HELP! BIOS can't detect HDDs...

[di0nysus]

Dear fellow CS'sers,

I"m using Asus P4P800, P4 2.6c, 1Gram,

IDE1 Master - HDD1 (jumper set to master)
IDE1 Slave - HDD2 (jumper set to slave)

IDE2 Master - DVDRW
IDE2 Slave - Empty

SATA1 - HDD3 (jumper set to chip select)
SATA2 - Empty

I was trying to fish out data from a friend's HDD, conntect it to IDE1 Slave, but its jumper was in Chip select mode. The BIOS had problem detecting some/all of the IDE devices. I changed the jumper to slave mode. After a few boots, BIOS could detect and I managed to backup most of the data in my friend's HDD.

Tried to connect back my HDD2, and BIOS couldn't detect some/most of the devices!! Tried different combis, HDD1/2/DVDRW disc to IDE1/2 master/slave, to no avail.

HDD1 managed to boot like 3/50 tries, but when connecting the HDD2/3/DVDRW back one by one, the BIOS would detect nothing at all!

Can BIOS be affected by some virus or how can I 'reset' the BIOS. I wouldn't want to format my HDD1 (OS is installed there) if possible.

Any advice is appreciated

 

[Drudkh]

try changing the IDE cable

 

[tokrot]

Hi,

FYI, Slave no need to put jumper at all. Try that again.

 

[slooow]

Hi,

FYI, Slave no need to put jumper at all. Try that again.

thats new, hehehe the sticker on my hdd must be all wrong

 

[jbma]

Try setting your bios back to factory default.

 

[jbma]

Hi,

FYI, Slave no need to put jumper at all. Try that again.

That's not true. Some HD need to put jumper for both master and slave.

 

[tokrot]

That's not true. Some HD need to put jumper for both master and slave.

I mean there's no need to put a jumper for HDD slave. It works all the time. But For HDD master It's a must. You don't believe you can try that. I setup and troubleshoot manufacturing testers/computers for last 10 yrs.

 

[sequitur]

check that your BIOS has a PATA/SATA mode select. some of them have these

PATA only
SATA only
PATA & SATA


and for the PATA&SATA option some of these have the option to select which is primary - PATA or SATA... sort of mapping pata and sata to IDE 0,1,2,3.

try see how...

 

[tokrot]

thats new, hehehe the sticker on my hdd must be all wrong

No I mean there's no need to put a jumper for HDD slave..Don't believe you can try it..

 

[Del_CtrlnoAlt]

No I mean there's no need to put a jumper for HDD slave..Don't believe you can try it..

depends... but sata best, no need to put jumper, but now need, cos 150 or 300 selection.. haha..

 

[StreetShooter]

Disconnect the power supply and all your devices. Connect them back one at a time. You can also go to BIOS setup and set the device to OFF, then reboot and set the device detection to AUTO again. That sometimes does the trick, because the BIOS will "remember" which was the last device connected, and get confused when it finds a different device.

 

[wanzw]

hdd boot priority properly set up? or is the motherboard cannot even detect the hdd in the first place?

try putting them into cable select mode and boot up one by one.

could be the cable too.

 

[di0nysus]

one can only see/change the boot piority after the BIOS can detect the HDDs/DVDRW drives etc.

thanks all for your input.

shall print this out and go home and try! (yeah, still@work!)