Building PC - need help!!!!

[manus]

I have GA-8i945P-G-RH motherboard.

IDE1 - is connected with DVD rom (as the manual recommends)
IDE2 - is connected with IDE hard drive

When booting, it does not acknowledge the IDE hard drive that is connected.

In BIOS, it shows DVD connected as IDE Channel 0 Master.. but no hard drive!!

On-Chip Primary PCI IDE --> enabled
On-Chip SATA Mode --> disabled (as I have no SATA hard drives, mine is IDE)

I've tried all combinations and am about to pull all my hair out. Please.. any help to get me going would be great.

[_Mystical_Night]

do you have "boot other device" enabled in the bios ? you can also change the boot sequence in the bios under advanced settings

it should be something like

1st: Hd-00
2nd: HD-01
3rd: CD or Floppy

edit: and btw usually most people have IDE1 as the hard drive (Master) and the second IDE channel for CD/DVD Drives since your pc will be booting up from the hard drives 99.9% of the time it should always be the first IDE device

[manus]

There is no "boot other device" option in bios. Yes, I've got the boot sequence set to :- Floppy --> CD ROM --> Hard drive .... as I want it to boot from cd so I can install windows.

I also agree with having hard drive on IDE1, but the mobo manual specifically says "to ensure that an IDE cd-rom drive can work properly, please attach it to the IDE 1 connector". I know.. sounds weird huh. Anyway, I've tried putting it with Hard drive on IDE1 and CD/DVD on IDE 2... and it doesn't acknowledge. i.e. it acknowledges whatever is connected to IDE1... but appears that IDE2 and IDE3 aren't being read.

With the above boot sequence, it boots cd and starts setup, but then says "cannot detect hard drive" to install windows.

I cannot understand what's going on. I've turned off RAID (as I'm not using it).

On-chip primary pci ide ----> enabled
On-chip STAT mode ------> auto (even on auto it's failing)

I'm stuck!!!!

As DVD and hard drive are on different IDE cables, I've made them both "master".

[RockNRoll]

What about the jumpers on the rear of the drives? Set one to master (prefferably the harddrive), and one to slave. If they're both on Cable Select, they won't work.

[manus]

Yep tried hard drive as MASTER and dvd as SLAVE... BIOS then detects dvd as slave.. but doesn't detect hard drive. It's almost as if IDE1 is reading.. but IDE2 and IDE3 are not...

I've tried going against what the mobo manual says, and putting hard drive on IDE1 (as master) and dvd on IDE2.... then BIOS detects hard drive.. but not CD rom.. again, almost as if IDE2 and IDE3 are not detecting at all.

[manus]

Checkout what I mean where mobo manual says to put CD/DVD on IDE1 connector at ---> page 21 of :- http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/M...GA-8I945P-G-RH

Could it be that IDE2 and IDE3 are for RAID only??? meaning that have to connect both IDE hard drive and IDE cd/dvd rom on the one cable ? if so.. i need a BIG LONG ide cable so it will reach... this doesn't sound like the answer though.. PLEASE HELP

[missiveusa]

Common set up for two IDE devices is to put both on IDE 1, with HDD as MASTER and the optical drive as SLAVE on the same EIDE cable and jumpers set accordingly. Sounds like you've tried every combo but that. If using a Western Digital HDD, using the Cable Select setting is called for with two devices.

[BipolarBill]

It's quite possible that the hard drive is simply no good.

[RockNRoll]

LOL very true BPB. Didn't think of that till tonight when I went back to this thread... I feel like a noob now . lol!

[Rabbitrunner51]

Remember to recheck the IDE cable connector to make sure it is connected fully.. all pins... If even a littel unconnected.. it will not display or show up. I've done that a few times in the distant past.

Common sense tells you to go into the bios and htat is what you and othrs have discussed here.. Bios settings are most important ( The most important ), and yes the jumpers have to be in right order if you have like (2) drives to choose from. If one drivwe the system will automatically pick up the sole HD...labeling it as Master or slave ( master most likely )

Again..other than what Bill has told you about a possible HD failure.... something as simple as PSU connector loose or IDE loose or not connected happens all the time. Check those again first.

Diff. board makers have diff. bios and most are kinda tricky but easy enough to read if you just follow one thing at a time... HD1 ...master HD2 slave for slit cables of which most are.

Another possiblility is a bad IDE cable. if its a new Mobo..then jsut maybe that is bad somehow.. ithappens but dfon't go balistic ..... not very often is that the case. I know these things can drive one crazy..but hang in there..you'll get it solved eventually... Good Luck!

[AV8R]

I think missiveusa is right. IDE 1 should handle both the HDD and DVD as long as you configure the HDD to master and DVD to slave. In addition, are you using the 80-pin cable or 40-pin cable on IDE1?

[Comage]

Did you hook up the devices correctly?

For PATA cables, they should be in this order:
Blue connector should go to the motherboard.
Black connector should go to the Master drive.
Grey connector should go to the Slave drive.

Hope it helps.

[leec65]

Hi All
I think on this type of mobo, I have one like it only it's Asus, that with 3 IDE port the first one is for the cd/dvd and the other 2 are for raid and have a raid controller in this case it's ITD8212 and i think you have to load the drivers for it even if you only using 1 drive

[Rabbitrunner51]

Do any of you kids actaully even read any info ..before buying or know anything at all bout a computer?? Please... this is an open forum.. but think a little bit

Just blurting out general info does not do yourself or anybody else any good.

Give some specifics. Mobo ,CPU and all other and please be SPECIFIC...

Most mobos have (2) IDE connectors on the mobo. They are usually one blue and one black sitting side by side.

The motherbaord manual.... ( HELLO ! ) should most defitnitely show this. read and look at the diagram if it has one.

IDE cables are mostly the same general ones... although some can transfer or are made to run a higher DMA DMA is the amount of transfer info the cable can handle. This is the simplest way i can explain it. Any IDE cable or ribbon ( same but some makers only provide those with the purchase of the board ), will work period.

The latest HD's can use the hgiest DMA from the outset. This is provided in the bios settings when you select the proper menu choice for HD ( that section )

I have an older Asu board myself and a good one. .Nice choice

Raid is just another method or way to transfer data. They use a much smaller but quicker little round cable ( also supplied with the mobo ) that work with Sata HD's
if you use a IDE type hard drive..then don't worry about the other ( raid or Sata )

You always need to load drivers for anything most times.. hard Drives or any sort are no different. If and this is important.. you should go into the bios and go to the Raid config. area. If only one Raid drive ..then i believe it should be set for raid 0.

Either way if you load the mobo disk drivers for Raid and you should ..then the system will automatically pick it up upon boot..and if nothing else.. tell you whats up and what to do... Good Luck!

[manus]

Well, problem solved by buying a SATA hard drive. Thanks for all the suggestions.. all tests came back fine. Cabling correct, cables were not faulty, jumpers correct... nothing worked. Wish I knew why IDE wouldn't work though!