SATA drive not found after BIOS update

I'm struggling desperately - so far unsuccessfully - to get my PC back. My troubles began when I upgraded the BIOS. I got the message that the BIOS upgrade had been successful. Upon rebooting I got a checksum error (which I presume to have been normal), went into BIOS Setup and chose "load setup defaults" as instructed (then immediately went round the loop a second time to restore and save my own BIOS settings - again, as instructed). Upon reboot, checksum error was not repeated. However the PC would no longer boot into WinXP.

My system:- AOpen AK86-L motherboard; VIA K8T800/VT8237 chipset; Sempron 3400+; 512 MB DDR RAM; LG 4020B multi-drive; Creative Audigy2 soundcard. My (only) hard drive has - from the start - been a Samsung SATA drive 160GB with 2 partitions (and no unpartitioned space). Prior to this problem this drive has performed faultlessly. The VIA SATA RAID driver came on a floppy with the motherboard; one has to hit F6 during setup to install it - standard stuff.

In desperation, I resorted to trying to boot from my (slipstreamed) WinXP SP2 CD, which went straight into Setup at the end of which it announced:- "Setup did not find any hard drives installed on your computer" and aborted. MS KB article #321626 says this occurs if "the BIOS doesn't detect the hard disk" (mine does) or if "the hard disk is damaged" or if "a partition that contains the MBR is no longer active ". I found this totally inexplicable but I had to do something, so I installed a spare PATA hard drive into this PC. After installing WinXP on this drive (from the same installation CD), the PC booted with this PATA drive as Drive C:/ The Disk Management snap-in displays this as the system drive and my SATA drive as 'Active' (which is why I say above that it isn't damaged). "My Computer" shows the two partitions on my SATA drive (the first of which used to be my boot partition) as 'D:/' and 'E:/' respectively and lists all the files and folders on them. However, not all files on drives D:/ and E:/are accessible from C:/; the 3 partitions don't function in a seamless manner. Anyway, this isn't where I want to be - I want to be where I was before everything went pear-shaped, with just the one (SATA) drive installed and booting normally and all my system and data files accessible as before.

Can anyone please tell me how I can achieve this? Please....?

 

I’m not familiar with your motherboard but perhaps the default bios settings make the IDE channels the boot device and your bios does not then auto search for SATA drives. Check and see if there is an option to make your SATA the first boot hard drive.

Or perhaps there is another specific SATA bios setting that has been reset by the bios upgrade. http://www.rojakpot.com/freebog.aspx

 

I checked the FAQs at Aopen, they only say that the SATA drive will be listed as SCSI in the boot sequence.

You (also) need to use the F6 key during Windows setup. Watch the loading information at the bottom of the screen for the section "Press F6 to install drivers for SCSI Controllers..." Wait till it asks you to put the drivers floppy in the drive.

From the quote above it does not look like you loaded the drivers during Windows setup.

Matt

 

Don't panic - not all is lost. When flashing a BIOS it is best to error on the safe side and reset CMOS before trying to boot into your OS. Some mobo mfgs require it, some recommend it and some don't say much about it. To reset CMOS, unplug your computer, open the case, disconnect the 20 or 24 pin power connector from the mobo and locate the 3 pin CMOS header. Remove the jumper from pins 1&2 and place it on pins 2&3, wait a good 10-15 seconds and re-jumper 1&2. Re-connect the ATX power hader to the motherboard and button your case back up. Now, plug it back in and upon re-booting, head back into the BIOS. you will have to find the enable SATA setting and re-configure your other BIOS settings along with resetting the boot order to reflect the SATA drive in the boot sequence. If you also have an IDE drive in that box, it got placed ahead of the SATA drive in the boot sequence - thats a pretty commonplace occurance. McTavish is dead on re: default settings - your SATA drive isn't going to be included with those.

What you have to hope for is that you didn't hose anything trying to boot from your CD and going into setup. You should be alright if you f3'ed out. Lets us know how things end up.

