SATA saga

I now know why Windows would not recognise my SATA drive during
installation.

My combination of motherboard (Asus K8V SE) and Windows (XP Pro SP2) *does*
need a third party driver to see my SATA drive during Windows setup. My
motherboard has two SATA controllers (both RAID) - a Promise controller and
a VIA controller. But the motherboard CD only supplies the Promise driver -
and my SATA drive was connected to the VIA controller. This sounds simple -
but took me hours to understand. Many thanks to the person who told me to go
to the VIA website and download the driver for my specific controller. When
I matched the driver to the specific controller, Windows setup loaded the
driver OK.

Problem solved. So I thought. Windows saw my SATA drive and attempted to
install XP (Pro SP2) but always failed - I got a BSD every time(usually -
but not always - late in the installation process). I've tried both
controllers and both drivers (Promise and VIA) and every time Windows sees
the HD but fails to fully install (BSD every time).

In desperation, I then tried to get my old (PATA) drive working. But I'm
getting BSDs with this drive too (in spite of disabling both the Promise and
SATABOOT controllers from within the BIOS).

So it sounds like my AMI BIOS upgrade has went wrong. I originally upgraded
my BIOS to try to make it recognise my SATA drive - and the upgrade appeared
to work OK (I used the Asus EZ Flash program that upgrades the BIOS from
within Windows - everything seemed to work - including the verification of
the upgrade). The upgraded BIOS still needs a special driver to see the SATA
drive so the upgrade was pointless. But I think that it is causing my
current problems.

Does this sound likely? Could a bad flash upgrade appear to work but cause
BSDs?

What is the best way to restore my old BIOS? I did save a copy on my SATA
hard drive which I usually can't access (due to constant BSDs). Can I
download the old BIOS and then restore it (using a DOS utility I presume)?

Thanks in anticipation.

Bobby

On Wed, 30 Mar 2005 00:21:58 +0100, "Bobby" wrote:

I now know why Windows would not recognise my SATA drive during
installation.

My combination of motherboard (Asus K8V SE) and Windows (XP Pro SP2) *does*
need a third party driver to see my SATA drive during Windows setup. My
motherboard has two SATA controllers (both RAID) - a Promise controller and
a VIA controller. But the motherboard CD only supplies the Promise driver -
and my SATA drive was connected to the VIA controller. This sounds simple -
but took me hours to understand. Many thanks to the person who told me to go
to the VIA website and download the driver for my specific controller. When
I matched the driver to the specific controller, Windows setup loaded the
driver OK.

Problem solved. So I thought. Windows saw my SATA drive and attempted to
install XP (Pro SP2) but always failed - I got a BSD every time(usually -
but not always - late in the installation process). I've tried both
controllers and both drivers (Promise and VIA) and every time Windows sees
the HD but fails to fully install (BSD every time).

In desperation, I then tried to get my old (PATA) drive working. But I'm
getting BSDs with this drive too (in spite of disabling both the Promise and
SATABOOT controllers from within the BIOS).

So it sounds like my AMI BIOS upgrade has went wrong. I originally upgraded
my BIOS to try to make it recognise my SATA drive - and the upgrade appeared
to work OK (I used the Asus EZ Flash program that upgrades the BIOS from
within Windows - everything seemed to work - including the verification of
the upgrade). The upgraded BIOS still needs a special driver to see the SATA
drive so the upgrade was pointless. But I think that it is causing my
current problems.

Does this sound likely? Could a bad flash upgrade appear to work but cause
BSDs?

What is the best way to restore my old BIOS? I did save a copy on my SATA
hard drive which I usually can't access (due to constant BSDs). Can I
download the old BIOS and then restore it (using a DOS utility I presume)?

Thanks in anticipation.

Bobby

You are welcome. I ran into a similar issue with the first K8V boards
and i had to go to VIA to get the driver so i knew what you were going
through.

As for reflashing your old BIOS, you should be able to restore it BUT
i would suggest you look at ASUS's site for info beforehand. If you
didn't do this after the flash, reset the CMOS settings via the jumper
on the motherboard. Take it back to a default config and reset
everything before you attempt a reflash. This usually will help
(unless you flashed with a beta bios).

If you still continue to have BSOD's on load, make sure all of your
connections on the motherboard are tight (ide,sata, power cables,
memory seating, etc). You may also wish to run the memtest86 to test
whether your memory is ok. usually when i have seen BSOD's loading
windows, there was a faulty stick of memory.

Since you have also added a SATA drive, your Power supply may not be
powerful enough to handle the added load. Please post your system
specs, including voltages that are on the PSU label and let us take a
look.

