Working for 4 days on this problem..please help me

[alex655321]

I knew building my first computer wouldnt be easy but this is just getting rediculous.

Theres so much that i've done to try and resolve this I almost don't know where to being.

Here is what I bought for my computer.

Motherboard - Newegg.com - ASUS M3A32-MVP Deluxe/WiFi AM2+/AM2 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard - AMD Motherboards
- ASUS M3A32-MVP Deluxe/WiFi

SATA HD - Newegg.com - Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000GLFS 300GB 10000 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives
- Western Digital VelociRaptor 300GB 10000 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s

DVD Drive - Newegg.com - ASUS Black 16X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 16X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache E-IDE/ATAPI DVD Burner with LightScribe - CD / DVD Burners
- Has an E-IDE/ATAPI interface

RAM - Newegg.com - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory
- 2x 2GB sticks

CPU - Newegg.com - AMD Phenom 8650 Toliman 2.3GHz 3 x 512KB L2 Cache 2MB L3 Cache Socket AM2+ 95W Triple-Core Processor - Processors
- AMD Phenom triple-core, socket AM2+

Video - Newegg.com - EVGA 512-P3-N801-AR GeForce 8800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards
- EVGA GeForce 8800 GT, 512MB, PCI Exp. x16

Sound - Newegg.com - Creative SB X-Fi Xtreme Audio 70SB104000000 7.1 Channels PCI Express Interface Sound Card - Sound Cards

Power - Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-520HX 520W ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, CUL, CE, CB, FCC Class B, TUV, CCC, C-tick - Power Supplies
- Corsair 520W
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I threw it all together very carefully and booted it up, got 2 messages that said No hard drive detected! and then got the message to REBOOT AND SELECT PROPER BOOT DEVICE
INSERT BOOT MEDIUM IN SELECTED BOOT DEVICE AND PRESS A KEY.

- SATA detection is on and set to IDE mode by default
- I have nothing connected to the computer but power, monitor, and PS/2 keyboard
- I updated to the current bios via USB flash drive
- My hard drive is show in the BIOS under SATA1 but wont accept it as a boot for some reason
- The motherboard has 1 primary IDE connection and NOTHING is getting detected through it. I have tried 3 DVD drives that have all worked on different computers, even a hard drive with an IDE connection (that I took out of my last working computer). Nothing is ever being shown in in the BIOS, it will just say [ATAPI CD-ROM] or [Harddisk] in the boot order menu (as if none of those components we're connected)
- I then took the SATA drive and hooked it up to a friends computer that had an extra port, partitoned the drive (it was OEM and completely blank) and installed Vista on it, put it back in my omcputer and it STILL gave me the message to select a proper boot device and insert a boot medium!

- I also tried clearing the CMOS and tried to boot from the DVD drive again but still ended up with the same error.
- I have the DVD connected the correct way to the IDE port and ive tried all possible jumper setting with the master & slave end of the cable. Never works.
- Also the SATA drive has no jumpers on it. I was thinking that maybe this is why it would never get picked up as the primary boot device but it works fine on other computers.
Has anyone ever seen this before? I've done so much and asked in so many places for help that Im ready to RMA the board and get a replacement (sadly no refund).

But if anybody has any suggestions to try please let me know! Thanks!

[vikeor]

if nothing gets detected by the motherboard im afraid ur gonna have to send it in. People tend to have problems with SATA drives but IDE should be a simple plug and play

[#43 fan]

Well, SATA doesn't have jumpers, so that isn't an issue.
Have you tried updating the BIOS?
Also, what may be the problem is the IDE DVD drive, if you can try a SATA drive, that may solve the problem.
The problem seems to be a) the motherboard, b) SATA ports on the motherboard, or c) BIOS. The drive is probably ok.
Vista wouldn't work installed from another location, it configures itself from the computer it was installed on.

[wambulance]

IDE is not simple plug and play. A cable can be backwards, jumpers can be off, controllers can bear the wrong settings. You're spoiled for choice in what can go wrong with an old IDE setup.

Does the MB comes with any driver disk for a raid controller? Sometimes the IDE won't work at all until you boot from their floppy (had an Abit that was like this).

The fact that it's detecting the hard drive in the bios and not letting you boot to it leads me to thinking that this isn't a hardware failure with the MB.

Try this; disconnect the DVD drive so that your only internal drive is the hard disk. Don't have anything ATAPI or IDE, only the SATA hard drive. Go into bios, remove cdrom from the boot order, and have only the sata hard drive. If anything changes and you get a different result, then you know there is something with the IDE drive that is hanging you up. I mean, if the IDE drive isn't ever detected at all, no matter what, then we know (considering you don't have a jumper misplaced or a cable backwards) that the issue lies with the IDE controller. At this point you'd search through the bios, make sure that the controller is activated, that the settings for it are correct in bios, etc.

[electric]

well you updated the BIOS and got into the BIOS itself
so the motherboard is not the problem

hook up only the DVD drive ,go into the BIOS and change the
boot order to the DVD drive

[wambulance]

IDE controller could be bad that wouldn't prevent access to the bios.

He needs to troubleshoot the ide connect cause that's what's hanging it. The DVD drive was never detected, so assuming a cable isn't backwards or a jumper isn't wrong, the IDE controller is either not activated, has the improper settings, or is a funky RAID type controller that needs a floppy (ala Abit NF7-S).