Updating XP Pro and loss of SATA drives in BIOS and Windows

[fenwron]

I recently updated my winXP pro ver. 2002 Service Pack 2with 80 updates, since then my sata hd and dvd writer have disappeared from windows and bios.Has anyone encountered this problem and found a solution? I am running a Mach speed MSNV-939 with AMD Athelon 64 x 2. Dual core 3800.
Everything was running great before the updates.

 

[EXCellR8]

does the drive in question contain any data? usually, if the drive doesn't appear in BIOS, it probably doesn't in windows XP, but have you checked if windows detects the card in Disk Management console? i would recommend installing new storage drivers for your motherboard. the updates could have made the existing drivers corrupt or uninstalled them. do you have any exclamations in Device Manager?

 

[fenwron]

EXCellR8, The disk in question has a great deal of data, originally it was partitioned for Ubuntu I made a NTFS partition of 320GB to store Windows data, also the new sata dvd writer is a LightScribe, that also is not seen in bios or winXp

 

[hughva]

Use system restore.

 

[EXCellR8]

I suppose System Restore may undo the problem, but it will most likely uninstall the updates as well. However, if you do uninstall the updates, I would recommend simply installing SP3 and then calling it done. I've never had a Service Pack directly affect my disk structure but I do know that Windows likes to assign generic drivers to non-standard devices. What brand and model is the HDD in question? You can run some diagnostic tools to confirm the data is in tact.

 

[fenwron]

Well as you stated the restore to a time previous to the updates did not solve the problem of the missing drives. one sata drive a Seagate Model ST3160815AS is shown in the bios and is operating in winXP
but the 1TB Hitachi 0A38016OB has disappeared along with the Liteon sata Super allwrite dvd.
I'll download the SP3and see if that helps.