new SATA dvd writer pc won't boot

**mullenmj** · July 1st, 2010, 06:22 PM

Just bought a LiteOn internal SATA dvd/cd writer and I'm having problems installing it.

I have an Epox EP-4PDA5+ mobo with four SATA ports. I have two IDE hard drives and another IDE writer, so this is the only SATA device. Everything is powering up ok.

When the SATA cable is plugged into the mobo (and obviously the writer as well) and I boot up, I get right to the end of the booting processes (before the windows screen) and get a message

“Boot from disk: ”

There is a cursor after the message for a second, which then disappears. I cannot type anything – tried 'N' for no. If I disconnect the SATA cable and re-boot it works ok. I have tried plugging the writer into all four SATA ports.

I've entered BIOS and set all three of my boot options to 'Boot from HDD' so it shouldn't be looking for a boot disk. There are no options to activate or deactivate my SATA ports as I've seen suggested in some posts.

I have also scoured the mobo manual and there aren't too many references to SATA other than that the mobo supports SATA devices and other refs to SATA RAID – which I don't think applies because I only want to run the one SATA device and it's not a HDD (although I'm no expert).

I was thinking perhaps my mobo only runs HDD via SATA and nothing else, but it doesn't specify this in the manual. Other than that, the only thing I can think of is that my mobo is about 6 years old and the SATA connections have never been used before – could all of them have been damaged?

Just to clarify, I have 2xIDE HDD, 1xIDE DVD and 1xSATA DVD (the one I'm having probs with).

Would appreciate any help!

**osprey4** · July 2nd, 2010, 10:01 AM

Hi Mullenmj,

It's been my experience that in systems with mixed SATA and IDE ports, if you use an SATA device, you must boot from an SATA device. I think the easiest thing to do is replace that drive with an IDE drive.

**mullenmj** · July 5th, 2010, 10:22 PM

well... that sucks!
but thanks for letting me know osprey4 - i had a feeling it was something like that
i'll be purchasing a sata hdd soon but i'd like to use my dvd drive in the meantime
what about sata to IDE adapters - i've read that some of them don't work well or at all and i suppose they affect performance
does anyone know anything about this?

**Cmptr-Gy-Dv** · July 6th, 2010, 01:14 AM

make sure the IDE drive with your os on it is the first boot device,

**mullenmj** · July 6th, 2010, 02:03 AM

Originally Posted by Cmptr-Gy-Dv

make sure the IDE drive with your os on it is the first boot device,

thanks but already done that - there's no probs booting unless i put the dvd drive in

**Cmptr-Gy-Dv** · July 6th, 2010, 02:13 AM

so you have checked the boot order with the sata drive in

**mullenmj** · July 6th, 2010, 08:23 PM

yep - and the drive is recognised in the sata-raid setup but can't set up sata-raid because only have one sata device
the word i'm getting from the other forums i've posted at is that if you have any sata devices you need to be booting from a sata hdd - do you know anything about that?
looks like i'll need to get a sata-IDE adapter and just plug it in to the IDE input until i get a sata hdd - which is on the cards because i have 80g and 250g hdds and they are nearly full
cheers for your help so far

**JPMiller** · July 6th, 2010, 08:36 PM

Sorry but I call BS...
Not 5 minutes ago I booted into XP from an IDE HD with a Sata DVDRW...
Now I wont go so far as to say it CANT be an issue on some or older boards, but I am nearly positive this is not your issue..
A little more info might help as well...
Get Speccy and give us a basic rundown of your components...
What OS and SP version?

**mullenmj** · July 6th, 2010, 11:28 PM

I hope you're right - but the board is about 5 years old so it may be the case

mobo: Epox EP-4PDA5+
chipset: Intel I865PE
processor: Intel P4 3GHz
SCSI controller: Silicon Image SiI3114 SATA raid controller
hdd1 (IDE) with OS boot: Seagate ST380011A 80GB
hdd2 (IDE): Hitachi HDP725025GLAT80 250GB
OS: Windows 7
RAM: 2GB (2x512 + 1x1GB)
dvdburner (IDE): HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-4160B
dvdburner I can't install: LiteOn internal SATA dvd/cd writer

anything else?

**Cmptr-Gy-Dv** · July 7th, 2010, 04:27 AM

what do you have the sata as in the bios make sure it's not on raid, it should be set to IDE if that is an option or just sata but the board being five years old it should be IDE.

**Cmptr-Gy-Dv** · July 7th, 2010, 04:31 AM

wait so does it boot to the OS or does it just stay at the blinking cursor

**mullenmj** · July 7th, 2010, 09:05 AM

no sata options appear in bios

**mullenmj** · July 7th, 2010, 09:07 AM

QUOTE FROM MY ORIGINAL POST: When the SATA cable is plugged into the mobo (and obviously the writer as well) and I boot up, I get right to the end of the booting processes (before the windows screen) and get a message

“Boot from disk: ”

I appreciate your help but i seem to be getting a lot of questions that are answered in my original post

**Cmptr-Gy-Dv** · July 7th, 2010, 02:47 PM

you did not really say if it booted the os or not just that you get message and the cursor

you also said you have two IDE hard drives what are they set at master and slave or cable select? are they on the same IDE line or is one of them alone,

it has to have sata options for raid or not raid it should also have hard drive options or hard drive boot priority

if you have a windows disk put it in the sata drive and boot the computer see if it is trying to boot from the sata drive first,

take out the hard drive without the os on it and try it,

**scotteeeG** · July 8th, 2010, 02:26 AM

So far as what I am reading here the guy has already answered all of these questions. I had a sligfhtly similar situation when I. Installed a sata dvd and sata hdd together. My probled turned out to be to do with my ide jumper settings. Check your jumper settings and try a few configurations. Not to say its your problem but it helped me.