# BIOS does not detect hard drive properly, Windows doesn't load.



## speedy11131 (Aug 13, 2007)

Windows will not load, error comes up on the screen saying "Boot disk error, insert system disk an press enter.

I go into my BIOS and I see WDC ROM MODEL-HAWK being detected instead of my harddrive. 

The hard drive is a Western Digital Caviar 250GB (SATA)
The mobo is a Gigabyte GA-M57SLI-S4.

I got it to work once somehow, Windows seemed to boot fine, I logged it, around 3 minutes after a BSOD flashes (I couldn't see the error) and the computer rebooted printing the above error again on the screen. 

Also when the computer posts, I see "Hard Drive Controller" and "Multimedia Device" on the same IRQ. Could this affect something?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.


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## nflesher87 (Aug 13, 2007)

you're only using the one HDD and not attempting RAID right?


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## speedy11131 (Aug 13, 2007)

nflesher87 said:


> you're only using the one HDD and not attempting RAID right?



That's correct. Only one hard drive in there.


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## kwchang007 (Aug 13, 2007)

I'm going to rule out the possibility of the optical drive interfering with the hdd since the hdd is SATA.  Are there options about turning on and off SATA in the bios, or booting from SATA rather than IDE.


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## Kursah (Aug 13, 2007)

Or is there a menu where you can control how the SATA functions, like in IDE mode, ACHI, RAID, etc??? Try it in IDE mode, but usually that's the default. 

I am assuming that your HDD was working fine with SATA and Windows loaded until this issue...you may need to re-install windows or do a repair and try to reload your SATA/Raid drivers. I had an issue with my Seagate at first, had to load my IDE HDD with XP, then run Seagate's install utility for my Bios to even detect the HDD, after running that utility in Windows, I removed the IDE and all has been great ever since.


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## speedy11131 (Aug 13, 2007)

Yep, it was working fine before, this only cropped up recently. I will try those things and will post my results.

EDIT: It was in IDE mode already and I don't see a way to switch to SATA. Windows Setup doesn't even detect the drive so I can't do a repair  

There was no separate floppy/disc with SATA RAID drivers. When I got the computer (which was fairly recently, about 2 weeks ago), the drive was detected without loading any drivers and Windows installed.

I have a spare IDE hard drive lying around. Can I use that to help fix it? If so, what would I need to do? Any other ideas? Could it be possible that the drive is dead?


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## speedy11131 (Aug 14, 2007)

Any other things that could prevent it from booting?


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## theonetruewill (Aug 14, 2007)

Ok, I found this damn motherboard to be the cause of nearly all my problems with HDD's(actually no, its been the cause of nearly all my problems full stop). It has f*cked my HDD up for the fourth time (and yes I have checked with others). Secondly the instructions for getting SATA II to work is incorrect. Do not enable the SATA RAID option like it ludicrously states- just ignore that and make sure you install the MCP55 driver when Windows installs. When it prompts you for a driver again ignore the manual and just let windows work that one out for itself. Make sure you've updated to the newest BIOS revision.
You will have to reinstall windows. I'm going to get a new motherboard- I hate this one.


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## kwchang007 (Aug 14, 2007)

theonetruewill said:


> Ok, I found this damn motherboard to be the cause of nearly all my problems with HDD's(actually no, its been the cause of nearly all my problems full stop). It has f*cked my HDD up for the fourth time (and yes I have checked with others). Secondly the instructions for getting SATA II to work is incorrect. Do not enable the SATA RAID option like it ludicrously states- just ignore that and make sure you install the MCP55 driver when Windows installs. When it prompts you for a driver again ignore the manual and just let windows work that one out for itself. Make sure you've updated to the newest BIOS revision.
> You will have to reinstall windows. I'm going to get a new motherboard- I hate this one.



I thought you liked your rig?  Anyways...now I know a motherboard to stay away from.


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## theonetruewill (Aug 14, 2007)

kwchang007 said:


> I thought you liked your rig?  Anyways...now I know a motherboard to stay away from.



I love my rig- but I hate having to reinstall it all the time due to this pos. I really want to go Core 2.....

Anyhow- back to the topic. Maybe I've been unlucky- but I suspect that the passive cooling may not actually be enough. The heatsink gets awfully hot after a few hours and my case has good airflow.


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## kwchang007 (Aug 14, 2007)

theonetruewill said:


> I love my rig- but I hate having to reinstall it all the time due to this pos. I really want to go Core 2.....
> 
> Anyhow- back to the topic. Maybe I've been unlucky- but I suspect that the passive cooling may not actually be enough. The heatsink gets awfully hot after a few hours and my case has good airflow.



The dark side calls.

On topic....your nb gets really hot?  Tried sticking a little fan on it?


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## theonetruewill (Aug 14, 2007)

kwchang007 said:


> The dark side calls.
> 
> On topic....your nb gets really hot?  Tried sticking a little fan on it?



