Hi guys, has been a while since I last posted over here, but now Ive got a new job in a PC shop so have some time.

Weve got a problem we couldnt solve here.

A PC with the ASUS A7N8X Deluxe mobo and SATA with XP. 2 HDDs, 2 CD drives. The CD drives are recognized in the BIOS but windows XP does not see anything else than 1 C: drive ...

We tried all we could think about.

Thanx for yer help

Stupid question, but are those HD's partitioned and/or formatted?

i said "WITH XP".... yes you were right, VERY stupid question, plz read before posting

Nforces drivers installed ?

Hehe, the jumpers on the drives are configured Master and Slave too?

SATA does not use the Master/Slave system.

Check to see if one of the SATA channels isn't disabled in the BIOS.

The CDROM & DVD not showing in XP could be because of missing proper IDE drivers.

Tell us more about how they are connected cable wise.

Are they all on a primary channel? Split to secondary? What's goin on?

Don't you get snotty with me DigitAlex. Your post ONLY says "with XP, 2 HDDs and that it recognizes only C". You would not be the first one to not format the rest.

HEhe

Try to unhide the second one.With Particion Magic for example.
I think this is the solution (I am proud of me) :approve:

Try setting the jumpers to cable select.

Sata Bios

The SATA HDD has its own BIOS, so the mobo BIOS would not recognize it.

When you boot up, do you see a message from the SATA BIOS? You should if everything is working.

I assume the other HDD is EIDE.

Me Too

I have had the same problem with this motherboard. I have a seagate 200gb sata and a 40 gig IDE hooked up to the mobo. Recently Ive noticed that when I restart I randomly get : DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER. when it tries to read off the sata drive. By the way the sata drive does have xp and the 40 gig is just a backup with files on it. But what really threw me off is I only get this message if the 40 gig IDE drive fails, or I take it out. So basically my sata drive does not get recognized/booted when the IDE drive isnt plugged in. I dont know how to solve the problem.

Not sure if this is related or not, but I'll toss it into the pot.

I can not use the IDE drivers that came with my Asus board. If I do, my IDE devices go wacky. For my DVD drive, I am using the standard windows drivers.

well heck

I have the same MB right now with sata dvd burner and sata 250GB drives, and the only way i have ever been able to install WIN xp on it is creating an unattended install with the SATA drivers built into the install. Never had a trouble reading all the drives doing that.

I was able to resolve my problem (described in my post above) with this by making sure my antivirus software was off when intalling the drivers. If my antivirus software was on, the chipset drivers would not install properly (specifically the drivers for IDE controllers).

I don't think this will help with the SATA problems, but post it in case someone else has the same IDE problems I had.

I have the same mobo and have just installed a 200gig maxtor sata2 drive, it recognises when it feels like it, sometimes it locks up, sometimes it comes up with delay write failed, i have used powermax and done full scan and it said it was tickety boo, i am running xp with sp 2, any help would be great. BTW i have set the jumper so the drive runs at sata as that board is not sata2 and i have been assured it is backwards compatible.

Solution for this problem is pretty simple. Be sure the jumper located at C216 on your MOBO is set to pins 1 & 2 not 2 & 3. (Diagram should be on page 19 of your MOBO owners manual I believe.) This enables the Raid Controller. After that be sure and install Raid controller drivers from Asus.com. This will take care of your problems and show any SATA HDD's you have connected in XP.

I had just standard IDE drives and my A7N8X motherboard did not like master and slave jumpers. It worked fine with CS (Cable Select). I dont know why that is. But it worked so I did not change it.

It would not even boot till I cleared the BIOS.

Pin placement was done, It was actually a knackered drive,

i am having a problem when i am traying to install windows xp sp 2, the install donts recognize my hdd (S-ATA 250 gb) can someone tell me what i can do ??