[myquitehead]

This is the first time I've had to deal with a Haddrive that connects to the motherboard through a pci card. It isn't scuzzy, just attached by a pci card. So I'm guessing this is one of those things that requires the "third party raid or sc.. something.. driver." Can anyone help me on how you go about reformatting one of these babies?

 

[linderman]

Welcome to TSF:

you will need to give us make & model numbers on the hard drive that connected to that controller card and make & model of the controller card if you can

the controller card could be a sata, ide, or scsi controller / the approach make a diff

just outta curosity ???? can you see the controllers bios screen come up / should be seen right after the regular bios gets done it thing / if yes ~~ can you see your drive listed in that bios detection screen ????

can you see your new drive in disk management ??

right click my computer/ click on "manage" / click on disk management / if your drive is seen in the disk management console / then right click on it ~~ you should be given the option to format or partition / you dont have to make multiple partitions if you dont want to but you will need to format to be able to use the drive ~~ dont use the dynamic disk feature if the option is presented -- it makes data recovery for future problems very difficult !!



regards

joe

 

[myquitehead]

Hi linderman and thanks for your help,

The PCI card is called a "Promise Technology Ultra 100 V2.00 B17" PCI Local Bus, and has 2 ide ports. The HDD that was functioning before, but needs replacing due to space was a Seagate Barracuda ATA III. The harddrive I want to put in now is a Maxtor Diamondmax Plus 8 40 GB ATA/133.

I am trying to format this drive as the only HDD on this system, so checking the management isn't an option.

I was attempting to reformat the old harddrive and it was unable to detect the harddrive before you boot from Cd to reformat. It seems to not detect the hdd until right before it boots from it. So no, I can't see the HDD in any bios menu.

 

[linderman]

Sounds like you have an IDE Controller card ???? but why ???? do you already have more than two hard drives in your system ?????

It may be an easier fight to connect your new drive to the primary IDE connector on the mobo (blue connector) and configure the jumpers for primary master / until you get the OS loaded on to it ?? I am unsure if the PCI controlelr card is capable of installing windows without the help of windows ???? does that make sense to you / you may need windows installed in order to run the PCI card / or go to your pci controllers website to get the 3rd party drivers / you WILL definetly need them in your situtation / that is trying to use a pci controller to install windows when windows is not in control of the pci bus ?????

I would try the first option then switch the drive to the controller if desired once windows is up and running / generally speaking PCI IDE controllers are used to add cd-rom drives and data slave drives / those controlelrs are not really a big boot device favorite ??

post back on your progress / dont hesitate to ask more questions

regards

joe

 

[linderman]

found more info / here are your drivers

http://www.promise.com/support/download/download2_eng.asp?productId=18&category=driver&os=0&go=GO


you will have to have these on a "prepared" floppy to have ready fof the F6 prompt to load third party scsi controller / windows things all pci controllers are scsi

this manual (page 7) should shed some light on how to install the controller for boot drives (the f6 to load a third party driver issue) follow the instructions for a win 2000 with cd install Follow Steps 1C, 2,3,4,5 etc
http://www.promise.com/support/download/download2_eng.asp?productId=18&category=manual&os=0&go=GO#

regards

joe

 

[myquitehead]

Ok thanks I'll see how it goes.

 

[myquitehead]

I looked a bit closer inside the tower and it appears that having the pci card there wasn't necessary in the first place... so I just plugged it into the mobo. Thanks for the help.

 

[myquitehead]

Ok finally got back around to this problem and it seems that for some reason the computer keeps locking up, a lot. I'm thinking the ide ports in the mobo are screwed up somehow and that's why this pci card was being used. I'm going to use that info you provided now

 

[linderman]

Hmmmm:

Please give your full system specs with PSU model and maker

I am leary the IDE controller is your problem / generally those either work or they dont !!

check you system temps and system voltages and post the results (copy & paste)

here is a utility for that purpose / the temps and voltages are in the mainboard information console

http://www.download.com/3000-2086-10018691.html


remember the MOST frequent cause of computer lock-up is system overheating and voltage problems


regards

joe

 

[myquitehead]

I can guarantee it's not heating this thing has really nice airflow. The PSU mebbe.

SPI model no: FSP300-60gt
Tyan s2567 http://www.baber.com/baber/411/tyan_s2567.htm
Dual 1ghz p3's
2gb ram
nvidia quadro 750 xgl

 

[linderman]

I would suggest you try another PSU / one with atleast 450 watts of power / for a P3 system that one is a power eater !!

regards

joe

 

[myquitehead]

Hmm putting in another power supply at least got me into windows, it was still freezing up for a few seconds every now and then.. I'll see if more stuff developes..

 

[myquitehead]

Now that I'm reminded of the power-on issues this computer was having at one point, I want to slap myself for not just trying a different power supply right off the bat. Stupid distracting pci card, lol. The system is working great now. Thanks for un-blinding me.

 

[linderman]

Hello:

Happy to hear you got things cleared up / Awesome job

regards

joe