XFX 680i LT SLI doesn't reconize SATA

[Eternal]

I'm putting together a computer, using the XFX 680i motherboard, and a Western Digital Caviar 500 GB SATAII hard-drive, plus Quad 6600.

During a fresh Windows XP install, right as Windows is about to start I'm getting the Blue Screen of Death (BSoD).

When I unplug the SATA drive, and plug in a regular IDE drive, I'm able to install Winows XP and everything works fine. But when I plug in the SATA drive, the system refuses to boot.

RAID is disabled in BIOS (but I did try installing windows with it enabled, and it still didn't work). I tried pressing F6 during the install and using Nvidia 9.53 SATA-RAID drivers (you really shouldn't need to do that), but it still didn't work.

I've seen a few more posts on other forums with people facing similar problems. So far no response from XFX support.

Does anyone know how can I get SATA to work, and install WinXP on it?

Thanks a lot.

[Miker]

You set the jumper on the back of the drive to 3.0G/s not 1.5G/s?

[Eternal]

Thanks for the quick response.

Unfortunately - there is no such jumper on my hard-drive. There is an 8-pin connector in the back, but the only option is the following:

"Master/Slave jumper not required for SATA
jumpered pins 3 and 4 enable PUIS (Power Up In Standby)"

I have nothing jumped at this point.

Here's the link to the hard-drive I'm using:
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=301&language=en

There's a PDF compatibility chart on that page, and it looks like nForce SLI is listed there:
http://www.wdc.com/en/library/sata/2579-701239.pdf

[Miles]

Thanks for the quick response.

Unfortunately - there is no such jumper on my hard-drive. There is an 8-pin connector in the back, but the only option is the following:

"Master/Slave jumper not required for SATA
jumpered pins 3 and 4 enable PUIS (Power Up In Standby)"

I have nothing jumped at this point.

Here's the link to the hard-drive I'm using:
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=301&language=en

There's a PDF compatibility chart on that page, and it looks like nForce SLI is listed there:
http://www.wdc.com/en/library/sata/2579-701239.pdf

He's referring to the jumper on Seagate drives that differentiate between 1.5 & 3.0 GB/sec. Western Digital as I recall don't have these.

Are you using a SATA power lead direct from your PSU or an adapter? Make sure power and SATA cable are firmly seated. Make sure in BIOS that your drives are set to Enhanced IDE Mode (NVIDIA) may name it slightly different.

I take that the drive isn't recognized in the BIOS either?

[Eternal]

1. Cables are plugged in firmly. It's a nice tight fit.
2. I am running straight off my PSU.
3. It looks like BIOS sort of knows something is hooked up to the ports I'm trying, because it displays blank space for the ones where I plug in my Hard Drive. All the other ports read 'NONE'.
4. I just double checked the BIOS and there is no option there that looks like "Enhanced IDE mode", or similar to it.

I can hear the hard drive spinning and stuff, it just looks like the system can't talk to it.
Also - I know the hard-drive is functional, because I plugged it into my other computer.

[Emmer]

I had a similar problem with an older system.I had to load the SATA drivers from a floppy disc, on XP setup, with F6.

I should try that, maybe that causes the problem............

Good luck!


Emmer.

[Eternal]

You'll find in my original post that loading SATA drivers during Windows install was the first thing I tried. It didn't fix the problem.

The issue was bad SATA drive. New drive worked without any problems.

[acidrain]

Could be a power cable problem. If you are using SATA power change the power connector. If using a molex one, check that all the 4 wires are connected properly (i.e, 5v, 12v and grounds).

[Eternal]

No. It was a bad drive. New drive worked fine with the same connections.