Requimatic

I'm in the middle of switching over to SATA from IDE, but I need to burn one last CD before I start. The problem is, while booting from the IDE HD, Windows doesn't want to recognize the SATA DVD-ROM. BIOS shows it as being there and working properly, it's just Windows not recognizing it.

Not really sure what the problem is..any ideas?

TriggerFinger

May be this can help:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314060

Requimatic

Followed the instructions, although I'm not receiving any kind of error.

Restarting now.

Requimatic

Okay, well, I tried 3 things at once and the ROM works fine now. I burnt the CD I needed to make just fine.

But now there's another problem. For whatever reason, if I unplug and remove the IDE HD, plug the SATA HD back in, make sure the BIOS is set correctly (I've tried all available settings, SATA-Only, Combined mode, Enhanced mode, and auto), the PC doesn't finish booting.

It gets to the point where it should be asking me to boot from a CD, but it stops there and doesn't go any further. Both drives are listed in BIOS as well. Set to boot from the ROM first, HD second.

I don't know what the issue is. With the BIOS settings I'm using right now, I should be able to just disconnect and remove the IDE drive, replace it with a SATA, and boot from the SATA ROM and install the OS..but I can't.

Any ideas? It gets to "Verifying DMI Pool data..." and stops.

TriggerFinger

If it stops and hangs with that message... may be this can help:
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000474.htm

Requimatic

I read that before making this thread, actually.

I honestly don't know what the issue is. I've had this problem before with the HD that I'm using now, and it's worked before, because the first time we tried installing the OS we discovered the disc was bad, hence why I wanted to just use the SATA ROM at first to burn a CD, which works correctly.

I suppose I'll try fiddling with it again after I read more about it, I just don't understand why I can't just plug it in and go when nothing is damaged and everything is set correctly.

Oh, another note, however. Usually, when I'm messing with the hard drives in this machine, the drive now (that has XP installed) shows an Intel logo on the startup screen (that flashes the motherboard's name, etc.)..when the drive is not present, the logo does not display. For whatever reason, even though this drive was not connected (the blank SATA HD and the SATA ROM were the only devices connected), the logo still appeared.

I don't know if that might have something to do with it or not, but thought I'd mention it.

TriggerFinger

You are trying to boot from the CD drive, correct? Is the CD used original? How about trying another bootable CD? I say this because I am thinking that it could be caused by a bad copy or a defective CD media. I suggest you try another bootable CD (ex. Knoppix or Ubuntu). You can use Knoppix and boot via the CD drive regardless if there is an HDD connected to the PC or not. Try it with and without the HDD drive. That way you can say if it is caused by the SATA HDD or something else.