Hard Drive not detected

[Dalo Harkin]

Right - I had a quick look on Asus.com under the model number you gave and the comments say that it is sold OEM and that they do not support it.

[dave1962]

So it's not the same as P5B MX then ? and if they don't support it where does it leave me, ?

[Guest Wolfeymole]

You obviously have IDE connections so you may be able to exchange the Sata for an ATA from where you got it and wire that as primary master.

 

Do you have 2 IDE connectors on the board?

[dave1962]

Are they the ones that the dvd and floppy are connected to ?? if they are yes there is 2 IDE connectors 1 for the dvd's and 1 for the floppy drive i could live without the floppy ???

[Guest Wolfeymole]

This sounds promising but it is very important for you to let us know if both these IDE connectors are exactly the same size Dave.

[dave1962]

Bad news the cable for the floppy is definatly not as wide as the cable for the dvd's, the dvd cable is labled hdd cable and the floppy ...floppy cable. both are asus cables.

[Dalo Harkin]

Floppy IDE and the Optical (DVD/CD) are different, you may have to live without one of your dvdrw for the moment and buy a PCI card that has the IDE slots on them - they are only about £4 off ebay or scan etc

[Guest Wolfeymole]

This is not a problem Dave but you will have to consider disconnecting one of the optical drives from that cable.

 

This will then allow you to connect an ata drive as Primary Master and the optical drive as Primary Slave.

 

The hard drive has to be at the very end of the ribbon cable and the cdrom attached on the middle connector.

 

You will need to set the jumpers on the drives accordingly and then set the the cdrom to first boot option as we have mentioned before.

 

Install XP and then once done so set the first boot option to the hard drive.

 

Jumpers are tiny pieces of plastic on the back of a given drive.

[dave1962]

If I can exchange the hdd for an IDE will it work ?? I know it's a stupid ? for you lads.

[dave1962]

Also the dvd's are on the same cable ??

[Guest Wolfeymole]

Yes it will work Dave just exchange the sata for a pata aka IDE drive and disconnect one of the optical drives.

 

If you have say a DVD ROM and a DVDRW disconnect the DVD ROM.

[dave1962]

Hi guys have just rang the place i bought the hdd to see if they will exchange it and they say they will install windows for £40 but they also said to download the drivers for the P5B Mx mobo so it looks like they are going to try to install them (if I take it in).

[Dalo Harkin]

£40 :eek:

I would rather pay an extra £10-£15 for Vista!

[dave1962]

O.k so would I ( we've spent too much time on this for me to take it to someone else) but will vista work ?????

[Guest Wolfeymole]

What a cheek

 

They'll install XP for £40 when you can do it yourself for nothing and they want you do download the motherboard drivers for them.

 

 

The board is fine Dave, as dallo said they dont support sata drivers any longer so you might as well get an IDE and just install XP yourself for nothing.

[dave1962]

I meant that they are going to download the drivers and try them (I have allready downloaded them) but it apears that asus dont support my mobo because it's OEM, so they are the wrong drivers. I think that's what Dallo meant ?

[Dalo Harkin]

Ok - you have 2 routes here:-

1- buy an IDE HDD at a cost (lets say £40 for arguments sake) and lose the ability to use one of the DVDRW and have a SATA as a paperweight

2- buy Vista (£50ish OEM) which recognises SATA drives, and be able to use both DVDRW

[dave1962]

ahi guys just an update, wife got fed up of me going on about pc so took it in for them to install windows, they couldn't do it, so did some tests and found that the sata ports were u.s so I need a new mobo. looks like i have a spare hdd now lol

[Guest Wolfeymole]

So what are you gonna do now Dave, get a new box completely or what mate?

 

If you do you could add that old drive to it.

 

As an aside I find it highly suspicious that they found the sata ports goosed but you never know.

[Dalo Harkin]

I too find it highly unlikely, chances are more probable that the Southbridge has popped as opposed to the ports themselves.

So the cheapest option is to replace the MOBO.

[dave1962]

They still have it, there going to put a new mobo in £40 mobo and £40 labour. don't think there going to charge for installing windows though. I also wondered about the mobo being goose but I'll never know will I ? I know there are 4 sata ports it's just the power I'm not sure about.

[Dalo Harkin]

£40 labour for 10 minutes - OMG

did you give them your copy of XP?

if not and they say that they are going to install it - they will do 1 of 2 things

1 - charge you, as they should have a volume licence

2 - install a cracked one - Illegal

[dave1962]

Yes I know !! if i'd known it was the mobo I would have had a go myself, I did leave them my recovery disc with xp on it but they said that they would probably use there copy anyway, as long as I have a seriel number ( thats on the sticker on the pc ).

[Dalo Harkin]

Yes thats fine then -

well lets hope that you will be up and running soon :)