SATA Hard Drive

[Arne_N]

My PC is a Compaq Presario 6000, which is not very new. The hard drive did not work well, so I decided to buy a new one.

It is a 250 GB Seagate Barracuda with a Delock RAID Controller, No. 70156, but the BIOS does not recognize any hard drive.

The BIOS is version 3,25, and HP has no newer on their website. I cannot edit the BIOS settings, as pushing F1 has no effect.

The start up stops with an MBR failure message.

What can I do to make it work?

Best regards,

Arne Nielsen

Ballerup, Benmark

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, Arne:

Normally you have to tap the F10 key to get into the BIOS.

Paul

[Arne_N]

Hi Paul,

On this PC it is F1, F10 is for System Recovery. However, I put the 1st recovery CD into the CD drive before powering on, and then I could edit the BIOS settings.

I set the Primary HD to AUTO, and saved. After a short while I got a blue screen, saying that there possibly was a virus.

As I have no HDD, I have no OS, and so I have no way of removing a virus, as far as I can see.

What else can I do?

Best regards,

Arne

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, Arne:

Surely there is no virus.

Do you have a SATA emulation mode in your BIOS setting?

If you do, you may have to change it to IDE.

I can't find your specific model in the support center. When I input Presario 6000, I get this huge list:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/pfinder?cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&os=228&sw_lang=&tool=&query=Presario+6...

Best regards,

Paul

[Arne_N]

Hi Paul,

I do not find the word SATA in the BIOS setings. BIOS is from 2003, was the SATA interface available then?

Here is a link to support:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/documentSubCategory?tmp_task=solveCategory&cc=dk&dlc=da&lang=da&l...

Arne

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, Arne:

How did you connect the SATA drive to your PC? 

I'm sure with that hardware configuration, it only has native IDE drive support.

Did you add a SATA controller PCI card? 

If so, you need to load the drivers for that, and I have no idea how you would do that using a recovery disk unless it gives you the option to load drivers before continuing with the install.

Paul

[Arne_N]

I have this adapter in a PCI slot:

http://www.delock.de/produkte/gruppen/IO%20Karten/Delock_PCI_Raid_Controller_1x_eSATA_1x_SATA_1x_IDE...

There are no drivers for his adaptor. It is connected to the hard drive via this cable:

http://www.delock.de/produkte/gruppen/Kabel/Delock_SATA_All-in-One_Kabel_gewinkelt_84307.html

The adapter with cabel has worked with a SATA DVD drive, but now I think it is quite different to use it with an empty HDD with no Operation System.

Arne

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi, Arne:

You are correct.

That setup isn't going to work with a blank hard drive and no way to load the SATA/RAID drivers it needs in order for the operating system (especially XP) to see the drive.

I think you have no choice but to install an IDE drive, and one not larger than 120 GB (to be safe on that old PC) in your normal Primary IDE connector on the motherboard, and then use your new SATA HDD as a secondary drive using the PCI card you have.

Paul

[Arne_N]

Hi Paul,

Thank you very much for your help!

Best regards,

Arne

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome, Arne.

Best regards,

Paul