N.B. XP uses the SATA driver NOT the BIOS.

--
Jonah
"Bobby" wrote in message
...
I now know why Windows would not recognise my SATA drive during
installation.

My combination of motherboard (Asus K8V SE) and Windows (XP Pro SP2)
*does* need a third party driver to see my SATA drive during Windows
setup. My motherboard has two SATA controllers (both RAID) - a Promise
controller and a VIA controller. But the motherboard CD only supplies the
Promise driver - and my SATA drive was connected to the VIA controller.
This sounds simple - but took me hours to understand. Many thanks to the
person who told me to go to the VIA website and download the driver for my
specific controller. When I matched the driver to the specific controller,
Windows setup loaded the driver OK.

Problem solved. So I thought. Windows saw my SATA drive and attempted to
install XP (Pro SP2) but always failed - I got a BSD every time(usually -
but not always - late in the installation process). I've tried both
controllers and both drivers (Promise and VIA) and every time Windows sees
the HD but fails to fully install (BSD every time).

In desperation, I then tried to get my old (PATA) drive working. But I'm
getting BSDs with this drive too (in spite of disabling both the Promise
and SATABOOT controllers from within the BIOS).

So it sounds like my AMI BIOS upgrade has went wrong. I originally
upgraded my BIOS to try to make it recognise my SATA drive - and the
upgrade appeared to work OK (I used the Asus EZ Flash program that
upgrades the BIOS from within Windows - everything seemed to work -
including the verification of the upgrade). The upgraded BIOS still needs
a special driver to see the SATA drive so the upgrade was pointless. But I
think that it is causing my current problems.

Does this sound likely? Could a bad flash upgrade appear to work but cause
BSDs?

What is the best way to restore my old BIOS? I did save a copy on my SATA
hard drive which I usually can't access (due to constant BSDs). Can I
download the old BIOS and then restore it (using a DOS utility I presume)?

Thanks in anticipation.

Bobby

Buy an Intel motherboard and CPU. Seriously, I've had so many problems with
the VIA chipset, it cost me so many hours I would have gladly paid the
$100's to get the problems solved. I'd look up VIA in the newsgroups and
find that the VIA chip set for that board was defected and had to use lots
of "work arounds" and BIOS updates, etc.

I'm on my 3rd pure Intel system and I just don't run into those kinds of
device problems anymore. Thank you Intel!

-Max



"Bobby" wrote in message
...
I now know why Windows would not recognise my SATA drive during
installation.

My combination of motherboard (Asus K8V SE) and Windows (XP Pro SP2)
*does* need a third party driver to see my SATA drive during Windows
setup. My

Thats got nothing to do with the issue.
If Bobby had an Intel board with SATA he would still need to load drivers
for XP since XP doesn't know about peripheral devices created after it was
released.

Now, tell me, if he did get an Intel board, which model, who actually makes
them (if it was prior to mid last year it would still be Asus by all
liklihood) and what make / model of SATA controller would it have? Some
Intel boards come with Adaptec controllers, others with Intel ICH5 and ICH6
based controllers.

Nothing to do with it!


"Max" wrote in message
...
Buy an Intel motherboard and CPU. Seriously, I've had so many problems
with the VIA chipset, it cost me so many hours I would have gladly paid
the $100's to get the problems solved. I'd look up VIA in the newsgroups
and find that the VIA chip set for that board was defected and had to use
lots of "work arounds" and BIOS updates, etc.

I'm on my 3rd pure Intel system and I just don't run into those kinds of
device problems anymore. Thank you Intel!

-Max



"Bobby" wrote in message
...
I now know why Windows would not recognise my SATA drive during
installation.

My combination of motherboard (Asus K8V SE) and Windows (XP Pro SP2)
*does* need a third party driver to see my SATA drive during Windows
setup. My

I have a DFI board useing Intell chipsets and have no problems with or
without Raid.
No extra drivers just to use SATA hard drives, Need driver to setup raid.

--
Carl G
"Bobby" wrote in message
...
I now know why Windows would not recognise my SATA drive during
installation.

My combination of motherboard (Asus K8V SE) and Windows (XP Pro SP2)
*does* need a third party driver to see my SATA drive during Windows
setup. My motherboard has two SATA controllers (both RAID) - a Promise
controller and a VIA controller. But the motherboard CD only supplies the
Promise driver - and my SATA drive was connected to the VIA controller.
This sounds simple - but took me hours to understand. Many thanks to the
person who told me to go to the VIA website and download the driver for my
specific controller. When I matched the driver to the specific controller,
Windows setup loaded the driver OK.

