SAT not recognised by mobo after been on USB

I have a Samsung 750 GB hard drive which I attached from outside my
system using a USB port and with separate power. I went into
WinXP/SP2.

Later I tried to attach that drive direct to the mainboard but it
couldn't be recognized. The mobo just completely passed over the
existence of the drive.

Does XP mark the MBR of a drive used thru the USB port to say it is
an "external mass storage device"? Perhaps that mark prevents the
mobo picking up the drive.

More details are below.

Thanks for any info!
Dan

----------------------------
Samsung HDD, 3.5 inch, internal, F1, 750 GB

old mainboard: Via 266A chipset. Samsung attached using "SATA to
IDE" adapter which plugs straight into the mainboard IDE socket. Has
worked before.

Adapter is almost identical to this one:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/images/full/a11az.jpg
----------------------------

Dan wrote:
I have a Samsung 750 GB hard drive which I attached from outside my
system using a USB port and with separate power. I went into
WinXP/SP2.

Later I tried to attach that drive direct to the mainboard but it
couldn't be recognized. The mobo just completely passed over the
existence of the drive.

Does XP mark the MBR of a drive used thru the USB port to say it is
an "external mass storage device"? Perhaps that mark prevents the
mobo picking up the drive.

More details are below.

Thanks for any info!
Dan

----------------------------
Samsung HDD, 3.5 inch, internal, F1, 750 GB

old mainboard: Via 266A chipset. Samsung attached using "SATA to
IDE" adapter which plugs straight into the mainboard IDE socket. Has
worked before.

Adapter is almost identical to this one:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/images/full/a11az.jpg
----------------------------

Use the BIOS to verify the detection of the drive. That way,
the OS is not involved. With your SATA drive connected to an
IDE port via an adapter, you'd expect to see it in the
IDE information section of the BIOS.

With respect to the IDE cable, try the adapter on the
end of the cable, without another drive connected to
the middle connector of the ribbon cable. That is just
in case this is a Master/Slave/Cable Select issue.

Paul

Dan wrote:
I have a Samsung 750 GB hard drive which I attached from outside my
system using a USB port and with separate power. I went into
WinXP/SP2.

Later I tried to attach that drive direct to the mainboard but it
couldn't be recognized. The mobo just completely passed over the
existence of the drive.

Does XP mark the MBR of a drive used thru the USB port to say it is
an "external mass storage device"? Perhaps that mark prevents the
mobo picking up the drive.

More details are below.

Thanks for any info!
Dan

----------------------------
Samsung HDD, 3.5 inch, internal, F1, 750 GB

old mainboard: Via 266A chipset. Samsung attached using "SATA to
IDE" adapter which plugs straight into the mainboard IDE socket. Has
worked before.

Adapter is almost identical to this one:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/images/full/a11az.jpg
----------------------------

When you say "has worked before", is that the adapter or the adapter
with this drive attached?

I believe the drive is preset to SATA300 and needs to be changed by
software (no link) if SATA150 is required.

There is a possibility that the drive is too big for the motherboard
controller to handle or that the geometry used in USB is different from
the IDE geometry. Different BIOSs handle these problems differently -
some ignore the excess or may "wrap" at the limit, some will not
register the disk (I have seen both), though XP shouldn't need the BIOS
for disk access once it has started. Is the drive a single partition or
more? Using a small partition at the start may help in finding a solution.

Not a definitive answer, but some things to consider :-(

--
PeeGee

"Nothing should be able to load itself onto a computer without the
knowledge or consent of the computer user. Software should also be able
to be removed from a computer easily."
Peter Cullen, Microsoft Chief Privacy Strategist (Computing 18 Aug 05)

On Wed 24 Dec08 10:57, Paul wrote

Dan wrote:
I have a Samsung 750 GB hard drive which I attached from
outside my system using a USB port and with separate power. I
went into WinXP/SP2.

Later I tried to attach that drive direct to the mainboard but
it couldn't be recognized. The mobo just completely passed
over the existence of the drive.

Does XP mark the MBR of a drive used thru the USB port to say
it is an "external mass storage device"? Perhaps that mark
prevents the mobo picking up the drive.

More details are below.

Thanks for any info!
Dan

----------------------------
Samsung HDD, 3.5 inch, internal, F1, 750 GB

old mainboard: Via 266A chipset. Samsung attached using "SATA
to IDE" adapter which plugs straight into the mainboard IDE
socket. Has worked before.

Adapter is almost identical to this one:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/images/full/a11az.jpg
----------------------------

Use the BIOS to verify the detection of the drive. That way,
the OS is not involved. With your SATA drive connected to an
IDE port via an adapter, you'd expect to see it in the
IDE information section of the BIOS.

With respect to the IDE cable, try the adapter on the
end of the cable, without another drive connected to
the middle connector of the ribbon cable. That is just
in case this is a Master/Slave/Cable Select issue.

Paul

Yes, it is the BIOS which detects the abscence of a drive.

The adapter has a male plug and can't be used with an normal ribbon
cable. It is very clear in the link I posted..

On Wed, 24 Dec 2008 10:45:42 GMT, Dan wrote:

I have a Samsung 750 GB hard drive which I attached from outside my
system using a USB port and with separate power. I went into
WinXP/SP2.

Later I tried to attach that drive direct to the mainboard but it
couldn't be recognized. The mobo just completely passed over the
existence of the drive.

Does XP mark the MBR of a drive used thru the USB port to say it is
an "external mass storage device"? Perhaps that mark prevents the
mobo picking up the drive.

No, it doesn't.

More details are below.

Thanks for any info!
Dan

----------------------------
Samsung HDD, 3.5 inch, internal, F1, 750 GB

old mainboard: Via 266A chipset. Samsung attached using "SATA to
IDE" adapter which plugs straight into the mainboard IDE socket. Has
worked before.

