Sata HDD to Raid controller = no HDD installed?

[ZachWhite0]

Hopefully someone can help me out.

I have a Dell Precision 450 desktop I am trying to format. It has no sata connections on the motherboard. It has a pci sata raid controller with 2 sata ports. I am trying to format one sata hdd.

It recognizes the HDD and boots the operating system BUT... in bios it tells me that there is not a HDD installed and when booting the OS disc once selecting to install Windows it tells me there are no HDD detected to install windows on.

I hit F6 to load a third party raid controller and put in the floppy but I get an error telling me a file failed to load...

The FastTrak raid controller software is installed though because at start up I can go into it and change my array and raid settings.

I have no idea what is up but I need to get this HDD recognized so i can format. Any ideas?

 

[Whatsisname]

format another floppy and put the files on it and try again. Your floppy disk might be shit.

Otherwise try slipstreaming the drivers onto a cd.

Or try using an operating system that already has the drivers.

 

[EvilTwinSkippy]

The "A" in RAID stands for array, so without knowing a lot about your controller my uneducated and uninformed guess is that both ports may need to have a drive connected.

 

[engiNURD]

I doubt the controller needs two drives connected, but I may be wrong. Most, if not all, controller cards I've seen have RAID as an OPTION. Anyhow, follow what Whatsisname said and try another floppy. If you want to try the slipstream approach, use nLite.