IDE to SATA converter Won't Boot XP

badmonkey · July 24th, 2008, 08:39 PM

I've been trying to get this PC running for the past few hours, and am having no luck. Here's my situation;

I just bought a new PC with a Geforce 6100 mobo with 512 RAM. It has one IDE port, and two SATA ports. I had two IDE hard drives from my previous PC that i switched over to the new one, via IDE, and used a USB Cd-Rom to "Repair XP" to use with the new mobo. It booted fine. Then, i wanted to install my previous cd-burner and DVD player (both IDE), so i went out and bought two IDE to SATA converters, and was told to use them on the hard drives instead of the cd-roms. After i got everything plugged in, and turned on the PC, it shows the two cd-roms and says "Detecting IDE drives" for a while, then finally shows the two hard drives. Here's where i'm having difficulty. XP won't boot. I've tried inserting the XP disc to do another "Repair" and it says there are no hard drives present. I've tried enabling RAID in BIOS, and when i hit F6 during the installation, it says there are drives that XP can't recognize, and gives the option to press "S" to install drivers from another source. I'm computer confident, but SATA is pretty new to me, and i don't understand the whole RAID thing, and how it works. Someone please help me get XP to boot!! Thank you!

rcwabbits · July 24th, 2008, 09:11 PM

Look at the SATA settings in your bios and see if you can change them from AHCI to compatability mode. That should allow you to get it booted.

Once in Windows, you might have to install chipset drivers to allow you to switch back to AHCI

badmonkey · July 24th, 2008, 10:14 PM

Ok, in BIOS the only SATA setting that is there is "SATA Spread Spectrum" and it is disabled. Other than disable, there is "Triangular Down" And that setting is listed under "Advanced Chipset Features"

I managed to get it booted using the XP disc, with the "Repair" option. After this was complete, the computer restarted and booted into windows. I thought i had solved the problem, until once in windows, i restarted, and had the same original problem;

"IDE Channel 0: Master Cd-Rom"
"IDE Channel 0: Slave DVD-Rom" (Both roms are IDE)

"Detecting IDE Drives..." then it hangs for a minute
"IDE Channel 2: Master 160 GB" (XP Pro)
"IDE Channel 3: Master 80 GB" (Both HDDs are SATA)

then,
"Verifying DMI Pool Data......." then it hangs for minute and starts the...

"NVIDIA Boot Agent"
then,
"PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable"
"PXE-MOF: Exiting Boot Agent"

It does this twice, and then:

"DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER"

That is as far as it will go. If i enable RAID in the BIOS, on startup it will load both roms, then go to "Detecting Array..." and then starts the boot agent again. What am i doing wrong here??? I'm sooo frustrated!!!!!!

rcwabbits · July 24th, 2008, 10:53 PM

Do you know what motherboard or bios version this is?

I'm not real familiar with raid set ups either, but I've had this problem on systems with a single drive. On anything I've ever worked on there was always an option for compatability mode.

Im not sure what the "Triangle Down" option does.

Not much help at this point, sorry

electric · July 24th, 2008, 11:28 PM

as long as the Sata controller is enable in the BIOS ,you
should be able to used the adapters

you dont need drivers because you are not using Sata hardrives
if you were ..the drivers you need are provided by your board manufacture
ie: floppy or on the CD

use the adapters for your DVD drives instead,i think you will have
better luck

sr71000 · July 25th, 2008, 12:02 AM

It doesn't matter how many adapters you use the data has to go through the sata controllers. Personally I'd say hook the hard drives up to the ide controllers and the cd drives up through sata. Then just make sure you install all your chipset drivers for the motherboard.

xp does not come with drivers for sata controllers. It does come with drivers for ide controllers. Hence why they don't work through sata controllers. Once you install all the motherboard drivers you'll be able to work through the sata controllers just fine (hence you can use the adapters).

The reason raid seems to get somewhere is because you're just adding one more step before windows. You're really not any closer to booting xp though. Raid is when you take multiple drives and make them one virtual hard drive (in other words windows only sees one drive instead of 2, 3, or more. Raid is not at all what you want here!

-Kevin

badmonkey · July 25th, 2008, 03:58 PM

Thank you all for the help!! I have switchd the IDE to SATA converters to the Roms, and have the two HDDs on IDE, and it booted!! On POST, it still hangs for a minute after displaying the two HDDs "Detecting IDE Drives..." before displaying the Roms, but it does boot, so i can live with it. The BIOS is Phoenix Award Workstation BIOS V6.00, and the only SATA setting i can find is "SATA Spread Spectrum" and the options are "Disable" or "Triangular Down" It is currently set on Disabled. I have no idea what that is, so i left it alone. The computer is now bootable, and i'm pleased with the response i have received on this forum. Thank You!