New budget build - Hard drive/SATA controller problem?

[GHarris]

I've been putting together a cheap PC build for my uncle. I intend to install XP on it, just because I have a spare license for it*.

Having put it all together, I booted it up and had a quick look at the BIOS. I saw that the "RAID mode" (in Integrated Peripherals --> On-Chip ATA Devices) was set to IDE, so I changed it to AHCI (only other option was RAID, which didn't seem relevant) and then tried to boot off of an XP CD (slipstreamed with Service Pack 3 and the appropriate RAID driver found here).

After going through the initial "loading this, that and the other" stage, it said it was "starting windows" (prior to the part where you agree to the T&Cs, choose a partition to install windows to, etc.). It then suddenly crashed with a BSOD quoting error code "0x0000007B (0xF78D2524, 0xC0000034, 0x00000000, 0x00000000)". I googled this error message and found lots of discussion about how, with XP, you need to slipstream a modern service pack and the relevant SATA controller driver for your motherboard onto the XP CD... which I had already done!

I went back into the BIOS and found that the HDD isn't even listed as a SATA device in "Standard CMOS Features" next to SATA1, as it should be. It was there before I changed "RAID Mode" to AHCI, and reappeared if I changed "RAID Mode" back to IDE and rebooted. The Boot Sequence options also acted oddly... with RAID Mode set to IDE, the HDD is listed as "SATA: 3M-WDC WD" whereas with RAID Mode set to AHCI, the HDD is listed as "IDE: WDC WD6400" (even though, in Standard CMOS Features, the BIOS claims it isn't even there).

So I then tried setting the RAID Mode to IDE and running the win XP CD again, which really should have worked (all discussions of the BSOD error code I'd found had said one workaround was to use IDE mode instead of AHCI). Nope! Same BSOD, same error code.

I swapped around the SATA power and data cables used and tried plugging the drive into different SATA sockets on the motherboard, and then tried everything again. Same results.

I used the Ultimate Boot CD (UBCD) to try and see if I could learn anything more...

DLG Diagnostic V5.04f (Western Digital): with RAID Mode IDE, it sees the HDD and tests perform OK. With RAID Mode AHCI, it says "No Drive Found, Error/Status Code 0120".

VIVARD: with RAID Mode AHCI, it finds the drive, but can't get "SMART attributes" or its serial number, just calling it "HDD SCSI 0" and reporting its capacity. However a Surface Scan runs OK and finds no errors.

It's been a couple of years since I last put a PC together so I am wondering whether there's some BIOS setting which I need to change that I'm ignorant of. The only other option I can think of is that either the motherboard or the HDD is defective.

Any help would be much appreciated.

All (potentially) relevant specs:
- AMD Athlon X2 240
- MSI 785GTM-E45
- Kingston 2GB Kit (2x1GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 Memory Non-ecc CL5 Unbuffered 1.8V
- Western Digital WD6400AAKS 640GB Hard Drive
- Corsair 400W CX PSU

(Everything is running at stock speeds, and (to my eyes) the BIOS settings in general look OK)

There'll be a SATA DVD drive too, but due to a screw-up by the online retailer it's being sent separately and hasn't arrived yet. I'm using a USB CD drive in the meantime. This adds to the frustration as it means I can't test to find out whether the motherboard is working with *any* SATA devices properly (don't have a spare HDD to test with either).


*(I'd prefer to buy and install Win 7 if this build were being done in couple of months, but it isn't out yet so I can't, and I doubt my not-very-tech-literate uncle would react well to his OS being switched just as he's getting used to the last one. Plus, the problem I'm having seems to be OS-independent as far as I can tell, otherwise the UBCD apps would have more luck identifying the drive)

 

[sirmonkey1985]

hmm ive always left mine in IDE mode.. is there a specific reason you want it in AHCI mode?

 

[Old Hippie]

with RAID Mode AHCI, it finds the drive, but can't get "SMART attributes" or its serial number

Typical behaviour with AHCI+AMD+XP. That data is blocked.

Your scenario sounds like a typical failed AHCI install but should have worked in IDE mode.

If you have used this slipstreamed disk to perform a successful install in the past, I dunno what to tell ya.

If it were me, I'd be finding a known good XP SP2 install disk, set the BIOS to IDE and go from there.

Any disk will do as long as your serial is valid.

 

[lt_shiro]

MSI 785G Raid Driver

 

[GHarris]

Thanks for the replies. I'll try out another XP disk and that other RAID driver.

The thing I'm worried about more generally though is the weird behaviour in the BIOS when AHCI mode is set instead of IDE. In "Standard CMOS Features", next to "SATA 1", it doesn't see anything plugged in with AHCI mode but does with IDE. Aside from all the XP and driver issues, that shouldn't be happening should it?

 

[Old Hippie]

In "Standard CMOS Features", next to "SATA 1", it doesn't see anything plugged in with AHCI mode but does with IDE.

That's fine. You don't have the AHCI drivers installed.

AHCI mode isn't going to make any noticable improvements in that machine.

In this case the KISS principle is the way to go.