SATA 120GB Maxtor only being detected half the time...

Hello all,

I just built my first computer, and I'm having problems with my SATA hard
drive. It is the only hard drive that I have in this system, thus I'm
trying to boot from it.

My problem is this: when I turn my computer on, there seems to be only a 20%
chance that the motherboard detects the hard drive. If it doesn't detect
it, I get an "Invalid system disk" error. When it does detect it, it works
wonderfully and loads up my operating system, and all is good. Perhaps even
more strangely is that once it detects the hard drive, subsequent reboots
always seem to detect it. It's only if I turn the power off and let it sit
for a while that it takes 6 or 7 reboots to get it to detect once again.
Now that last bit could just be coincidence, but I thought it was worth
mentioning.

So far I've flashed my BIOS, changed the SATA cables in case the first one
was faulty, and just generally prayed a lot, but to no avail. I also double
checked that my mobo was set for SATA, and it was (didn't think this was the
problem, because it was detecting it some of the time). My boot order is
set to floppy first, SCSI second, then CD last.

Can anyone shed some light on what might be the problem, or suggestions on
things to try? It's quite important that I get this computer working
smoothly soon, as I need to use it for work come Monday.

Relevant system specs:
Processor: AMD 2800+ Barton
Motherboard: ASUS A7NX8 Deluxe 2.0
BIOS: Rev.1007 (latest version)
RAM: 1 Gig 2700 DDR
Primary Master IDE: LG 52x32x52 CD-RW
Primary SATA: 120GB Maxtor SATA <-- the drive I'm having problems with

Thanks!
~*Serena*~

Why do you have SCSI selected in your BIOS as the second boot option??? You
have no SCSI harddrives; you have an SATA harddrive which stands for Serial
ATA. You should have SATA selected as your boot option somewhere.

--
DaveW



"Serena" <> wrote in message
news:4Garb.345675$9l5.185989@pd7tw2no...
> Hello all,
>
> I just built my first computer, and I'm having problems with my SATA hard
> drive. It is the only hard drive that I have in this system, thus I'm
> trying to boot from it.
>
> My problem is this: when I turn my computer on, there seems to be only a
20%
> chance that the motherboard detects the hard drive. If it doesn't detect
> it, I get an "Invalid system disk" error. When it does detect it, it
works
> wonderfully and loads up my operating system, and all is good. Perhaps
even
> more strangely is that once it detects the hard drive, subsequent reboots
> always seem to detect it. It's only if I turn the power off and let it
sit
> for a while that it takes 6 or 7 reboots to get it to detect once again.
> Now that last bit could just be coincidence, but I thought it was worth
> mentioning.
>
> So far I've flashed my BIOS, changed the SATA cables in case the first one
> was faulty, and just generally prayed a lot, but to no avail. I also
double
> checked that my mobo was set for SATA, and it was (didn't think this was
the
> problem, because it was detecting it some of the time). My boot order is
> set to floppy first, SCSI second, then CD last.
>
> Can anyone shed some light on what might be the problem, or suggestions on
> things to try? It's quite important that I get this computer working
> smoothly soon, as I need to use it for work come Monday.
>
> Relevant system specs:
> Processor: AMD 2800+ Barton
> Motherboard: ASUS A7NX8 Deluxe 2.0
> BIOS: Rev.1007 (latest version)
> RAM: 1 Gig 2700 DDR
> Primary Master IDE: LG 52x32x52 CD-RW
> Primary SATA: 120GB Maxtor SATA <-- the drive I'm having problems with
>
> Thanks!
> ~*Serena*~
>
>
>
>

Hi Dave,

There is no SATA option on the boot list. From the research that I've done
on this problem, SCSI is indeed the option you are supposed to select if you
are using an SATA drive for this motherboard (I mistyped it down below, it's
an ASUS A7N8X Deluxe 2.0). Given that it does boot from the drive with no
problem given this boot order, at least when the motherboard does detect the
SATA drive, I do not this this is the souce of my problems.

But thanks for replying!
~*Serena*~


"DaveW" <> wrote in message
news:30grb.150366$e01.526808@attbi_s02...
> Why do you have SCSI selected in your BIOS as the second boot option???
You
> have no SCSI harddrives; you have an SATA harddrive which stands for
Serial
> ATA. You should have SATA selected as your boot option somewhere.
>
> --
> DaveW
>
>
>
> "Serena" <> wrote in message
> news:4Garb.345675$9l5.185989@pd7tw2no...
> > Hello all,
> >
> > I just built my first computer, and I'm having problems with my SATA
hard
> > drive. It is the only hard drive that I have in this system, thus I'm
> > trying to boot from it.
> >
> > My problem is this: when I turn my computer on, there seems to be only a
> 20%
> > chance that the motherboard detects the hard drive. If it doesn't
detect
> > it, I get an "Invalid system disk" error. When it does detect it, it
> works
> > wonderfully and loads up my operating system, and all is good. Perhaps
> even
> > more strangely is that once it detects the hard drive, subsequent
reboots
> > always seem to detect it. It's only if I turn the power off and let it
> sit
> > for a while that it takes 6 or 7 reboots to get it to detect once again.
> > Now that last bit could just be coincidence, but I thought it was worth
> > mentioning.
> >
> > So far I've flashed my BIOS, changed the SATA cables in case the first
one
> > was faulty, and just generally prayed a lot, but to no avail. I also
> double
> > checked that my mobo was set for SATA, and it was (didn't think this was
> the
> > problem, because it was detecting it some of the time). My boot order
is
> > set to floppy first, SCSI second, then CD last.
> >
> > Can anyone shed some light on what might be the problem, or suggestions
on
> > things to try? It's quite important that I get this computer working
> > smoothly soon, as I need to use it for work come Monday.
> >
> > Relevant system specs:
> > Processor: AMD 2800+ Barton
> > Motherboard: ASUS A7NX8 Deluxe 2.0
> > BIOS: Rev.1007 (latest version)
> > RAM: 1 Gig 2700 DDR
> > Primary Master IDE: LG 52x32x52 CD-RW
> > Primary SATA: 120GB Maxtor SATA <-- the drive I'm having problems with
> >
> > Thanks!
> > ~*Serena*~
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>