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bios not installed?
http://www.x404.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=7886		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  Geiseric [ Wed Apr 21, 2010 6:25 pm ]
Post subject:  bios not installed?
Just trying to sort out a mates pc, it's been build with a PATA HDD 80Gb and a backup SATA HDD 200Gb which i thought was strange

he wanted me to reinstall XP media so I though I'd use the SATA as the main drive.........

You have to install drivers via floppy (had to dig deep to find one in) during 1st install for SATA, this goes ok and I re formatted and it started installing 2nd stage but on re boot it does see the HDD so wont start installing XP

I've played around with the bios etc but one thing I have noticed is on boot up it states it's looking for drives and cant find any and it also states - bios not installed?

Any suggestions -

MB - GIGABYTE GA-8N-SLI ROYAL intel edition

Edit - I'm now starting to understanding why the builder opted for the PATA, must have got pissed off with the MB
Author:  big_D [ Thu Apr 22, 2010 6:00 am ]
Post subject:  Re: bios not installed?
XP is a complete pain, when you are trying to use SATA...

Is the SATA chipset enabled in the BIOS? And is the SATA drive set above the PATA in the boot order?
Author:  jonlumb [ Thu Apr 22, 2010 6:49 am ]
Post subject:  Re: bios not installed?
Check what SATA Mode has been selected as well (it's not there on all machines but is on some).
Author:  Geiseric [ Thu Apr 22, 2010 9:40 am ]
Post subject:  Re: bios not installed?
Had a good look around the Bios and checked the SATA and RAID options, all looks ok but still no joy. You would think if XP installation can see the drive after the floppy load of the SATA instruction (F6) then on restart it would still see the HDD.

As in the title the only think that looks odd is this Bios message just before the first boot option kicks in.
Author:  Geiseric [ Thu Apr 22, 2010 6:35 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: bios not installed?
Think I've got it sorted, the Bios reference is due to the Raid controller so I turned all that off then went through all the SATA sockets in the MB until the Bios could see the drive then off it went. Re started OS XP installation installed SATA driver and on the restart it kicked in correctly so now loading XP ME...... fingers crossed
Author:  finlay666 [ Thu Apr 22, 2010 9:41 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: bios not installed?
I usually turn off any MB raid controller, unless I was using a physical separate one I don't see much point in them for standard computing
Author:  Geiseric [ Fri Apr 23, 2010 9:52 am ]
Post subject:  Re: bios not installed?
finlay666 wrote:
I usually turn off any MB raid controller, unless I was using a physical separate one I don't see much point in them for standard computing


True and basically what I have done, strange that I had to be selective on SATA connections on the MB though.... took me two nights to sort the whole problem out and is probably the reason the builder gave up and stuck a PATA drive in to the build.

Funny thing is the build is in a Silverstone media case and the MB has a voltage phase controller card positioned by the side of the CPU which blocks the only 2 x 80mm rear case fans. So not really the best selection of motherboards imo but credit goes to the neatness inside the case.
Author:  hifidelity2 [ Fri Apr 23, 2010 1:55 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: bios not installed?
Geiseric wrote:
Think I've got it sorted, the Bios reference is due to the Raid controller so I turned all that off then went through all the SATA sockets in the MB until the Bios could see the drive then off it went. Re started OS XP installation installed SATA driver and on the restart it kicked in correctly so now loading XP ME...... fingers crossed

That MB used the nForce 4 chip set as its HDD controller. XP has limited drivers or SATA (and no RAID drivers)

The best way to install XP is to use nlite to create an XP installation disk with the up to date SATA and RAID drivers pre installed.

I did this (and included the service packs) so that i would re-install XP easily
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