EggXpert

Hello, this is my first post & not surprisingly, I'm here for some help because I'm quickly running out of ideas & options. I recently purchased a four PC components to upgrade my Pentium 4 system. I'll use the System Specs option to post all that info in a moment. I'll try to keep this concise, with as much useful detail as I can think of.

Issue:

SATA-I hard drive is not detected after a reboot. Only detected upon cold start-up.

Troubleshooting:

• Unplugged & replugged in two different SATA-I cables (one known to be working previously) - works only on cold start-ups
• Tried second SATA plug on motherboard - did not make a difference
• Tried clearing RTC/CMOS with the SATA drive connected (no other HDD) - only worked on a cold start-up, failed to detect HDD after reboot
• Downloaded VIA SATA/RAID Drivers from website onto a floppy disk & used F6 during XP installation. Drivers recognized, but upon reboot no HDD is detected & XP warns no HDD is connected to the system.

Other:

The SATA hard drive is version 1 & used to be my primary HDD (with two partitions) with my old motherboard (Asus P4C800-Deluxe UAY). It worked fine & was formatted as NTFS using Windows XP Professional (sp2).

Story:

I originally tried using an old PATA IDE hard drive to install XP so that I could simply copy over my data from the SATA drive (I have dialup, so I didn't want to redownload large files or game patches, etc.). I also didn't have a flash drive or another computer capable of reading NTFS (the PC I am using at this moment is an old P3 system using Windows ME, FAT32). The PATA & XP install went fine. Next, was to connect the SATA drive's power & cable so that I could reboot & copy the files over. Perhaps it was a drive letter conflict since they both contained a "C" drive, but it doesn't matter because. . .

I disconnected the PATA IDE drive & connected the SATA drive alone since I could not get both drives (PATA+SATA) operating at the same time (thus the file transfer was impossible). With only the SATA drive connected, I booted the system up, and using the XP Installation CD, deleted the "C" boot partition. I decided I didn't need to transfer the files back & forth if I just erase the boot partition & re-install XP on the SATA drive (leaving the secondary partition intact).

I deleted the primary partition & created a new one, then proceeded to format it as NTFS using the XP Installation CD (Windows Setup). Upon finishing, I am pretty sure I recall it installing the files & setting up the language, date, & time zone information as well as the username & workgroup, etc. Afterwards, it logged in & I was at the desktop. I proceeded to install the VIA Chipset drivers from the included motherboard drivers CD. Upon finishing installation, it asked to restart the system -- I clicked "OK."

Upon reboot, I noticed no hard drive was listed during POST (though my two IDE optical drives were listed). This is the main issue I have, as it almost always detects the SATA-I or IDE hard drive from a fresh, cold start-up (but never after a reboot).

Since I had XP installed, and the HDD is recognized when you first turn the PC on, it will go to the selection screen to boot up in Safe Mode, Last known Configuration, Normal mode, etc. I pick normal, and it proceeds to the black XP loading screen (the one with a blue progress bar). After a few seconds on this loading screen, the PC promptly reboots on its own (it posts again). This POST, it fails to detect the HDD even though nothing has noticeably changed since startup.

Summary of Problem:

SATA (and seemingly IDE) Hard Disk Drives are recognized from a cold start-up of the machine, but when any reboot is initiated (one always occurs after XP tries to load), BIOS fails to detect the HDD even though nothing has really changed. 

Additional Information:

Motherboard uses Via 8237 (may or may not be "R" type) Chipset. HDD is SATA-I (version one). Two SATA-I cables tried, one new & one old. 

EDIT: Reset the system twice with the PATA drive connected, seems to be working (SATA still not working). 

Sounds like a BIOS bug to me. Tried a BIOS update yet?

No, I haven't tried flashing the BIOS yet because I believe the file I got from the Biostar website was older than the one installed.

Try changing the SATA mode.  I cant remember who i was telling this to earlier, but there are like 3 different modes for SATA.  One starts with an R another with an A and then there is a legacy option.

Try using different SATA options.

NOTE: Changing this option will cause XP to BSOD and reboot until you do a repair install.  But it may allow the drive to be seen after a reboot.

