Help on configuring SATA drives on a nForce 4 MB

[gamingguy27]

Hello, i have bought a SATA drive for my friends pc and im not sure what to do.

If i plug it into SATA 1 (red) then the drive is detected on BIOS and i can format it but it isnt detected on windows.

If i plug it into SATA 2 (yellow) then the drive is detected on BIOS and after i have formatted it it is also detected on windows but i cant find the drive or use it!!!

The drive is a Seagate 120GB, and i have tried using the tools but to no sucess.

Alex

 

[mailpup]

In the process of formatting the drive, before getting to the GUI screen, you should have been given the opportunity to install third party drivers by hitting F6. This is when you should install the SATA/RAID controller drivers. Did you do this?

 

[gamingguy27]

No, i thought the drive was broken so i precided to install it onto a IDE drive.

The problem is though, i cant get it to owrk on a properly fuctional windows.

Any help would be great.

Alex

 

[The_Maestro]

Sata

Have you set your boot array and initilized the drive? Generally done in the raid configuration menu

 

[gamingguy27]

All i did was to format the drive through Bios (nForce RAID utility) but i chose the "simple partition" one.

Would you show me how to initialize the drive? im fairly new to SATA ive only used ATA drives

Cheers for the help,

Alex

 

[The_Maestro]

Configuring SATA

depending on the board that you have, while booting up you should get an option that says press ??? to set up raid (On my board it is CTRL + S), then you will need to follow the instructions in the menu it brings up. First step is to configure the array, generally there is a easy configuration option. after that you have to select the initialize option, that should be it. exit out and restart and run your windows setup... don't forget to push F6 when windows setup starts.

 

[mailpup]

Here's a couple of ways you can fix this. One, you can reformat and install the SATA/RAID driver at the F6 prompt this time around. Depending on your friend's motherboard the drivers came on a floppy or possibly on a CD. If on a CD, the mobo manual should give instructions on how to put the proper files on a floppy. It's not a simple copy and paste procedure. If you are missing any of these items, the mobo website should have the drivers and manual to download. Also, elsewhere on this TechSpot site there are some downloadable SATA drivers. (see "Downloads" at the top of this page). You'll have to determine if they are the right ones for you.

An alternate way would be to go the Microsoft Windows Update site and have it analyze the system for updates. It might detect the missing drivers and provide you the opportunity to download and install them. I've actually done it this way before.

Also, make sure your BIOS is configured to enable the SATA controllers.