SATA HD install problems

[logicomb]

I just got a hand me down Compaq Presario S6200CL. Put a barebone XP install and updated basic drivers (video, network, etc). nothing fancy. got 1GB ram installed. Pentium 4 2Ghz.

anyways, I have installed a SATA expansion card, that previously was in another hand me down PC that worked with no problems. I installed the drivers with no problems, and Device manager says its working fine. Problem is, the SATA HD I have connected isnt showing up in Disk Manager. I went to my bios, and what do you know. There is not one single thing listed anywhere that says anything about SATA or RAID or anything.

So i goto HP website, see if there is a BIOS update, and the only thing listed on the website for this computer (as far as BIOS updates go) tells me "cannot update bios, please contact customer support if the issue continues."

So im wonderin if this motherboard even supports SATA drives or not. Anyone that can help me is awesome, becuase this will make the 3rd hand me down computer that basically doesnt work for my needs and my frustration is growing.

 

[gogulica]

Read the POST carefully. Most of the times the add-on SATA cards show up after the initial POST (maybe as RAID)... It will prompt you to press like "F10" or so to enter RAID setup. That's where you should see the drive.

 

[logicomb]

I have rebooted several times, changed the BIOS setting to make sure I get the longest boot possible, yet I still see nothing. The computer powers up, I see the bios manufactuerer screen that says F1 for setup and F10 to boot from a network drive. The screen counts the RAM up to a GIG and then the screen goes black, I get my 1 beep, then I have a "_" that blinks at the top of the screen for about 4-5 seconds, then I get the windows loading screen for a couple seconds, then I get windows.

Like I said before, I went through every option in BIOS looking for RAID/SATA info but nothing is there. And I disabled the short and silent boot options. But still have no prompt or anything to see to get my SATA drive setup. Any ideas?

 

[logicomb]

I was reading some other threads and think I might mention this- The HD I am trying to install is already formatted and has data on it. Does that make a difference?