Problem solved. So I thought. Windows saw my SATA drive and attempted to
install XP (Pro SP2) but always failed - I got a BSD every time(usually -
but not always - late in the installation process). I've tried both
controllers and both drivers (Promise and VIA) and every time Windows sees
the HD but fails to fully install (BSD every time).

In desperation, I then tried to get my old (PATA) drive working. But I'm
getting BSDs with this drive too (in spite of disabling both the Promise
and SATABOOT controllers from within the BIOS).

So it sounds like my AMI BIOS upgrade has went wrong. I originally
upgraded my BIOS to try to make it recognise my SATA drive - and the
upgrade appeared to work OK (I used the Asus EZ Flash program that
upgrades the BIOS from within Windows - everything seemed to work -
including the verification of the upgrade). The upgraded BIOS still needs
a special driver to see the SATA drive so the upgrade was pointless. But I
think that it is causing my current problems.

Does this sound likely? Could a bad flash upgrade appear to work but cause
BSDs?

What is the best way to restore my old BIOS? I did save a copy on my SATA
hard drive which I usually can't access (due to constant BSDs). Can I
download the old BIOS and then restore it (using a DOS utility I presume)?

Thanks in anticipation.

Bobby

I had problems with the BSOD late in the install process repeatedly on one
machine.
It turned out the Genuine Windows XP Pro CD was defective.
Wasted probably 100 hours on troubleshooting hardware and setup due to a bad
CD....
--
For evil to prosper requires only that good men remain silent!

"Bobby" wrote in message
...
I now know why Windows would not recognise my SATA drive during
installation.

My combination of motherboard (Asus K8V SE) and Windows (XP Pro SP2)
*does* need a third party driver to see my SATA drive during Windows
setup. My motherboard has two SATA controllers (both RAID) - a Promise
controller and a VIA controller. But the motherboard CD only supplies the
Promise driver - and my SATA drive was connected to the VIA controller.
This sounds simple - but took me hours to understand. Many thanks to the
person who told me to go to the VIA website and download the driver for my
specific controller. When I matched the driver to the specific controller,
Windows setup loaded the driver OK.

Problem solved. So I thought. Windows saw my SATA drive and attempted to
install XP (Pro SP2) but always failed - I got a BSD every time(usually -
but not always - late in the installation process). I've tried both
controllers and both drivers (Promise and VIA) and every time Windows sees
the HD but fails to fully install (BSD every time).

In desperation, I then tried to get my old (PATA) drive working. But I'm
getting BSDs with this drive too (in spite of disabling both the Promise
and SATABOOT controllers from within the BIOS).

So it sounds like my AMI BIOS upgrade has went wrong. I originally
upgraded my BIOS to try to make it recognise my SATA drive - and the
upgrade appeared to work OK (I used the Asus EZ Flash program that
upgrades the BIOS from within Windows - everything seemed to work -
including the verification of the upgrade). The upgraded BIOS still needs
a special driver to see the SATA drive so the upgrade was pointless. But I
think that it is causing my current problems.

Does this sound likely? Could a bad flash upgrade appear to work but cause
BSDs?

What is the best way to restore my old BIOS? I did save a copy on my SATA
hard drive which I usually can't access (due to constant BSDs). Can I
download the old BIOS and then restore it (using a DOS utility I presume)?

Thanks in anticipation.

Bobby

Tim,

In most cases with Intel boards, you do not need to install additional
drivers for non-raid SATA. The SATA drive is installed using the native XP
UDMA drivers. Installation of the latest chipset drivers (after XP is
installed and functioning) is recommended for optimal performance.

Woody

"Tim" Tim@NoSpam wrote in message
...
Thats got nothing to do with the issue.
If Bobby had an Intel board with SATA he would still need to load drivers
for XP since XP doesn't know about peripheral devices created after it was
released.

Now, tell me, if he did get an Intel board, which model, who actually
makes them (if it was prior to mid last year it would still be Asus by all
liklihood) and what make / model of SATA controller would it have? Some
Intel boards come with Adaptec controllers, others with Intel ICH5 and
ICH6 based controllers.

Nothing to do with it!


"Max" wrote in message
...
Buy an Intel motherboard and CPU. Seriously, I've had so many problems
with the VIA chipset, it cost me so many hours I would have gladly paid
the $100's to get the problems solved. I'd look up VIA in the newsgroups
and find that the VIA chip set for that board was defected and had to use
lots of "work arounds" and BIOS updates, etc.

I'm on my 3rd pure Intel system and I just don't run into those kinds of
device problems anymore. Thank you Intel!

