the cd from the mobo. Then rebooted with XP cd, pushed F6, used the new SATA drivers and everything works like a charm.

Now I want to test the old HD by hooking it up in the second SATA port. Is there anything in particular that I should be aware of? Eg. can XP see it and so forth.

Thanks for your help.

[BlueForce]

Just to update on my SATA. After getting the Maxtor to work I plugged the Hitachi into SATA2. It showed up in Windows just fine, but when I ran a utility to scan the drive it crashed windows. I then formatted the drive and once again attempted to scan and fix any broken sectors on the drive, it crashed windows again.

So I've given up on that drive, got an RMA and the problem is solved.