 

Thanks guys for the suggestions. Some responses:-
The only option in the BIOS is to enable the on-chip SATA controller. This was set to "Enabled" the whole time. I gave the false impression in my post that I had skipped loading the SATA RAID driver - I didn't; in fact I believe I did everything that I've previously done, in the same sequence. Nevertheless (without at that stage any other drive in the machine) I got the message from WinXP setup that it couldn't find any drive and couldn't continue with Setup. The next thing I did was reset the CMOS, which took me around the same loop again and brought me back to exactly the same dead-end. Only then did I install the spare IDE drive, from which the PC booted into WinXP with the IDE drive as C:\

I don't really think I'm getting anywhere. I believe I'm going to have to bite the bullet and format the first partition on my SATA drive (the one that's supposed to have the boot sector on it, that Win setup can't see) and hope that that will enable Win setup to see it again. Although that means I'll have to install all my programs again - as well as a lot of other tiresome bits of housekeeping - if it gets me back to where I intended to be it will be worth it. I only hope that in the process I don't lose access to my data on the second (logical) partition.

Anyway, I'm on holiday now and have promised my wife not to have anything to do with computers for the time being (luckily, she doesn't know I'm writing this!). So it'll be a while before I report progress.

 

I didn't F3 out, because so far as I recall Setup never got to the stage of inviting me to do so - or not at any rate once I had tried to get Setup to install WinXP on the first partition. I hope that makes sense.

 

Now you have me a little confused but if you didn't install a second OS and with the two drives in you were able to boot, albeit with the IDE showing as C:, that would mean (if I interpret it correctly) that your system drive is not C. I've seen this before and its no big deal unless you must have everything orderly and alphabetical. I always install XP with only one drive connected so all the installation folders and the System Volume information stay on just that - one drive. If you do re-install, disconnect your IDE drive and you will also need your SATA controller drivers on a floppy for setup to recognize your drive.

 

Nose-back-to-grindstone time

I seem to have created a fair bit of confusion. Sorry! I'll try to clarify.

As I see it, the problem is a (to me anyway) totally inexplicable refusal of my machine to boot into Windows after a BIOS upgrade. On my SATA HDD are 2 partitions, the first (my C: drive) with the MBR, plus system files (the second holds my applications and data files). I have no desire to install another HDD in this machine at present. I simply want to run it exactly as before.

When I try to boot into WinXP, the POST routine gets as far as "Boot from CD" (that being 2nd boot device in BIOS setup), then tries and fails to boot from the 3rd boot device (C). Instead, it gives this message:-

"Disk boot failure. Insert system disk and press 'Enter' ".​

(The RAID controller is shown in POST's PCI devices listing, so evidently POST is "seeing" it).

I don't know what is meant by a "system disk" in this context. All a boot floppy does is take me to the A: prompt and I've no idea where to go from there. If instead I insert my WinXP setup CD (with slipstreamed SP2), this takes me into the Setup routine. Seeing no other alternative, I resigned myself to having to format my C: drive and reinstall Windows. Nothing doing. After copying all the files (including the Serial ATA RAID controller driver) setup reaches the point where Windows is supposed to start loading. At this point the following message appears:

"Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed in your computer. Make sure that any disk-related hardware configuration is correct... Setup cannot continue ".​

Running Samsung's disk-checking utility gives the disk a clean bill of health. On-chip SATA is enabled in the BIOS and moreover Samsung's disk utility wouldn't even run if the BIOS couldn't detect the disk. So what is there in "the disk-related hardware configuration" that isn't correct?

One final thing. When at an earlier stage (and solely as a means to get into Windows somehow) I installed an IDE disk, with WINXP on it, as master on IDE Channel 1, the machine booted into Windows with this disk as the 'System' partition and my SATA disk's 2 partitions demoted to D: and E: This seemed logical enough; however Windows Disk Management wouldn't allow me to change the status of drives D: or E: nor to make any drive other than C: the 'System' partition instead of C: Impasse.

