Not finding IDE on initial startup

darkwood · 09-12-2005, 01:36 PM

Hi everyone. I am doing my first PC build, so I could use some help getting things running. I have everything installed and when I turn on the system it finds the CPU, and memory test passes, but when it searches for IDE drives it hangs, and doesn't allow me to access the BIOS.

When I unplug all of the hardware pieces leaving the CPU, memory, and video card, I can access the BIOS, and when it searches for IDE drives it gives me the results that it cannot find any. Are there any settings within the BOIS that I need to change so that It will recognize IDE drives? (I plugged in just the HDD to see if that caused it to hang, and it did. I have yet to t-shoot the DVD+-RW drive to see if it hangs on that or the floppy)

As I prefaced on my other post when I asked for advice on what hardware to purchase, I am a software guy with little, to no experience with hardware and PC building, but wanted to give it a shot, because there are people around me who want basic PC's and I figured I could make a little bit of money and help them out at the same time. That being said, I know very little about Port or Jumper adjustments, if I even need to make any. I followed my MB (btw, it's an ASUS A7N8X-X Socket A) manual to a T for the hardware install and that all seems to be working just fine.

Also what is the optimal operating Temperature for the CPU? (AMD Athlon XP 2600+ Barton 333 MHz) in the BIOS it said it was running about 115 degrees.

cjschaf · 09-12-2005, 02:43 PM

Who is the manufacturer of the hard drive? There should be a diagram on the HD for the different jumper settings.
Have you tried a different cable?

darkwood · 09-12-2005, 05:07 PM

HDD manufacturer is Seagate. I have not tried another cable, does it matter which end the blue side goes to? I have it in the MB at the moment.

**twajetmech** · 09-12-2005, 05:49 PM

You should be using an 80 pin cable for one, and the end futhest away from the two connectors is the side that goes to the mobo , the connector in the middle is the slave and the other end is for the master. Be sure to have jumpered the HD as slave or master....it should be on printed on the HD or you can look it up on Seagate's website...be sure to look up the same modle HD as they are not always the same configuration. I usually reccomend not to use the cable select function unless all else fails.

scanner · 09-25-2005, 07:59 PM

If the Pin1 is reversed on the wrong side of the HD (or MoBo) it will hang! This is because the HD auto detect see's something but can't get info from the HD.
Some HD's are not keyed so you can put the cable in backwards.

Tumbleweed36 · 09-25-2005, 08:13 PM

Hi,

My best guess is that it is searching for RAID drives. These new motherboards come with RAID features ENABLED, but if you don't have a Raid drive set up (I would guess from your post that you don't), then you need to enter the BIOS setup menu and disable the RAID feature.

I don't know this particular board, but am very familiar with most ASUS boards. Give it a try and that should stop the search that finds nothing.

You should find this feature in the ADVANCED area of the BIOS setup menu. It should say something lke (examples only, not exact what yours says) NVRaid or Promise Raid controller. Turn it off to say DISABLED to stop the search that finds nothing.

Hope this helps. Post back with results.

darkwood · 12-02-2005, 06:59 PM

Hey everyone....3 months later and I finally have time to t-shoot this again. I have tried looking for something in the BIOS that said RAID anything, and came up with nothing. The cables are seated properly, and by 'keyed' you mean there is one empty slot so the cable only fits one way, it has that. There was a black thing in the spot of what looked like a jumper in the auto select area and that made it hang, taking that out, putting it in the master area didn't fix anything. I removed that and used a blue jumper that came with the mb, and still the hang. I cannot even access the BIOS, unless I take the power out of the HD. Please help! I am about to pull the remaining strands of hair I DO have left out!

Tumbleweed36 · 12-02-2005, 07:28 PM

Hi,

When you look in the BIOS setup menu, go to the Advanced area, in the Raid setup area and disable that if you have that area.

(Oh, I don't know your board, but do know ASUS quite well).

If you don't find it there, look in the advanced area for Promise Controller and disable that one if it is the one your board uses. That should stop the search and get it to the drive.

If that does not work, post back and we can take a look at the manual. However, I am presently using a dial-up connection, so that does take some time. Just let us know and we will try to take a look.