 

Other than that, the only thought i have is to try limiting the HDD to SATAI and not SATAII.  Sometimes when it tries to negociate the speed between the HDD and mobo, it doesnt work.  So try manually setting it.  There is usually a jumper setting on the HDD to do this.

 

Thats all i can think of at the moment.   Good luck.
 

The HDD is not SATA-II & requires no special jumper settings. Also, the motherboard does not support SATA-II. The only significant SATA option in the BIOS is to simply enable the SATA Controller (which of course, is Enabled). My old Asus motherboard did have 3 options (SATA, PATA, SATA+PATA), but this board does not appear to have anything like that (not even the manual covers the BIOS, which is really disappointing). There are simply no options for "Legacy" or PATA, etc. Just the one "SATA Controller: Enable / Disable" option. The only other option is for "IDE" or "RAID" & I'm not running an array, so...

((I may try the "RAID" option even though I only have one SATA-I drive installed. I read a forum post on Google about a user installing Debian who did that & said it worked.)) 

I am running MemTest86 at the moment, when it is finished I'll be checking the BIOS version number again to ensure I have the latest version & if not, flash to make it so.

It may be worth mentioning that sometimes (not sure if it is everytime), after the XP loading screen "resets" the system (instead of going to the welcome screen & then desktop), it flickers the screen to all blue with a white line of text at the top. I was not able to read this as it reset so quickly (it may just be the auto-reboot feature, which I can't turn off without getting into Windows). If I do get XP installed & able to get by the loading screen I am going to try to enter using Safe Mode to disable auto-reboot & see if I can view a crash log (if that was indeed a BSOD -- I don't know right now). 

hmm, im out of ideas then.

Also, some computers let you do this.

Right after the BIOS and before XP, hit F8 and on the menu, there is sometimes an option that lets you turn off the automatic reset.

I'm out of thoughs

Hope you can get it working. 

Unhooked the IDE drive to test the SATA-I drive again using a known-to-be-good SATA-I cable. They aren't exactly snug, but I'm going to see about ordering a SATA-II cable with a clamping latch on them, maybe that can tell me for sure whether or not this board is working properly. If it doesn't work after this cable, I'm not spending any more money on it & will RMA it. This isn't worth the hassle.

Since it does work when I turn the PC on the first time, I'm going to attempt to install XP & the SATA/RAID drivers again. If it doesn't work this time, and when the PC resets the HDD is gone from BIOS, I give up.

 Anyone have any other ideas at all?
 

Small Update:

Since I can cold boot my system & it will recognize the SATA hard drive each time, but not after a reboot, I was able to finish installing Windows XP Pro SP1 & may now view the contents of my second partition (with lots of large files, which I was after). I'm going to burn them to a CD & attempt to install any chipset or sata/raid drivers in an attempt to truly solve this issue. 

My dilemma at this point is whether or not to return the motherboard at my expense for either a refund (and wait a few months to buy a new CPU & Mobo)/get a replacement from Newegg or simply keep the board & just be extremely annoyed I can never reboot instantly (rather, have to shut down & push the power button on). 

I got Windows XP Pro SP1 installed last night by simply powering off the system each time it wanted to reboot. Powering the system on again would recognize the hard drive (reboots or resets do not recognize the SATA drive in BIOS). So, eventually I got it installed & this time I chose to not install the Via Raid or Chipset drivers.

Since I chose not to install the Via 4-in-1 Hyperion drivers, I am able to log into XP each time & it will not reboot automatically. However, lol, XP now wishes to be activated & I only have one installation left, so that's just great. Was hopin' to test out my gfx card today, guess I'll try Linux later.

 In either case, the PATA drive works, even when rebooting. I am pretty sure the problem is now with the motherboard, not a cable, not my SATA drive, or anything like that. One thing is for sure, I'm never buying another board with a Via chipset, or by Biostar, again in my life.

I returned the motherboard to Newegg for a refund & was approved. I haven't heard of anything such as the status of the board, etc. I got most of my money back, so I'm happy. I've decide to go with an Asus motherboard (P5K Pro is what I'm considering at the moment) & an Intel Core 2 Duo, which is what I should have done to start with. Thx for all the help anyways!