People of the internet, I need your help!

[Whaleboy]

I've just built myself a new computer... specs are:

AMD Athlon 64 3200+
1 Gb (2x512) Corsair Value Select RAM
Gigabyte K8N SLI Motherboard
XFX Geforce 6600GT Extreme Gamers Edition (was on offer, couldn't resist)
Hiper 480W PSU
Hitachi Deskstar 7K80 (80Gb), Sata II

In case you're wondering, I bought an SLI motherboard, partly for Sata II support and partly because I'll upgrade to 2 Geforce 7600's when they come out in March.

I've built the system, it POSTs absolutely fine, loads up, can go into the bios etc. However, I can't install Windows.

I put the Windows XP Pro disk in the DVD drive, it goes through the usual stuff of loading various things into memory. When it asks me to press enter to install Windows, it says it can't find the hard disk.

I've explored the BIOS and NV Raid facility, in the latter it clearly recognises the hard disk. It can't, therefore be a question of connection (or can it?).

Bare in mind its a Sata II drive, I dont know if it defaults to Sata I, or if Windows needs a little extra help to recognise a Sata connection, as is the case with RAID.

Any thoughts?

[BeBMan]

Are you sure there is a harddisc? Better open the computer and look....

[BlackCat]

Have you disabled virus check ?

[Snotty]

If I cant fix it by moving the jumpers around on the hard disk then Im stuffed

[Whaleboy]

Was tempted by SCSI but I dont want my system to sound like a strimmer...

[Asher]

Windows XP doesn't know what SATA is (it came out before SATA was out). You need to press F6(?) to load "third-party SCSI or RAID drivers", then insert a FLOPPY (yes, it needs to be a floppy) with the SATA drivers.

[Richelieu]

Hope you have a floppy...

[Asher]

I had to go buy a floppy drive ($10 CDN) and a floppy just to install Windows.

[Bkeela]

I've had incredible problems reformatting because of this. Asher is correct - you have to manually load the right drivers.

[Whaleboy]

Very strange, I tried that last night, didn't work. What I did instead was go into the BIOS, disable everything that spake thusly of RAID and we're good!

And the system goes like a friggin' rocket

Looks pretty cool too, using a Coolermaster Centurion 531 (silver) case, with a blue LED fan at the front, red LED's at the back, and I'm going out to buy another blue 120mm fan.

Won't be needing a christmas tree this year

[Whaleboy]

My version of Windows (on the CD) is SP1, perhaps that explains why it had SATA II drivers?

[alva]

Originally posted by Asher
Windows XP doesn't know what SATA is (it came out before SATA was out). You need to press F6(?) to load "third-party SCSI or RAID drivers", then insert a FLOPPY (yes, it needs to be a floppy) with the SATA drivers.

One of my main reasons to swtich to Vista ASAP.

Last time I spent an hour searching for the damned drive.

partly for Sata II support

* cough * hype * couch *

Holodrives ( late 2006)

and partly because I'll upgrade to 2 Geforce 7600's when they come out in March.

Won't your proc become a bottleneck for two 7600's?

[Whaleboy]

Won't your proc become a bottleneck for two 7600's?

Yep! I've already overclocked the processor to 2.2Ghz (220Mhz, 10x multiplier) but I'm going to upgrade to an Athlon 64 X2 4400 when money isn't quite as tight (saving up for xmas etc).

You'll always have a bottleneck in a PC, whether it's the RAM, the GPU, the CPU etc. Of course the HDD is always going to be far slower but in games that doesn't matter as much because most of what you need is in RAM. IMO it's a good sign when your bottleneck is the CPU for the simple reason that you know there's a whole lot more kick left in your hardware if you only upgrade that one component. In other words, it's only the CPU that's working overtime to keep up.

[alva]

You'll always have a bottleneck in a PC,

Having just one 7600 would help.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by alva
Won't your proc become a bottleneck for two 7600's?

Not until there is a program that can remotely use the power of SLI.

Before that, I don't see the point.