And what about this? When during Win setup I'm asked to designate the partition on which WinXP is to be installed, setup "sees " my SATA disk, and responds as follows:

"You asked Setup to delete the partition
C: Partition1 (WinXP) [NTFS] 39998 MB on 152626 MB Disk 0 at Id 0 on bus 0 on viasraid [MBR]... "​

So why the hell does Setup subsequently fail to find any hard disk drives installed in this computer??? I can't see any rhyme or reason in this.

 

A bit more info. Having been trying again this morning, I've realised that WinXP Setup is now going into an endless loop. After I tell it to format the C partition it does so, copies files, initialises Windows configuration, then tells me it's restarting the computer. Up to this point all has been normal. But upon restarting, instead of continuing with the setup process from the point reached before the restart it begins all over again from the beginning of the process.

This must be a symptom of something. God only knows what

 

Still the same comment as 4 weeks ago. You also will probably have to delete your existing partitions on the SATA drive, create a new one or ones and then format. And, if you are worried about your data, put your bootable IDE back in first and copy the stuff over, then disconnect it and follow the above instructions.

 

Hi Rockster2U
The problem I now have is that (having already steeled myself to reinstall WinXP on my SATA disk, and having disconnected the PATA disk) WinXP Setup does recognise the SATA drive but doesn't install.

I go through the normal process in what (I believe) is the normal way - including hitting F6/loading VIA Serial ATA RAID controller driver from floppy. Setup displays a list which shows the two partitions on my SATA disk (it describes the SATA disk itself as follows:- "152626 MB Disk 0 at Id 0 on bus 0 on viasraid [MBR] "). I tell Setup to install Windows on the C: partition; Setup asks me if I want to format that partition and I press 'F'; Setup reports formating progress 1 - 100%, and copying files, and initialising Windows configuration, then says it's restarting the computer.

And that's as far as it gets because - having restarted the computer - it doesn't continue with setup. Instead, it starts from the beginning all over again.

 

I've done a quick rescan of this thread. At this point I might ask if the BIOS update was the correct one for your model. If there is any hesitation about the correct model, read the printing from the board itself. Some motherboard manufacturers even specify a "Revision" number for the board. If the suggestions don't work, I would think about reflashing the CMOS. You can backdate a BIOS upgrade, just choose an earlier version AND if you have used a "Beta" upgrade, backdate immediately.

The BIOS upgrade instructions will probably say to set the BIOS settings to "Default" after the flash, did you do this? (Edit: now I see it mentioned several times)

Follow Rockster's suggestions, if you need to reset the partitions, it will be no help to "just" get Windows installed. If the installation section does not go (really) smoothly, it will only get worse when you are running the OS.

You are going to have to start over again from some point. I would suggest the BIOS.

Matt

 

Hi Matt
I wonder if you've any suggestions how I could reflash? I used EzWinFlash to flash it the first time. It's a utility that comes with the Asus mainboard and can only be operated from within Windows. Their manual says nothing about any alternative method(s).

I've looked on Asus website for a BIOS update version which could be downloaded to a boot floppy so as to be able to run it from DOS and didn't find any. I've emailed the same question to Asus Support but who knows if/when I'll get an answer (Asus Support doesn't seem to enjoy a good reputation - but perhaps they've been maligned).

Edit: I must be getting punchdrunk, the motherboard on this PC is an AOpen, the Asus mb is on another PC. Anyway everything written here still applies - just read 'AOpen' for 'Asus'.

The manual says "EzWinFlash will detect the model name and BIOS version of your motherboard. If you had got the wrong BIOS, you will not be allowed to proceed with the flash steps." I guess this rules out any possibility of my having used anything other than the right update for my BIOS. And no, it's not a beta version.

 

I'd say your problems may have just gone from bad to worse.

I hope this is just an editorial oversight on your part. So what do you have under the hood?

 

Hi Matt
Well spotted! Seems like your post has "crossed" with my edit.

