New Motherboard - Page 2

[maui_mallard]

ok I found that the Chassis pins on the mobo were not jumpered.....alright!!! Fixed that...im currently having issues on installing xp....but Ill let you know after I have tried to format and reinstall one more time....

[maui_mallard]

Ok....so I go to install windows Xp Professional...and I dlete the old partition, make new, format and it copies files to the HDD. When it restarts it usually boots from the CD, but instead it says:

A disk read error occurred
Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart

Now what do I do???? This HDD worked fine before

[maui_mallard]

I put in a 20 Gb HDD and it woked fine...but I kind of want to save the 160gb......
any ideas???

[Chaky]

You need to put some info here.... I'm guessing that 20 GB dive is IDE and 160 GB drive is SATA. You also said that 160 GB drive worked fine before.

You can do couple of things here:
- boot via motherboard installation CD and make so-called "f6" drivers floppy. That will require a floppy drive and 1 floppy diskette. When finished, boot with windows setup CD and wait for the "press f6 if you need a 3rd party device driver" message and press f6. (keep the floppy in). Eventually you will be prompted to select the drivers that the setup program finds on the floppy. Select them all (1 by 1). After that, carry on with installation as usual.

- check if the 160 GB SATA drive is set to run in SATA II (or 3GB) mode. My guess is that your chipset doesn't support 3GB mode. There should be a jumper on the drive to select 1.5 and 3GB mode (or SATA / SATA II mode). Set it on 1.5 GB mode.

[maui_mallard]

sorry, the 160gb is ide

[Chaky]

Then make sure it is reckognised properly in BIOS. Also make sure that it is set on "master" if your optical drive is on the same channel, or "single drive" if it is the only drive on that channel. Some drives have that "single drive" jumper setting, some not. Also, some drives have jumper settings for different cylinder/head/sector values. You should chaeck if it is set on defaults.

But nevertheless, try the f6 drivers.

[Qwazil]

oh god im about to get a new motherboard and now im scared. luckily i can come here if something goes wrong xD

[Chaky]

Have one thing in mind:

Cheap motherboard = poor overall PC performance

[maui_mallard]

ok......so i checked the jumper settings and the HDD is on master...ill give the f6 drivers a try though

[jbennet]

if you dont want to wory about F6 most sata controllers can pretend to be IDE. Check the BIOS

[jbennet]

if you dont want to wory about F6 most sata controllers can pretend to be IDE. Check the BIOS for

[jbennet]

if you dont want to wory about F6 most sata controllers can pretend to be IDE. Check the BIOS for this option

[jbennet]

woah sorry i kinda spazzed up and triple posted ;) can a mod delete the first two

[Chaky]

ok......so i checked the jumper settings and the HDD is on master...ill give the f6 drivers a try though

There is one workaround I forgot to mention. You can do this:

- put the 160 G drive in a machine that can partition and format it without problems. I'll call it machine B.

- disconnect the drive you normally use in machine B to prevent windows setup program from changing the windows installation on that machine. You will have to check the BIOS settings on machine B regarding HDs. Best option would be to set everything on "auto".

- create partitions and format them to NTFS using windows setup CD. In order to partition 160 G drive properly, first partition has to be set as "active" in order to make it bootable. That is done automatically by windows setup program. Formatting it via normal windows XP interface would not set first partition as "active", because there can be only one "active" partition on one system.

- After the formatting turn off the system. Do not install windows here. You can plug back the drive in machine B

- put the 160 G back in the machine A and install windows without changing partitions or formats.

Tip: Use 80-pin ATA cable on that drive. 40-pin cable has lower data throughput.

[maui_mallard]

could it possibly a boot sector virus????

[Chaky]

No.
If you delete all partitions on the drive, NOTHING survives. Even the boot sectors no longer exist. (together with eventual boot sector viruses)
Your problem is in the co-relation between hard drive and IDE controller. Possibly your BIOS needs updating, but if you see the drive properly recognized you don't have the problem there. Another cause could be faulty IDE cable. Worst case scenario - faulty motherboard.

Pre-formated drive (the workaround in my previous post) bypasses problems with BIOS and legacy IDE drivers used in windows setup program. After successful windows installation, and after the motherboard drivers are installed there should be no more problems.

[RueB2sDe]

I noticed Mallard that you stated that you created a Partition. And GURU's Chaky and jbennet let me know if I am wrong on this one.
If you used FDISK it cannot create a NTFS partition. It will have to be created by the Recovery console. I can however delete the NTFS partition and and secondary partitions. Beaware that some manufactures place the restore cd and drivers on a secondary partion or hidden partion. Be sure to check with the manufacture on how your hard drive is partitioned.

If you are going to install Windows XP pro it cannot run on a FAT 32 its not large enough.

Good Bye

RueB 2s De

[Chaky]

FDISK creates partitions. It doesn't format them. XP can run on FAT 32. The FAT32 limit is just under 32 gigs which is more than enough to install the windows.

[jbennet]

yeah FDISK only makes raw partitions (i use fdisk to make mine and then formayt them as ext2 for linux)

[Qwazil]

sorry to be changing the subject here to an extent but i have a 200 gig HDD and you guys said somewhere in the begining of this that hard drives around that size are almost definetly not IDE, would that mean my 200 gig IS SATA''''?

[jbennet]

maybe. some high end IDE drives can be pretty big. Open it up. If you have a big ribbon then its IDE. If you have a thin data cable then its SATA

[Qwazil]

its SATA, I had some trouble with that cable when i was putting my HDD in.

[Chaky]

Quick tip regarding SATA cables that I've heard from ppl with experience:

Don't touch connecting ends of those cables with your bare hands! One touch and it is almost certainly damaged!
The cables are pretty cheap and there is always one extra set of cables, if you are building your PC that is (one set comes with the drive and one set comes with the motherboard), and if you touch the sensitive connectors, the safest thing to do is to replace the cable.
Damaged cable will eventually produce a write error on the drive and you might lose ALL the data on it. Damaged power cable can produce bad sectors. Bad sector in a boot area will render drive unformatable, and therefor unusable.

[dcc]

Qwazil...no, ATA, PATA, and SATA all come in various capacities. Size has no determination of the it's type.

Chaky...You stated "Formatting it via normal windows XP interface would not set first partition as "active", because there can be only one "active" partition on one system."

You can have up to four primary partitions, but only one can be "active" at a time.

[Chaky]

Chaky...You stated "Formatting it via normal windows XP interface would not set first partition as "active", because there can be only one "active" partition on one system."

You can have up to four primary partitions, but only one can be "active" at a time.

Exactly. Formatting HD via normal XP inerface would never make that HD's primary partition as "active" because there is already one active partition on that system. Has to be done via windows setup program or boot floppy diskette.

[Qwazil]

Treat the SATA cables with RESPEK!.

[dcc]

RESPEK?!?

Slaps forehead and wonders off muttering to himself about the new generation of people posting and their lack of spelling skills.

[Qwazil]

RESPEK?!?

Slaps forehead and wonders off muttering to himself about the new generation of people posting and their lack of spelling skills.

Lol@dcc