help :mad:

tcn-7 · 08-30-2008, 10:38 PM

purchased a new mobo and it was working fine but a few days ago it stopped detecting ide drives soo i bought a sata it detects it soo i started to install windows on a usb dvd drive and now i either get the bsod when installing or it wont copy all the files or it says theres no hdd so ive tried flashing the bios ive tried almost everything but i have a feeling theres something i could be missing hopefully something stupid ive also tried different cables and changing the bios battery and a different psu but i spent 150 on my new 500gb hdd AND IT WONT WORK!!!

any help appreciated

**Grez** · 08-30-2008, 11:22 PM

Have you gone into BIOS and made sure that the RAID functionality for your IDE controllers is turned off? If it's on, they won't work with a single drive...they'll try looking for an array. Many boards that do JBOD RAID functionality (which is most of them these days) come with RAID activated (which, IMO, is stupid, but unfortunately they don't discuss these things with me

), which means you have to turn it off before installing your OS on an IDE drive.

The fact that your board is seeing that SATA drive suggests that the board probably isn't bad. However, another bit of advice: avoid ECS boards in the future. They have a bad reputation of having parts fail unexpectedly and suddenly (that and PC Chips...both use some fairly cheap components). My advice is to stick with Gigabyte, MSI, Asus, DFI, or EVGA. They all make boards that overall are consistently solid.

tcn-7 · 08-30-2008, 11:28 PM

yes but i bought this cuz it was cheap and i did try that it only has one ide port on the mobo soo yea but for somereason windows wont detect my 500gb hdd but my bios does like it found it earlier today and now im just getting mad...everytime i try to install i get the bsod or no hdd detected or it just takes forever to copy the files then when it finally does it wont boot to install windows :S...EDIT: i finally got windows installed and its working fine but it still will not detect ide drives i think i might try to update the bios and if that doesnt work im sol till i get warentee on this item.

**Grez** · 08-31-2008, 01:17 AM

Well, I'm glad to hear you're making progress. But remember: buying cheapo parts, especially primary components like mobos and PSUs, never pays off. Ever. I'm not trying to give you a hard time, it's just that giving that advice in a soft way never gets anyone to listen.

Seriously, you can find basic boards from all of the manufacturers I've listed for between $45 and $70...not a lot for a decent mobo, and you probably won't run into these kinds of problems. Just something to keep in mind for the next time around.

Good luck going forward, and I hope everything goes ok when you're claiming your warranty. Hopefully, you can get a refund instead of just a replacement, and put that cash towards a mobo upgrade. I think you'll be a lot happier then.

tcn-7 · 08-31-2008, 01:20 AM

yea if it breaks again i will buy one :) prolly an asus or msi with sli and then i will be a happy computer :P lol

Bob Marley · 08-31-2008, 07:52 AM

Sometimes you can find a deal like i did, an MSI board for $10 ;) but Grez is right, don't skimp out on the motherboard, I learned the hard way :(