Need some SERIOUS help installing Raptor HD.

[rage4order]

Ok, here's the deal. I've tried installing my 36Gb Raptor HD in my computer. I have 2 IDE drives already installed(1 master, 1 slave) and am having problems with the Raptor. I've followed the directions to the letter and nothing! When I connect the Raptor and boot up, I get the "new hardware" wizard and install the drivers, like it says in the directions. When I reboot the computer, the drive is not showing up in "My Computer". My mobo is in the sig, and I've enabled the onboard SATA functions, and the drive appears to be recognized(since I got the "new hardware" wizard), but it's not showing up! Also, since I'll have 1 IDE and 1 SATA drive, I will not be able to setup the RAID, correct? Will my computer automatically recognize the Raptor as the master?
PLEASE help! Thanks.

[defakto]

You need to format and assign it a drive letter under control panel, administrative tools, computer management, disk management tab.

[rage4order]

Yeah, I went into the disk management tools but the drive didn't show up there either. Now I have an even bigger problem- with all the messing around, now I'm getting an error at bootup. It says "NTLDR is missing. Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to reboot". GREAT!!!:(

[uzor]

A few old links to get you out of that pickle.

This guy (http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=854076) had a similar problem to you (thought I think his was more serious). The portion that you want to look into is in my post here (http://www.hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1027094720&postcount=27).

As for your original problem, I'd look at the sata controller drivers/firmware first.
Hope this helps.

[rage4order]

The weirdest thing just happened! I have a spare laptop HD in an external case w/USB connection, so I figured what the hell, I'll try to boot from there. So I plug in the laptop drive, go into my bios and select to boot from USB HDD. Whaddaya know- my computer booted right up. When it did, I was thinking "well, at least it's booting from the laptop drive and now I can try to fix my PC drive". That wasn't the case though. It had somehow booted from my PC drive! Don't know what happened but it fixed itself.
Now, to get my Raptor drive working....
BTW, thanks Uzor!

[uzor]

Ya know, with the way it is flipping around like that, I'd also run Memtest on your memory to rule out the possibility that you have a bad/dying stick of RAM.

[rage4order]

I really think my HD is going bad. Too many problems with it the past 6 months or so. That's why I'm replacing it. My memory is only about 2 months old.
Now back to my first problem. Do I need to install the SATA drivers before I connect the drive? The instructions that came with the drive say to install the drive first, then the drivers, but it seems like most everyone else is saying to install the drivers first. They will need to be installed thru the Windows XP Startup console? Also, will I need to setup a RAID? I'll only have one IDE and one SATA drive connected.
Man! This turned out to be a little more hassle than I thought it was gonna be...

[uzor]

So are you going to eventually move the system over to this new drive? If so, I would go ahead and slave you existing HDD to this one, install a fresh copy of Windows to the new drive, and start movign your data over from the old drive now.

[rage4order]

Yeah, that's the plan. I'm really just wanting to do a drive-to-drive copy but I need to get this Raptor drive working first! I even tried unplugging both IDE drives and just leaving the Raptor installed but when I got to the Windows Setup page, it said no drive was recognized :( . I'll give it another shot tomorrow. I'll let ya know how it goes.

[rage4order]

Ok, after another hour of trying to get my drive installed- still nothing! It is still not being recognized. I installed the drivers thru the Windows setup page and I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Any more suggestions?

[rage4order]

Well, it looks like I'm getting somewhere. I was using the cable that was supplied with the drive. It was an SATA w/ power combination plug. I removed it and plugged the molex and a regular ATA cable in and baddabing- the drive showed up in the POST. What sucks is I did that yesterday but was having the same problem. I may not have had the BIOS settings right yesterday though. I'm installing Windows right now. We'll see how it goes...