Problem with detecting a boot drive on new machine (Help!)

[imagine]

I'm putting together a new dual-core machine. I feel that I know a fair amount about hardware, building machines, and generally troubleshooting them ... but I am positive that most of you guys know more than me. Hopefully one of you has the answer to my problem.

Before I begin, let me explain my configuration. I have 3 Ultra ATA hard drives and 1 optical drive. The board that I bought (Intel P945PSN) only has a primary IDE connection on the motherboard. There is no secondary, so I installed a PCI controller card which is currently not being used by anything.

Initially, I had a few problems and messed around a bit and got it to boot without issue. The configuration at that time was with my boot drive + another hard drive leading to the primary IDE input on the motherboard. I had the other two devices plugged in through the controller card, but since I couldn't install the software (no optical drive!), I was stuck. I also couldn't install the motherboard drivers and, in turn, couldn't reach the internet as the ethernet wouldn't automatically configure.

So, realizing my dilemma, I took it all apart, and set it up with my boot drive and optical drive together on one cable, and the other two hard drives on the other. Attempting to maintain the good luck with the primary IDE input on the motherboard, I put both the optical and boot drive in and ... no dice. It won't detect anything anymore, and just reads that I have no available boot device.

What should I do? I'm lost, to say the least. I'm just sitting here completely clueless. Thanks.

 

[imagine]

Update: Removed the controller card entirely to ensure that there is no conflict and I also switched to a regular IDE ribbon. Neither of those attempts fixed anything, and I'm still at square one.

Any help is REALLY appreciated. Thanks.

 

[EdLSmith]

first remove the PCI controller device.
Connect the optical drive as master and the hdd as slave. make sure the jumper are set properly. Since this is primary ide, the hdd will be c drive.

I'm assuming Windows XP (32 bit).

Go into bios and double check that your system found your drives.
set your optical drive as first boot device and hdd as second..
load up your os disk and load your system.
Bring the system up set everything up then:
Once that is set up then install your pci device and connect the hdds to that and your machine will pick them up at start up.

 

[imagine]

I already tried removing the Ultra ATA/133 controller. No dice on that.

I have had the configuration you suggest since then. The BIOS does not detect any of the drives. I am at a loss as to why.

I attempted to contact Intel for support - they want to charge me $25 just to even talk to someone on the phone. Fucking ridiculous. I'm at a 100% loss right now as to why this would be happening ..