PATA -> Serial ATA convertors - do they always work ?

I have some regular IDE to Serial ATA adapters that came with an Abit NF7-S
motherboard.

I tried using one on an Asus K8V SE Deluxe with a Western Digital 250 GB
(WD2500BB) hard drive. I could not get the drive recognized by the BIOS.

Are these convertors sometimes known to be flaky, or is it possuible that
the Serial ATA ports on my new mobo are hosed ?

Did you install the sata drivers???

--
Mark
MCSA, CNA, A+, Net+, iNet+, Server+
"ZigZag Master" wrote in message
...
I have some regular IDE to Serial ATA adapters that came with an Abit
NF7-S
motherboard.

I tried using one on an Asus K8V SE Deluxe with a Western Digital 250 GB
(WD2500BB) hard drive. I could not get the drive recognized by the BIOS.

Are these convertors sometimes known to be flaky, or is it possuible that
the Serial ATA ports on my new mobo are hosed ?

The BIOS doesnt even see the drives


"Mark" wrote in message
...
Did you install the sata drivers???

--
Mark
MCSA, CNA, A+, Net+, iNet+, Server+
"ZigZag Master" wrote in message
...
I have some regular IDE to Serial ATA adapters that came with an Abit
NF7-S
motherboard.

I tried using one on an Asus K8V SE Deluxe with a Western Digital 250 GB
(WD2500BB) hard drive. I could not get the drive recognized by the
BIOS.

Are these convertors sometimes known to be flaky, or is it possuible
that
the Serial ATA ports on my new mobo are hosed ?

Thats what I am saying.....you will need to install the sata drivers...they
should have come on your motherboard CD.

--
Mark
MCSA, CNA, A+, Net+, iNet+, Server+
"ZigZag Master" wrote in message
...
The BIOS doesnt even see the drives


"Mark" wrote in message
...
Did you install the sata drivers???

--
Mark
MCSA, CNA, A+, Net+, iNet+, Server+
"ZigZag Master" wrote in message
...
I have some regular IDE to Serial ATA adapters that came with an Abit
NF7-S
motherboard.

I tried using one on an Asus K8V SE Deluxe with a Western Digital 250
GB
(WD2500BB) hard drive. I could not get the drive recognized by the
BIOS.

Are these convertors sometimes known to be flaky, or is it possuible
that
the Serial ATA ports on my new mobo are hosed ?

Thats what I am saying.....you will need to install the sata
drivers...they
should have come on your motherboard CD.

I don't think yer hearing me man. The BIOS does not see the drive. There
is not even an operating system on my machine yet.

"Mark"
wrote in :
Thats what I am saying.....you will need to install the sata
drivers...they should have come on your motherboard CD.

The BIOS doesnt even see the drives


"Mark" wrote in message
...
Did you install the sata drivers???

--
Mark
MCSA, CNA, A+, Net+, iNet+, Server+
"ZigZag Master" wrote in message
...
I have some regular IDE to Serial ATA adapters that came with an
Abit NF7-S motherboard.

I tried using one on an Asus K8V SE Deluxe with a Western Digital
250 GB (WD2500BB) hard drive. I could not get the drive
recognized by the BIOS.

Are these convertors sometimes known to be flaky, or is it
possuible that the Serial ATA ports on my new mobo are hosed ?

Drivers are NOT used until you load an operating system. Obvious. The
BIOS should recognize the drive it before any OS gets loaded to then
load any drivers specific to a device. On the NF7-S, there is actually
a second BIOS just for the SATA support (although it is embedded within
the same flash update for the system BIOS). You first see the BIOS load
and the screen showing CPU and memory which is followed by a screen
clear and a load of the SATA BIOS. If the system BIOS has the SATA
device disabled then the SATA BIOS won't load and you get no support of
the SATA ports. If the system BIOS has the SATA port(s) enabled then
you should see the SATA BIOS get loaded later (just like you see SCSI
BIOS get loaded later). The SATA BIOS will then scan for drives on
those ports. If the SATA BIOS loads but it doesn't find any drives then
nothing later is going to see the drives, either, even if you load
drives in a much later load of the OS. That's how it is on the NF7-S.
I don't know about the Asus and whether it incorporates the SATA support
directly within the system BIOS or if it loads another but separate BIOS
for separate SATA controller chips.