 

The Aopen BIOS updates include the DOS operating system. This means you can boot to a DOS floppy disk and run the update/flash.
I downloaded the zip file for the R1.18 BIOS version. It has two .exe files. I take it one is for Windows, the other DOS. I take it that you would decompress the zip files onto a floppy drive (using another computer, of course), put a bootable floppy disk into the Aopen and boot to it. At the A:\ prompt, remove the boot floppy and insert the floppy with the upgrade files. Type in the name of the executable file (in this case there is WAK86L118 and AK86l118). The file without the "W" should be the DOS version (the Windows version won't run anyway). Check your motherboard manual for instructions. I cannot find a separate set of instructions at the Aopen website (no wonder their Support page says they get a lot of emails and telephone enquiries).

Don't use Windows versions of BIOS upgrades if there are DOS versions available, especially if your Windows system is unstable.

You can get a DOS (WIN98) boot floppy here:
www.bootdisk.com
Matt

 

Hi Matt

I'm very appreciative of your help and moral support.

I followed your directions but, alas, as of now the results haven't been positive. After flashing with a floppy,POST upon restarting displayed (as when I flashed the first time,within the Windows environment):- "CMOS checksum error - Defaults loaded ". I pressed <F1> to continue (rather than <Del> to enter Setup, which was the other option) and soon thereafter got the same message as previously:- "Windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware configuration problem. Could not read from the selected boot disk ..." (my SATA disk, C).

I'm at a complete loss how to react to this. Any ideas?

 

The Checksum error happens often after a BIOS update, it ususally takes a second reboot or setting the BIOS to defaults to get it settled.

The second error talks about "configuration ". This may not mean a problem with your actual boot drive, but it's configuration with the other drives. I will need to check back through the thread, but see if you can change the configuration of other drives in the system. If you say, have a CD/DVD drive in the position master on IDE channel 1, this is normally where an IDE boot drive goes. Put any optical drives on the secondary IDE channel/controller and check their jumper settings. I set drives as master/slave unless there seems to be a problem, then I might try setting them both to CS (cable select). There are no other HDDs in the system?

See if you can spot anything on the drive configuration side. I will check back through the thread and let you know if I can see anything further.

Matt

 

Hi everyone

Progress (of a sort) to report.

First thing was that the error message I was getting each time I booted changed. Instead of:- "Disk boot failure..." I started getting:- "Windows couldn't start because of a hard disk configuration problem... ".

After having flashed the BIOS again, without any success (reported above), I downloaded an updated Serial ATA RAID controller from AOpen's website. Seemingly (but not necessarily) because of this I succeeded at last in reinstalling WinXP on Partition C of my SATA disk. This time, Windows Setup didn't balk and didn't go into an endless loop but completed the install process and then booted into WinXP. Could hardly believe my luck. I should have known it was too good to be true.

Having restarted the computer and entered BIOS setup to make some minor changes, and having saved them and exited BIOS, POST this time only got as far as trying to boot. Then I got the same old message as when this all started:- "Disk boot failure, insert system disk and press Enter ". Back to square one.

Anyone got any bright ideas as to what the hell is going on here? Please...?

Edit
By way of further elaboration, in the forlorn hope that it might give somebody a useful clue, two more observations:-
1. I get the feeling that the process is being interrupted at the "Boot from CD" stage and that it isn't going on to even try to boot from the hard drive but, rather, that the disk boot failure it is reporting refers to the optical drive. I could be totally wrong about this. However,
2. A "Warning" message has been appearing during POST (before PCI device listing). It appears for only the briefest fraction of a second and so is very difficult to decipher, but it appears to say something like "have option ROM can not be invoked... ". Could there be a connection?

 

Hi Matt

I have just the one other drive, and it has throughout been installed as 'master' on IDE channel 2. After having again started to get the "Disk boot failure..." message (reported above), I tried switching it to IDE channel 1. It didn't make any difference and I've now switched it back again.