Note: My son lives in Indy on High School Road.

darkwood · 12-02-2005, 09:14 PM

Hi Tumbleweed. I couldn't find either of those options, as you suggested that earlier when I first started t-shooting this. I'm looking in the manual for the MB and it doesn't say anything about any kind of RAID controller of any kind. Here are the options under the advanced BIOS features menu:

Boot Virus Detection
CPU Level 1, Level 2 Cache
Quick Power on Self Test
1st boot device
2nd boot device
3rd boot device
boot other device
boot-up floppy seek
boot-up num lock status
Gate A20 option
Typematic Rate Setting
APIC Mode
OS/2 Onboard Memory > 64MB

I know High School Rd too. It's not far from the airport. I'm on the exact opposite side of town, on the NE side by the mall, which isn't an ideal place this time of year.

darkwood · 12-04-2005, 09:21 PM

seagate's online t-shooting said to return it for an exchange...so I guess I am going to do that and cross my fingers

**oldmn** · 12-04-2005, 09:38 PM

Yes it does matter which plug goes in the motherboard on an 80wire cable. They have colored connectors Black for master gray for slave and blue to the motherboard you seagate and Optical drives can be set to CS+ cable select and will be assigned by there location on the cable.

Tumbleweed36 · 12-05-2005, 05:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by darkwood

seagate's online t-shooting said to return it for an exchange...so I guess I am going to do that and cross my fingers

Hi,

Their utilities are pretty accurate so something is probably wrong with that drive. I would get that done ASAP.

darkwood · 12-18-2005, 03:31 PM

Well, lucky me. I got the replacement drive, and am having the exact same problem. Does this mean I need to turn to a BIOS update, or what other steps can I even try?

darkwood · 12-23-2005, 12:26 PM

Well, this problem has been resolved. I thought I had tried another Serial ATA cable, but apparently I had not, and the one I bought from the mom and pop store for $5.99 didn't work. The $20.00 one I got from Comp USA did though. I'm up and running and the case with the car grill and working headlights is kickin a$$ and takin names now. Thanks EVERYONE for your assistance. I really appreciate it. Now, if I could only figure out how to add - RESOLVED to the thread title...

Tumbleweed36 · 12-23-2005, 12:58 PM

Hi,

Know what, I like your attitude. So glad you got it going, but if your rig is taking names, that can be dangerous. Quality does cost money and I'll bet you got an old 40 connector cable from the mom and pop store instead of the newer 80 connector cables that newer drives demand. Anyhow, have a great day and enjoy your rig.

darkwood · 12-26-2005, 02:09 PM

I think it actually was an 80 connector cable, but it looked quite old compared to the one I bought from Comp USA. Should have known with a 7 day return too...live and learn.

Oh, and I also took someone else's advice and am going to run 2 OS's once I figure out how to re-format my hard drive on the old PC without the use of a working floppy drive. That's a post for another forum though.

09-12-2005, 01:36 PM	#1 (permalink)
darkwood Registered User Join Date: May 2005 Location: Indianapolis, IN Posts: 77 OS: Windows XP Pro	Not finding IDE on initial startup Hi everyone. I am doing my first PC build, so I could use some help getting things running. I have everything installed and when I turn on the system it finds the CPU, and memory test passes, but when it searches for IDE drives it hangs, and doesn't allow me to access the BIOS. When I unplug all of the hardware pieces leaving the CPU, memory, and video card, I can access the BIOS, and when it searches for IDE drives it gives me the results that it cannot find any. Are there any settings within the BOIS that I need to change so that It will recognize IDE drives? (I plugged in just the HDD to see if that caused it to hang, and it did. I have yet to t-shoot the DVD+-RW drive to see if it hangs on that or the floppy) As I prefaced on my other post when I asked for advice on what hardware to purchase, I am a software guy with little, to no experience with hardware and PC building, but wanted to give it a shot, because there are people around me who want basic PC's and I figured I could make a little bit of money and help them out at the same time. That being said, I know very little about Port or Jumper adjustments, if I even need to make any. I followed my MB (btw, it's an ASUS A7N8X-X Socket A) manual to a T for the hardware install and that all seems to be working just fine. Also what is the optimal operating Temperature for the CPU? (AMD Athlon XP 2600+ Barton 333 MHz) in the BIOS it said it was running about 115 degrees.