Adapter is almost identical to this one:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/images/full/a11az.jpg
----------------------------

Most likely is the adapter can't cope with SATA-300, or can't cope
with the 750gig size.

Why not get a PCI SATA card, for about £12?

Cheers - Jaimie
--
Every time we start thinking we're the center of the universe, the
universe turns around and says with a slightly distracted air,
'I'm sorry. What'd you say your name was again?' -- Margaret Maron

Dan wrote:
On Wed 24 Dec08 10:57, Paul wrote

Dan wrote:
I have a Samsung 750 GB hard drive which I attached from
outside my system using a USB port and with separate power. I
went into WinXP/SP2.

Later I tried to attach that drive direct to the mainboard but
it couldn't be recognized. The mobo just completely passed
over the existence of the drive.

Does XP mark the MBR of a drive used thru the USB port to say
it is an "external mass storage device"? Perhaps that mark
prevents the mobo picking up the drive.

More details are below.

Thanks for any info!
Dan

----------------------------
Samsung HDD, 3.5 inch, internal, F1, 750 GB

old mainboard: Via 266A chipset. Samsung attached using "SATA
to IDE" adapter which plugs straight into the mainboard IDE
socket. Has worked before.

Adapter is almost identical to this one:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/images/full/a11az.jpg
----------------------------
Use the BIOS to verify the detection of the drive. That way,
the OS is not involved. With your SATA drive connected to an
IDE port via an adapter, you'd expect to see it in the
IDE information section of the BIOS.

With respect to the IDE cable, try the adapter on the
end of the cable, without another drive connected to
the middle connector of the ribbon cable. That is just
in case this is a Master/Slave/Cable Select issue.

Paul

Yes, it is the BIOS which detects the abscence of a drive.

The adapter has a male plug and can't be used with an normal ribbon
cable. It is very clear in the link I posted..

There are three types of available adapter. For the first,
you'd need a female IDE connector, as the IDE drive is male.
For the second, you'd need a female IDE connector, as the
motherboard connector is male (assuming the second goes
into the motherboard). For the third, a female
connector would suit both directions. The link you posted
shows a female connector. And based on these observations,
a female connector won't tell you anything about the
adapter type.

1) SATA host to IDE drive
2) IDE host to SATA drive.
3) Adapter with a chip which is bidirectional (JM20330)

If, on the other hand, an adapter was built with a male
connector, that would suit it for connection to a ribbon
cable (as the ribbon cable has three female connectors on
it). Such an adapter would support Master/Slave and with
two adapters, you could support two drives. I haven't been
looking at all the adapters on the market, for all these
nuances, so cannot say if something like that is made or
not.

You say yourself, that your adapter plugs directly into
the motherboard, so the adapter would be female.

There is a small chance, that the drive is 150/300 capable
and the adapter is 150 only. Normally, the drive would
auto-negotiate. If it won't for some reason, installing
the "force 150" jumper on the drive, might fix it. There
are some brands of SATA drives which have no jumper, and
for those, you need a software tool to configure the drive
to the lower of the two rates.

In this picture of a Spinpoint F1, it looks like there is a
jumper area with a 2x2 set of pins. That should, in principle,
be enough to provide a "spread spectrum" and a "force 150"
jumper position. Yet, in the official Samsung user manual,
no mention is made of the jumpers. Hope the details
are printed on the drive label...

http://www.nextway.ch/product_info.php/products_id/7598

Paul

Jaimie Vandenbergh wrote:

Why not get a PCI SATA card, for about £12?



I've never seen the point of those adapters, as a PCI controller would be
more useful in the future, when you no longer have a PATA only motherboard,
and it is cost effective, considering it has more ports. They also seem
like a kludge.

But does SMART work through those adapters?

ss.

On Wed, 24 Dec 2008 13:58:41 -0000, "Synapse Syndrome"
wrote:

Jaimie Vandenbergh wrote:

Why not get a PCI SATA card, for about £12?



I've never seen the point of those adapters, as a PCI controller would be
more useful in the future, when you no longer have a PATA only motherboard,
and it is cost effective, considering it has more ports. They also seem
like a kludge.

But does SMART work through those adapters?

Even if it doesn't it's no less useful...

Linux will get SMART info through a Silicon Image 3132-based adapter,
I've got one going downstairs.

Cheers - Jaimie
--
"If you're not able to ask questions and deal with the answers without feeling
that someone has called your intelligence or competence into question, don't
ask questions on Usenet where the answers won't be carefully tailored to avoid
tripping your hair-trigger insecurities." - D M Procida, UCSM

On Wed, 24 Dec 2008 13:58:41 -0000, "Synapse Syndrome"
wrote:

Jaimie Vandenbergh wrote:

Why not get a PCI SATA card, for about £12?



I've never seen the point of those adapters, as a PCI controller would be
more useful in the future, when you no longer have a PATA only motherboard,
and it is cost effective, considering it has more ports. They also seem
like a kludge.


There could be two points. One is that he already has the
SATA drive and needs to get it working, the other being if
someone without any (or at least an available) SATA port
wants to buy a large drive worthy of being transplated into
the next system purchased or reused when the mainboard is
replaced during it's next upgrade. Then there's the factor
that sometimes if you find a good deal on a SATA drive at
the price-point you want, it can be cheaper than the PATA
counterpart today so paying $20 or so for the adapter is
negligible if any addt'l expense.

One other reason to do so would be if someone wanted to
create a raid array, anything besides 1 where they didn't
want the array to be inaccessible if the motherboard died
and had the raid controller integrated into it. By having
the raid capable PCI or PCI-E card it can be transplated
into any system as a set.