[groten]

Hi

I got a new computer with a SATA drive. I installed XP on the drive and all is fine. The next day I wanted to plug in my IDE drive which I have important files on. Then the computer wont boot. It can see all the drives in bios and change the boot order, but I still get an error like "Boot disk failure. Insert boot cd"

I can change some settings for On-Chip Serial ATA in BIOS. The alternatives are as follows:

Disabled
Auto
Combined mode
Enhanced mode
SATA only

It was Auto as default, but that didnt work. If I set it to SATA only, XP will load but I cant see the other drive or the CD in "My Computer". The CD is master on the IDE and the hard drive is slave (jumper set to cable select).

If i chose the Combined mode, I can then set a setting called PATA IDE mode. The alternatives are primary and secondary. If I chose secondary, that should mean that the SATA is chanel 0 master, the cd is chanel 1 master and the IDE hard drive is chanel 1 slave. But this will give me the same result... "Boot disk failure". I think I've tried all the combinations by now...

I've also tried to change the boot order for the drives but without any results.

The mobo is a Abit AA8-DuraMAX.

Can anyone help me with this please?

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What about enhanced mode. So in bios do you see all the drives.
And the boot order is flopp, cd, sata drive, ide/other.

Try having the HD as the master and the IDE HDD and the cd drive on different ide channels, i dont think it will fix it but it is something that occasionaly works.

[warriorscot]

What about enhanced mode. So in bios do you see all the drives.
And the boot order is flopp, cd, sata drive, ide/other.

Try having the HD as the master and the IDE HDD and the cd drive on different ide channels, i dont think it will fix it but it is something that occasionaly works.

[groten]

No, enhanced mode does not work either... And yes, I can see all the drives in bios. The boot order is floppy, cd, harddrive. I can also select the order of the hard drives in another menu. The order there is set to first the SATA and then the IDE one. Same results... I read somewhere that I could try to set the 3rd boot device to none, and then have the "Boot other device" set to enable. That did not work either. The only way to get the computer starting is by setting the On-Chip Serial ATA to Only SATA. Then the chanels are as follows

Ch 0 master : SATA1
Ch 0 slave : SATA3
Ch 1 master : SATA2
Ch 1 slave : SATA4

If I select Combined mode and set the PATA IDE mode to secondary i get the following:

Ch 0 master : SATA1
Ch 0 slave : SATA3
Ch 1 master : IDE Master
Ch 1 slave : IDE Slave

I also read that I could try to delay the IDE initial, but that did not solve the problem either... any other ideas?

[warriorscot]

http://www.abit-usa....ies=1&model=199
Have you up dated to the latest bios version ill download and give your manual a quick look in a bit.

[warriorscot]

Right your manual wasnt very helpful, the only thing i can think of at the moment is using an external HD enclosure for the ide drive.

[groten]

Thanks for your time.
Hmm... what do you mean by "using an external HD enclosure for the ide drive"?

I also sent an email to tech support at Abit to see if they can help me.

I also have a friend who got a new computer from the same store and with similar motherboard and configurations. He also had a SATA hd and inserted a IDE hd as I want to do. Although, he installed XP after he plugged in all the drives, and he has no problems. Would it help to reinstall XP?

Edited by groten, 10 August 2005 - 10:04 AM.

[warriorscot]

Well which hard drive does he have windows on, it might help but i wouldnt try it unless you dont have anything you dont mind losing on the drives.

http://www.overclock...rive_Racks.html you stick a drive inside and connect it via the usb port.