09-12-2005, 02:43 PM	#2 (permalink)
cjschaf Registered User Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Buffalo Posts: 117 OS: Vista	Hard Drive Who is the manufacturer of the hard drive? There should be a diagram on the HD for the different jumper settings. Have you tried a different cable?

09-12-2005, 05:49 PM	#4 (permalink)
twajetmech I helped the forums. Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: LGA, NYC Posts: 2,388 OS: XP-Pro Sp2 & XP-Pro Sp2 Tablet Edition, Vista Ultimate My System	You should be using an 80 pin cable for one, and the end futhest away from the two connectors is the side that goes to the mobo , the connector in the middle is the slave and the other end is for the master. Be sure to have jumpered the HD as slave or master....it should be on printed on the HD or you can look it up on Seagate's website...be sure to look up the same modle HD as they are not always the same configuration. I usually reccomend not to use the cable select function unless all else fails. __________________ PSU Selection/Info // Bench test // Thermal Paste // Memory Selection // Bios Beep Codes // CPU-Z// Posting System Specs

09-25-2005, 08:13 PM	#6 (permalink)
Tumbleweed36 Asst Manager Hardware Join Date: May 2005 Location: USA Posts: 19,468 OS: XP Professional	Hi, My best guess is that it is searching for RAID drives. These new motherboards come with RAID features ENABLED, but if you don't have a Raid drive set up (I would guess from your post that you don't), then you need to enter the BIOS setup menu and disable the RAID feature. I don't know this particular board, but am very familiar with most ASUS boards. Give it a try and that should stop the search that finds nothing. You should find this feature in the ADVANCED area of the BIOS setup menu. It should say something lke (examples only, not exact what yours says) NVRaid or Promise Raid controller. Turn it off to say DISABLED to stop the search that finds nothing. Hope this helps. Post back with results. __________________ ---------- I don't receive email notifications of replies to subscribed threads. (Internet provider policy) Therefore, if I don't respond to your post within 24 hours, please send me a reminder PM and include the link to your thread. Last edited by Tumbleweed36; 09-25-2005 at 08:20 PM.

12-02-2005, 07:28 PM	#8 (permalink)
Tumbleweed36 Asst Manager Hardware Join Date: May 2005 Location: USA Posts: 19,468 OS: XP Professional	Hi, When you look in the BIOS setup menu, go to the Advanced area, in the Raid setup area and disable that if you have that area. (Oh, I don't know your board, but do know ASUS quite well). If you don't find it there, look in the advanced area for Promise Controller and disable that one if it is the one your board uses. That should stop the search and get it to the drive. If that does not work, post back and we can take a look at the manual. However, I am presently using a dial-up connection, so that does take some time. Just let us know and we will try to take a look. Note: My son lives in Indy on High School Road. __________________ ---------- I don't receive email notifications of replies to subscribed threads. (Internet provider policy) Therefore, if I don't respond to your post within 24 hours, please send me a reminder PM and include the link to your thread. Last edited by Tumbleweed36; 12-02-2005 at 07:30 PM.

09-12-2005, 05:07 PM	#3 (permalink)
darkwood Registered User Join Date: May 2005 Location: Indianapolis, IN Posts: 77 OS: Windows XP Pro	HDD manufacturer is Seagate. I have not tried another cable, does it matter which end the blue side goes to? I have it in the MB at the moment.

09-25-2005, 07:59 PM	#5 (permalink)
scanner Registered User Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 4 OS: XP	If the Pin1 is reversed on the wrong side of the HD (or MoBo) it will hang! This is because the HD auto detect see's something but can't get info from the HD. Some HD's are not keyed so you can put the cable in backwards.

12-02-2005, 06:59 PM	#7 (permalink)
darkwood Registered User Join Date: May 2005 Location: Indianapolis, IN Posts: 77 OS: Windows XP Pro	Hey everyone....3 months later and I finally have time to t-shoot this again. I have tried looking for something in the BIOS that said RAID anything, and came up with nothing. The cables are seated properly, and by 'keyed' you mean there is one empty slot so the cable only fits one way, it has that. There was a black thing in the spot of what looked like a jumper in the auto select area and that made it hang, taking that out, putting it in the master area didn't fix anything. I removed that and used a blue jumper that came with the mb, and still the hang. I cannot even access the BIOS, unless I take the power out of the HD. Please help! I am about to pull the remaining strands of hair I DO have left out!

