Couldn't get ATA/66 HD going

  • Thread starter Thread starter hongteck
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hongteck

hongteck

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Calling all DAW experts !!!

I couldn't get my 20G IBM HD detected consistently. When I boot up my primary HD is always there but this baby is sometimes there and sometimes not.

I'm using the ABIT BE6II motherboard and have my HD connected to IDE3 which is a ATA/66 Connector.

I'm pretty nervous here because all my AUDIO data is in this baby !!!
 
There are a gazillion things that could be going on here....some bad, some not bad.

Please post a detailed description of what you are trying to do and what you've done. Otherwise we just have to throw out guesses.

Thanks.

Slackmaster 2000
 
Hi S2K, ... okay I'm calmer now so I think I can talk better.

I've got 2 HD, one's my primary Maxtor 4GB (system) HD and the other my new IBM 20GB (audio) HD. The system HD is connected to IDE1 which is a IDE connector while the audio HD to IDE3 which is a ATA/66 controller.

It was working alright for a few weeks. Whenever I boot up, the primary HD is detected in the BIOS, while the audio HD detected and shown in a separate blue screen called HighPoint Technologies ATA/66 Controller. There's a row there stating the HD type and information.

Well recently I've experienced at times that in some boot ups, the audio HD is not detected. The blue screen comes out with the title but there's no entry about the HD information. Upon a successful boot up, I cannot access or see the audio HD.

I thought that perhaps its because i didn't install the ATA/66 controller driver (funny it was fine without it), so I went to the mobo manual and it told me to do this. Update the drivers for the 2 PCI Mass Storage Controller to 2 SCSI Controller in the Device Manager. Well I did that and ... now I've never seen my audio HD since.

Furthermore with the new controller drivers, I experienced 'GPF' type error whenever I installed a new software or when I tried to do a 'Add Hardware'.

Help anyone has a clue (any clue) what's wrong ?
 
Welp, I've worked with both the BE6 and the BE6-II. I'm concerned that your hard drive wasn't being detected on each bootup! This *could* be a hardware problem. Do you have any PCI devices in slots 3 or 5? If so move them to 1,2, or 4. (slots 3 and 5 will conflict with the Highpoint controller)

I would suggest sticking the hard drive on IDE4 just for shits & giggles.

But, you've created a bigger problem for yourself, haven't you? :)

The blue screen during bootup is from the Highpoint's BIOS which, like your motherboard and video BIOS's, is initialized prior to the OS loading. Therefore *Windows* nor Windows drivers have anything to do with the drive not being detected at bootup.

Installing the Highpoint drivers is a big fat pain in the ass ONLY if you don't follow the instructions to the letter. If you do it right you should be ok. Get that working first, then we'll move on to the bigger problem.

One more piece of information I'll need is the highpoint's BIOS revision number. I believe 1.21 is current. It'll say at the top of that blue screen.

I recently installed a 20GB ATA/66 IBM hard drive on a BE6-II's Highpoint controller. Everything worked fine. Hopefully your hard drive is fine and we can get you up and running as well. You do have the receipt for it just in case though, yes? :)

Slackmaster 2000
 
1. I only have one PCI device i.e. a soundcard in PCI Slot 4.

2. I've tried IDE4, same result

3. Realized the problem after installing the drivers is that there's some bad sector in my primary HD (.. yeah another bad news)

4. Yeah I have the receipt. I don't mind the HD I just want my audio files back !
 
hey SlackMaster,

Got it solved already. It's with the cable. I connected it as a master drive rather than as a slave drive. Now its alright. I still wonder why it has worked earlier.

Anyway thanks ! That's for being there to for me ... now I think we all should consider to get a CDRW to backup our harddisks.
 
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