-Max



"Bobby" wrote in message
...
I now know why Windows would not recognise my SATA drive during
installation.

My combination of motherboard (Asus K8V SE) and Windows (XP Pro SP2)
*does* need a third party driver to see my SATA drive during Windows
setup. My

I've tried two separate XP CDs and both cause BSDs. So it isn't my Windows
disk.

"NotMe" wrote in message
...
I had problems with the BSOD late in the install process repeatedly on one
machine.
It turned out the Genuine Windows XP Pro CD was defective.
Wasted probably 100 hours on troubleshooting hardware and setup due to a
bad CD....
--
For evil to prosper requires only that good men remain silent!

"Bobby" wrote in message
...
I now know why Windows would not recognise my SATA drive during
installation.

My combination of motherboard (Asus K8V SE) and Windows (XP Pro SP2)
*does* need a third party driver to see my SATA drive during Windows
setup. My motherboard has two SATA controllers (both RAID) - a Promise
controller and a VIA controller. But the motherboard CD only supplies the
Promise driver - and my SATA drive was connected to the VIA controller.
This sounds simple - but took me hours to understand. Many thanks to the
person who told me to go to the VIA website and download the driver for
my specific controller. When I matched the driver to the specific
controller, Windows setup loaded the driver OK.

Problem solved. So I thought. Windows saw my SATA drive and attempted to
install XP (Pro SP2) but always failed - I got a BSD every time(usually -
but not always - late in the installation process). I've tried both
controllers and both drivers (Promise and VIA) and every time Windows
sees the HD but fails to fully install (BSD every time).

In desperation, I then tried to get my old (PATA) drive working. But I'm
getting BSDs with this drive too (in spite of disabling both the Promise
and SATABOOT controllers from within the BIOS).

So it sounds like my AMI BIOS upgrade has went wrong. I originally
upgraded my BIOS to try to make it recognise my SATA drive - and the
upgrade appeared to work OK (I used the Asus EZ Flash program that
upgrades the BIOS from within Windows - everything seemed to work -
including the verification of the upgrade). The upgraded BIOS still needs
a special driver to see the SATA drive so the upgrade was pointless. But
I think that it is causing my current problems.

Does this sound likely? Could a bad flash upgrade appear to work but
cause BSDs?

What is the best way to restore my old BIOS? I did save a copy on my SATA
hard drive which I usually can't access (due to constant BSDs). Can I
download the old BIOS and then restore it (using a DOS utility I
presume)?

Thanks in anticipation.

Bobby

Thanks for taking the time to help.

You are welcome. I ran into a similar issue with the first K8V boards
and i had to go to VIA to get the driver so i knew what you were going
through.

I now have two (apparently) working sets of drivers - one for the Promise
controller and one for the VIA controller.

As for reflashing your old BIOS, you should be able to restore it BUT
i would suggest you look at ASUS's site for info beforehand.

I did manage to restore it using the Asus EZ Flash utility that is
built-into the BIOS ROM. It restores the original BIOS from the CD-ROM which
came with the mobo.

If you
didn't do this after the flash, reset the CMOS settings via the jumper
on the motherboard. Take it back to a default config and reset
everything before you attempt a reflash. This usually will help
(unless you flashed with a beta bios).

I reset the CMOS this evening (before restoring my old BIOS - see above).

If you still continue to have BSOD's on load

I am. In fact, it resets (not BSD) even when I let it sit at the log-in
screen. Alothugh I still get the occasional BSD.

make sure all of your
connections on the motherboard are tight (ide,sata, power cables,
memory seating, etc).

Done.

You may also wish to run the memtest86 to test
whether your memory is ok. usually when i have seen BSOD's loading
windows, there was a faulty stick of memory.

I was beginning to think this too. I have two memory sticks (both 3200 DDR -
one is 512Mb and one is 256Mb) so I removed each one. No difference. The
machine still resets.

Since you have also added a SATA drive, your Power supply may not be
powerful enough to handle the added load. Please post your system
specs, including voltages that are on the PSU label and let us take a
look.

I have a 550W no-name PSU - that was working perfectly prior to me upgrading
the BIOS.

So I am a complete loss. I've checked everything. Now that I have restored
my original BIOS and using my original (PATA) HD, I am back to my original
configuration - but the damn thing still refuses to work.

My PC was fine with the original BIOS and my original PATA hard disk. Since
messing around with the BIOS and installing the SATA drive, it resets
constantly.

The only thing I can think of is the graphics adaptor (an ATI 9600 Pro). Is
it worth replacing this? I feel like I'm grasping at straws.

I am on the verge of buying a new mobo. And it *will not* be an ASUS board.

Bobby