12-02-2005, 09:14 PM	#9 (permalink)
darkwood Registered User Join Date: May 2005 Location: Indianapolis, IN Posts: 77 OS: Windows XP Pro	Hi Tumbleweed. I couldn't find either of those options, as you suggested that earlier when I first started t-shooting this. I'm looking in the manual for the MB and it doesn't say anything about any kind of RAID controller of any kind. Here are the options under the advanced BIOS features menu: Boot Virus Detection CPU Level 1, Level 2 Cache Quick Power on Self Test 1st boot device 2nd boot device 3rd boot device boot other device boot-up floppy seek boot-up num lock status Gate A20 option Typematic Rate Setting APIC Mode OS/2 Onboard Memory > 64MB I know High School Rd too. It's not far from the airport. I'm on the exact opposite side of town, on the NE side by the mall, which isn't an ideal place this time of year. Last edited by darkwood; 12-02-2005 at 09:17 PM.

12-04-2005, 09:21 PM	#10 (permalink)
darkwood Registered User Join Date: May 2005 Location: Indianapolis, IN Posts: 77 OS: Windows XP Pro	seagate's online t-shooting said to return it for an exchange...so I guess I am going to do that and cross my fingers

12-04-2005, 09:38 PM	#11 (permalink)
oldmn TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Gig Harbor Wa Posts: 2,150 OS: XP Pro SP3 X 3 My System	Yes it does matter which plug goes in the motherboard on an 80wire cable. They have colored connectors Black for master gray for slave and blue to the motherboard you seagate and Optical drives can be set to CS+ cable select and will be assigned by there location on the cable. __________________ AVG \| MEMTEST86 \| Zone Alarm \| XXCLONE \| Adaware \| Beyond Compare \| Everest If TSF has helped you, Tell us about it! or Donate to help keep the site up! Sorry no PM's for problems.[/center]

12-18-2005, 03:31 PM	#13 (permalink)
darkwood Registered User Join Date: May 2005 Location: Indianapolis, IN Posts: 77 OS: Windows XP Pro	Well, lucky me. I got the replacement drive, and am having the exact same problem. Does this mean I need to turn to a BIOS update, or what other steps can I even try?

12-23-2005, 12:26 PM	#14 (permalink)
darkwood Registered User Join Date: May 2005 Location: Indianapolis, IN Posts: 77 OS: Windows XP Pro	Well, this problem has been resolved. I thought I had tried another Serial ATA cable, but apparently I had not, and the one I bought from the mom and pop store for $5.99 didn't work. The $20.00 one I got from Comp USA did though. I'm up and running and the case with the car grill and working headlights is kickin a$$ and takin names now. Thanks EVERYONE for your assistance. I really appreciate it. Now, if I could only figure out how to add - RESOLVED to the thread title...

12-23-2005, 12:58 PM	#15 (permalink)
Tumbleweed36 Asst Manager Hardware Join Date: May 2005 Location: USA Posts: 19,468 OS: XP Professional	Resolved Hi, Know what, I like your attitude. So glad you got it going, but if your rig is taking names, that can be dangerous. Quality does cost money and I'll bet you got an old 40 connector cable from the mom and pop store instead of the newer 80 connector cables that newer drives demand. Anyhow, have a great day and enjoy your rig. __________________ ---------- I don't receive email notifications of replies to subscribed threads. (Internet provider policy) Therefore, if I don't respond to your post within 24 hours, please send me a reminder PM and include the link to your thread.

12-26-2005, 02:09 PM	#16 (permalink)
darkwood Registered User Join Date: May 2005 Location: Indianapolis, IN Posts: 77 OS: Windows XP Pro	I think it actually was an 80 connector cable, but it looked quite old compared to the one I bought from Comp USA. Should have known with a 7 day return too...live and learn. Oh, and I also took someone else's advice and am going to run 2 OS's once I figure out how to re-format my hard drive on the old PC without the use of a working floppy drive. That's a post for another forum though.