It's got a full fat 120mm over it and the end of the gfx card. That's why I'm worried. But don't worry my informative motherboard tells me it's only at 4 degrees.... Do you see why I want a new one?


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## kwchang007 (Aug 14, 2007)

theonetruewill said:


> It's got a full fat 120mm over it and the end of the gfx card. That's why I'm worried. But don't worry my informative motherboard tells me it's only at 4 degrees.... Do you see why I want a new one?



Yup, maybe your nb's have sustained damage from heat? (yours and speedy's)


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## theonetruewill (Aug 14, 2007)

kwchang007 said:


> Yup, maybe your nb's have sustained damage from heat? (yours and speedy's)



Good point- Speedy, how hot does your NB/SB get?(the big gold heatsink) Touch it after leaving computer on for a while. Mine get's toasty even when not under load. Oh and btw, at the present moment I'm in the exact same position as you are...again


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## kwchang007 (Aug 14, 2007)

theonetruewill said:


> Good point- Speedy, how hot does your NB/SB get? Touch it after leaving computer on for a while. Mine get's toasty even when not under load. Oh and btw, at the present moment I'm in the exact same position as you are...again



Damn, so you have to reinstall?


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## theonetruewill (Aug 14, 2007)

kwchang007 said:


> Damn, so you have to reinstall?



I come back from Spain and my sister shows me that it' gone wrong again. Damn it- it happened last time only 3 weeks ago!


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## kwchang007 (Aug 14, 2007)

theonetruewill said:


> I come back from Spain and my sister shows me that it' gone wrong again. Damn it- it happened last time only 3 weeks ago!



You let your sister use your comp?  Man, so you can walk speedy through it now though.

Off topic:  is your sister hot............................j/k


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## theonetruewill (Aug 14, 2007)

kwchang007 said:


> You let your sister use your comp?  Man, so you can walk speedy through it now though.
> 
> Off topic:  is your sister hot............................j/k



She's twelve you little perv!
I shouldn't let her- and I'll tell speedy if I can find a permanent solution tomorrow


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## kwchang007 (Aug 14, 2007)

theonetruewill said:


> She's twelve you little perv!
> I shouldn't let her- and I'll tell speedy if I can find a permanent solution tomorrow



Damn 12....lol.  I might be....I'm currently crazy for a girl that's 2 years younger than me .   Hey speedy, have you tried a different hdd with a os loaded on it already?


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## speedy11131 (Aug 14, 2007)

The NB... it BURNS!!! (seriously its freakin hot)

As for trying an HD with the OS already installed, could I try an IDE drive? I don't have a spare SATA hard drive 

Thanks to both of yous for yer help with this!


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## theonetruewill (Aug 14, 2007)

speedy11131 said:


> The NB... it BURNS!!! (seriously its freakin hot)
> 
> As for trying an HD with the OS already installed, could I try an IDE drive? I don't have a spare SATA hard drive
> 
> Thanks to both of yous for yer help with this!



The IDE drive can be used yes. It's a good thing you're NB is so hot too. Well in the respect that it agree's with my hypothesis. I think we're going to have to get Some good chipset coolers. However as a quick fix- take off the Gigabyte logo attachment (the silver Gigabyte badge) and get a smalllish fan blowing over it.


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## kwchang007 (Aug 14, 2007)

speedy11131 said:


> The NB... it BURNS!!! (seriously its freakin hot)
> 
> As for trying an HD with the OS already installed, could I try an IDE drive? I don't have a spare SATA hard drive
> 
> Thanks to both of yous for yer help with this!



Yeah try an IDE drive.


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## theonetruewill (Aug 14, 2007)

Reinstalling right now.... I'm going to see if there's another BIOS revision out yet.


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## panchoman (Aug 14, 2007)

ubuntu live cd will do the trick too and its easier then using another hdd lol, you have an ide burner or sata burner? if cant put your finger on the hsf for more then a few seconds, its ~45-50 C hot ... or so i was told.


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## theonetruewill (Aug 14, 2007)

Bios version F11B is just out!


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## kwchang007 (Aug 14, 2007)

theonetruewill said:


> Bios version F11B is just out!



Woot try it you guys.


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## theonetruewill (Aug 14, 2007)

Make sure to update your chipset drivers too. Go to Nvidia> nforce drivers> 570/550/500 AMD


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## speedy11131 (Aug 14, 2007)

Well I'm running XP off the IDE drive. Just installed it. No problems so far.

Gonna update the BIOS and chipset drivers.

Will my SATA drive ever boot properly? I tried to boot it again yesterday (the SATA drive, the IDE install is fine) after leaving it unplugged for 24 hours and it worked. But like before, it only worked for about 5 minutes before my computer froze. The mouse pointer moved, but I couldn't click anything. The HDD activity light was off and didn't blink once. After a while it reset itself, and same error comes up "PLEASE ENTER SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER". The strange thing is the BIOS detects the SATA drive and it still doesn't boot. What is to blame here? The drive or the mobo? I'm going to try booting it again after updating the BIOS. Maybe something will reset itself back to normal.


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