[stevefromga2000]

i just built a computer and got a SATA 300GB seagate hard drive. i also have a small IDE 30GB hard drive that has my windows installed on it. i use the bigger drive for storage. when i have the 300 plugged into my motherboard, my windows won't install for some reason. actually, it only installs about 1 time out of every 5 times that i try it. when it does finally install, it usually takes at least 6 or 7 minutes just to boot up. however, if i open my case and actually physically un plug the 300 drive, then turn on my computer, it starts up with no problem. the really messed up part of it is that my computer was working just fine before when i first got it, but then all of the sudden, it started messing up. should i somehow erase everything on the drive in case of a virus or something, or is my drive trash now? if i need to re-format the drive, how do i do that?

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Is there a BIOS setting that specifies whether to boot from the IDE drive or the SATA ?

What is the make & model of the system or the motherboard model ?

[WinCrazy]

Is there a BIOS setting that specifies whether to boot from the IDE drive or the SATA ?

What is the make & model of the system or the motherboard model ?

[stevefromga2000]

it is a seagate 300 GB SATA hard drive and the model number is ST3300831AS. i looked at the BIOS, but i'm not really sure how to tell if it will detect a SATA drive or not. everything that i have read on there only talks about IDE. the motherboard is an ASUS motherboard that uses NVIDIA nForce. i don't know where to find the model number of it though. if you let me know where to look for the model number, i can write it down and tell you.

[WinCrazy]

All computers built with Asus motherboards were assembled from components. You should have gotten a manual as well as a drivers' disc for the motherboard.

The manual may tell you how to configure the BIOS for SATA disks . If you don't have the motherboard manual then download and install Everest Home. It will tell you the motherboard model. With that info you can visit Asus.com and download the manual for your motherboard.

[stevefromga2000]

i do have the drivers disc for the motherboard, but no manual. i went to the link that you gave me, but it says that the software free edition is longer available. any other suggestions?

[austin_o]

The driver disk may have the Asus model number on it (I have experienced that with Gigibyte disks). If not, just open the case and read the label on the motherboard. It will have the model number and serial number on it. Asus has a manual available to download once you know the model number. It will tell you all about setup of SATA and everything else you ever wanted to know about your motherboard.

We had a link to download Everest Home in our downloads forum at http://www.geekstogo...pport-f113.html but I see it no longer works. I checked the Everest home page and see it has been discontinued. Sad, that was a really great tool and was free. Belarc Advisor is another great tool and is free. It tells a lot about your system but does not reveal the motherboard info. You can search google for that or go to our download forum.

[WinCrazy]

The link for Everest Home free edition is good. Try it again.

[stevefromga2000]

okay, i found the model number and also downloaded and printed the manual, but it keeps talking about SATA RAID. what does the RAID mean? it talks about different options like RAID 0, RAID 1, and RAID 5. should i be trying to set up the hard drive as a SATA RAID drive, or am i reading something wrong? by the way, the model is a K8N-E Deluxe motherboard.

[stevefromga2000]

i did some more reading about the SAID, and everything that i read about talked about having identical drives. in my system, i have a little 30 GB seagate that i have all my software on, and i plan to use this 300 GB as a storage drive. according to what i have read, RAID isn't what i want, but i can't find anything else about the SATA in the manual that doesn't talk about RAID.

[WinCrazy]

RAID 0 uses multiple identical drives to speed up reading and writing. RAID 1 uses multiple identical drives to mirror data to all the drives. Since neither applies to your system you don't need the RAID driver installed.

[stevefromga2000]

that's kind of the idea that i got from reading different things, but the only thing that i saw in the manual talked about how to set up the drive in that format. i'm still confused about it. i would try to just unplug the little hard drive completley, but windows keeps finding an error with it.

[stevefromga2000]

i found some more information while i was looking around throughout my computer. i went to my device manager, which my drive IS listed, and i double clicked on it. when it comes up, under the general tab, it says a location. the location says that it is "Location 0 (Primary ATA Channel)". shouldn't it say that it's a "Serial ATA Channel"? how do i change that, if that's even what i need to change?

[WinCrazy]

XP doesn't know the difference between serial ATA channels and parallel ATA (IDE) channels - they operate identically to the operating system and use the same OS drivers. Only the RAID driver can identify SATA channels because it was written to work specifically with the SATA chip.

[stevefromga2000]

alright, i went to asus.com and installed a sata driver that they had to offer for the motherboard, thinking that maybe it would help. once i had it installed, i first extracted the files and then i unzipped the program. after i restarted my computer, the program started itself, and somehow locked it up. after getting upset, i finally got it to where windows would let me choose on how i wanted to start windows, and i chose to open it in safe mode just so that i could get into windows and delete the driver. after i deleted it, then i still had problems when i restarted the computer and i got a blue screen that started to run CHKDSK for the hard drive. finally, i had to just unplug the hard drive from the motherboard just to use my computer. i'm still confused about what to do.

[HaraldR]

Hdshould be in the sata1 (centre or mobo near memory dimms) page 2.22 of manual
forget about raid you don't need it

you then have to format the drive which with 300gb will take ages