If the SATA BIOS loads but it doesn't find the drives then you have a
hardware problem at that point that loading drivers later won't fix.
Can you take off the PATA-2-SATA converter and attach the IDE drive to
an mobo IDE port to ensure the drive itself is okay? Is the SATA BIOS a
separate BIOS from the system BIOS (i.e., it loads later)? If so, check
that the system BIOS has the SATA controller enabled. Presumably you
don't have anything else connected to the SATA ports (and which works);
else, you would know the SATA port and SATA BIOS already work okay.


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ZigZag Master wrote:
Thats what I am saying.....you will need to install the sata
drivers...they should have come on your motherboard CD.

I don't think yer hearing me man. The BIOS does not see the drive.
There is not even an operating system on my machine yet.

some of them are duff, make sure the drive is configured as master, try the
hdrive on normal pata

In article , "ZigZag Master"
wrote:

I have some regular IDE to Serial ATA adapters that came with an Abit NF7-S
motherboard.

I tried using one on an Asus K8V SE Deluxe with a Western Digital 250 GB
(WD2500BB) hard drive. I could not get the drive recognized by the BIOS.

Are these convertors sometimes known to be flaky, or is it possuible that
the Serial ATA ports on my new mobo are hosed ?

Comments on Serillel adapter:
http://secure.newegg.com/app/Custrat...tem=13-999-402

Comments on Rockethead adapter:
http://secure.newegg.com/app/Custrat...tem=22-999-111

Yes, they can be flaky. Some of the original designs didn't
give error free transmission. There are some combos of chipset
and adapter known not to work.

And SATA ports on motherboards do arrive DOA, as I read of someones
efforts to get an ICH5R SATA to work, only to find one port was
dead. So, that happens too.

You can try the search terms "serillel" or "rockethead" over
on abxzone. There is one thread just on converters, although it
is a little weak on good info:

http://www.abxzone.com/forums/search.php (search engine)
http://www.abxzone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=50014

With the WDC, it could be a jumpering problem. I would try the
single master setting, if you haven't already.

HTH,
Paul

"ZigZag Master" wrote in message
...

Thats what I am saying.....you will need to install the sata
drivers...they
should have come on your motherboard CD.

I don't think yer hearing me man. The BIOS does not see the drive.
There
is not even an operating system on my machine yet.



I dont think your listening, He can hear you, can you hear him!

Drivers are NOT used until you load an operating system. Obvious. The
BIOS should recognize the drive it before any OS gets loaded to then
load any drivers specific to a device. On the NF7-S, there is actually
a second BIOS just for the SATA support (although it is embedded within
the same flash update for the system BIOS). You first see the BIOS load
and the screen showing CPU and memory which is followed by a screen
clear and a load of the SATA BIOS. If the system BIOS has the SATA
device disabled then the SATA BIOS won't load and you get no support of
the SATA ports. If the system BIOS has the SATA port(s) enabled then
you should see the SATA BIOS get loaded later (just like you see SCSI
BIOS get loaded later). The SATA BIOS will then scan for drives on
those ports. If the SATA BIOS loads but it doesn't find any drives then
nothing later is going to see the drives, either, even if you load
drives in a much later load of the OS. That's how it is on the NF7-S.
I don't know about the Asus and whether it incorporates the SATA support
directly within the system BIOS or if it loads another but separate BIOS
for separate SATA controller chips.

If the SATA BIOS loads but it doesn't find the drives then you have a
hardware problem at that point that loading drivers later won't fix.
Can you take off the PATA-2-SATA converter and attach the IDE drive to
an mobo IDE port to ensure the drive itself is okay? Is the SATA BIOS a
separate BIOS from the system BIOS (i.e., it loads later)? If so, check
that the system BIOS has the SATA controller enabled. Presumably you
don't have anything else connected to the SATA ports (and which works);
else, you would know the SATA port and SATA BIOS already work okay.



yea but this isnt just the "BIOS" tho is it..