Vanishing IDE's....K7S5A, Help!

[jerrygarcia]

I just installed an ECS K7S5A with a XP 1700+. I have a problem with my DVD and CD-R being recognized and then vanishing. They were both there when I was installing but now they're gone! Where did they go?

ECS K7S5A
XP1700+
98SE
384 mb SDRAM (256 Crucial PC133, 128 Infinion PC133)
GeForce2 MX 200
300w p/s

[jerrygarcia]

Anybody?

[jerrygarcia]

One ting I did notice,was the sis IDE controllers are installed and I think that over rides the OS controllers. New cables,tried changing them. Tried add new hardware, tried showing them not installed, tried auto recognize. It shows them on the boot up screen, but when I go to my computer, they don't show up. A catch 22?

[cableguy69]

Hmmm, I seem to remember seeing this problem somewhere. Could it have something to do with which drive is the master and which is the slave. If I remember correctly the CDRW has to be the master??? Also, did you try just having one connected to the ribbon and booting up to see if it stays in my computer? Also, I remember reading a thread where the person had the ribbon turned around. Both ends will fit into the IDE channel, but only one end is supposed to be in the mobo. Not sure if any of my mumbling helped or not.

[surreal]

Did you install the drivers from the disk after you did the xp clean install? (I assume this is a new build?)

[jerrygarcia]

I was running a Duron 750 on an ECS K7VMA. I did a clean install of 98SE before changing mobo's and cpu. The set up I was running with the drives I just left intact. HD-primary master, DVD-Secondary master, CD-R-secondary slave. the new mobo was so big that I had to adjust the location of the drives. Mid-tower case with a 300w p/s. The DVD is the last on the IDE cable. New rounded cables. This is a rebuild upgrade Surreal.


????

[jerrygarcia]

^bump for help^

[Bob The Great]

Go into bios and redetect them. If they don't show up (which I'm thinking they won't), reset your bios. After a bunch of IDE swapping mobo's sometimes get confused about the connected stuff. A reset will fix that if this is the prob.

[jerrygarcia]

Do you mean clear the cmos and re-flash. I did a flash on the bios so it would recognize the XP 1700+, it was only recognizing an Athlon 1100 before the flash. Would clearing the cmos mean I had to re-flash? Or just reset the bios to optimal or best performance.

[nunyadam]

you will only need to reset the bios after clearing cmos.

nunya

[jerrygarcia]

It will retain the flashed bios?

[jerrygarcia]

I was just thinking over the order in which I did things. I installed the mobo and cpu on a fresh install of the 98SE OS. WD-40g HD, fresh fdisk/format. When I loaded the mobo drivers, it installed the SIS dual IDE controllers, then I went to MS and downloaded the critical updates. Did this cause a conflict between different IDE controlers? Do I now have an unrecoverable morph?

[Praetorian]

I just skimmed the repiles but did you flash the bios yet?

This seems to be a problem that plagues the K7S5A. I had the same problem with my hdd disappearing from the bios, my friend is having the same problem, and the owner of omanserv.com (who i bought my voodoo3 from) is having the exact same problem too. :-/ I didn't try a bios flash and just sent my board back. You could give it a shot or just ditch the board as I did.

[jerrygarcia]

I did flash the bios to the 02-06-02 ver, which is the latest. It was running great, but I do think that the critical updates download is when my problems started. Is that possible?

[Praetorian]

I dont think the critical updates would affect hte bios in any way. I was having these probs on Linux while the other people I mentioned were using Windows. Win98SE and Win2k to be exact.

[Tomteriffic]

Jerry, a shot in the dark, but: A) Clearing your CMOS will not overwrite your BIOS flash to see the XP1700.

b) Those systems like to have the OS installed, and then the VIA 4 in 1 drivers installed after that. You might try re-installing the latest VIA 4 in 1's, or even the ones that came on the disk with the mobo and see if that clears it up. I don't recall offhand if there's an uninstall tool on the driver disk or not, but it might be a good idea to lose the old 4 in1's before reinstalling.

c) Just about every CD-RW I've met has preferred being the secondary master, although I doubt this has anything to do with those drives disappearing.

[Praetorian]

Tomteriffic: The K7S5A's use SiS chipsets. VIA is nowhere to be seen.

[Tomteriffic]

Praetorian, you're absolutely right, got my chipsets mixed up.

Still, that's the way they like to be set up, OS first, drivers second, and an overlay of some M$ stuff over those drivers may have messed them up, so a re-install of the drivers wouldn't be out of the question.

[surreal]

OS first, drivers second, and an overlay of some M$ stuff over those drivers may have messed them up, so a re-install of the drivers wouldn't be out of the question.

Absolutley.
Actually, they are very picky about how the dirvers are in stalled.
I never let windows (98) install anything for a pc chips board, (ECS is made by them) After the OS just say no when it detects any hardware to do with the mobo or anything.. get through the install and then install the mobo drivers ..
Sometimes it will install all of them off the cd, sometimes you have to go after them, pulling them off the cd.
But I agree with TomT to start with your mobo installation disk.
Sounds like a problem with your pirmary and secondary controllers.

[jerrygarcia]

I think a fresh format and begin again is in order since there is nothing on there. OS then critical updates then mobo drivers?