nf7-s v 2.0

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Drunkinsquirl

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 7, 2003
Messages
232
im putting toghter a sys for my sister ( athlon xp 3200+, geforce 4 mx, lite-on cdrw/dvd combo drive, lite on cdrw drive, 2 sticks of crucial 512 DDR400, 74 gb wd raptor, random 120 gb hitachi deskstar or whatever its called) anyway the system runs fine, the only problem is the bios dont want to pick up any sata drives, they pick up the 2 lite-on's and the hitachi but not the raptor. the first thing i thought was that the raptor had some kind of problem so i hooked up my 120 gb mator (sata) and it still wont pick it up. im starting to wonder if it might be a problem with the board.

thanks in advance
 
did you install the drivers for the sata controller? What OS is on the system?
 
havent installed an os yet (will be xp pro w/ sp1) the problem isnt the os not seeing the dirve, its that the bios wont see the hdd and if it doesnt then the os wont either. anyways talked to a friend of ming and he said he had the same problem and it eneded being a bad board so im just gonna send it back.
 
When you start installing windows, one of the first things setup will ask you will be if you want to set up scsi drives or something and to hit one of the F buttons. Just hit it a few times and wait for setup to prompt you for the floppy.
 
your sig says you have the same board but do you also have a sata drive or are you just guessing?

edit wait, what am i saying it should show up in the bios no matter what and according to your sig you dont have sata drives
 
Drunkinsquirl said:
your sig says you have the same board but do you also have a sata drive or are you just guessing?
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I used to use the onboard SATA but SATA + overclocking = no on the NF7-S with an Abit BIOS :(.
 
SATA is enabled in BIOS, yes?

SATA are not detected with the IDE, they are after...

also try BIOS update...25 i think...
 
Drunkinsquirl said:
edit wait, what am i saying it should show up in the bios no matter what and according to your sig you dont have sata drives
Click to expand...
Have you tried my suggestion? Well I haven't tried setting up the SATA drive as the first boot drive in the BIOS but I used to have my boot drive on SATA where I had to pop in the floppy during the windows setup. I don't use SATA anymore because when you overclock on the NF7-S while using the onboard SATA, this board is known for corrupting data and I've experienced this phenomena quite a bit and am sick of it. Also, I'm not brave enough to test out those TicTac BIOSes you could find if you search on google.

Edit: If you haven't already install windows just try the suggestion in my first post. Windows setup (while in the blue screen) will prompt you for that SATA driver floppy, just pop it in and install it... it only takes ~10 sec :p.
 
[dRu] said:
Read the post above yours :p.

Edit: Nevermind, I thought you were saying that to me :D.
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Sorry for the confusion, I probably should have been a bit more descriptive.

Drunkinsquirl, you may notice that I don't have any SATA drives listed in my Sig either, but I do have an IDE drive on a SATA adapter, which requires the same drivers be installed during the installation of Windows to show on boot up.
I give you the same advice as [dRu], and no, I'm not just guessing.
 
as was said earlier, and just to say it one more time: the bios does not detect sata drives, they are detected after the initial boot screen but ONLY if you have SATA enabled in the BIOS. No i don't have a sata mobo nor sata drives in my sig but I use them at work on a number of systems and they all work the way described above
 
Stinn said:
as was said earlier, and just to say it one more time: the bios does not detect sata drives, they are detected after the initial boot screen but ONLY if you have SATA enabled in the BIOS. No i don't have a sata mobo nor sata drives in my sig but I use them at work on a number of systems and they all work the way described above
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I concur..

Having a NF7-S 2.0 myself and only having SATA hard drives, this is how it works. Make sure that you have the SATA enabled in the bios.. after the bios post screen, you should be presented with a Silicon Image SATA RAID bios, that will list the bios revision, give you an option to enter the bios config, and list your attached drives.

Do you get that screen at all? if you do, and it's not picking up the drive at all, try a different cable, or connector.. one of them is bad.. if that doesn't work, then the SATA controller is borked, and it's time for a RMA..

If you do not get this screen, then SATA is probably not enabled in the NF7-S's bios.
 
Barnaby said:
I concur..

Having a NF7-S 2.0 myself and only having SATA hard drives, this is how it works. Make sure that you have the SATA enabled in the bios.. after the bios post screen, you should be presented with a Silicon Image SATA RAID bios, that will list the bios revision, give you an option to enter the bios config, and list your attached drives.

Do you get that screen at all? if you do, and it's not picking up the drive at all, try a different cable, or connector.. one of them is bad.. if that doesn't work, then the SATA controller is borked, and it's time for a RMA..

If you do not get this screen, then SATA is probably not enabled in the NF7-S's bios.
Click to expand...


I was about to say is the cable good? till I seen this post... also you should be seeing a Silicon Image screen even if you dont have drives hooked up...
 
Barnaby said:
I concur..

Having a NF7-S 2.0 myself and only having SATA hard drives, this is how it works. Make sure that you have the SATA enabled in the bios.. after the bios post screen, you should be presented with a Silicon Image SATA RAID bios, that will list the bios revision, give you an option to enter the bios config, and list your attached drives.

Do you get that screen at all? if you do, and it's not picking up the drive at all, try a different cable, or connector.. one of them is bad.. if that doesn't work, then the SATA controller is borked, and it's time for a RMA..

If you do not get this screen, then SATA is probably not enabled in the NF7-S's bios.
Click to expand...
since im so hard headed i just got pissed and RMAed it, reason being on my IS7 sata drives come up in the bios without any os installed. trying all your suggestions may have to wate cause i got to run down to compusa and get me some theremal paste casue the stuff the amd heatsinks come with can only be used once and as is, it runs 103 F in the bios. i know that isnt that bad but i dont want to risk installing windows with the processor in that condition since its not my comp.
 
since im so hard headed i just got pissed and RMAed it, reason being on my IS7 sata drives come up in the bios without any os installed.
Click to expand...

SATA on the Abit IS7 is built into the Intel southbridge ICH5-R chip. This is why your BIOS on the IS7 is able to detect drives attached via SATA.

SATA on the Abit NF7-S in through an aftermarket Silicon Images SATA controller that is integrated into the motherboard, but run through the PCI bus. Even though it is on the motherboard it is still a seperate controller that runs just as if you had it installed into a PCI slot. This is why your motherboard BIOS cannot detect it. The Silicon Images chip has it's own BIOS that you can enter during the boot process.

As far as your OS is concerned, there is no difference between the IS7 solution and the NF7 solution. I only difference is the seperate BIOS on the NF7 (and all other add-in IDE/SATA and RAID controller chips/boards)

...Mystery solved...

That motherboard was functioning correctly and as designed.
 
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