Maxtor Sata drive frustrations 1

[moonguppie]

I built a computer for a co-worker of mine with a Maxtor Diamondmax 250gig Sata drive. My problem is that it shows up in the bios but Windows does not recognize it. I have the Maxblast4 driver than it needs but with one minor snag, Maxblast4.exe creates a floppy disk for you to load onto your machine via a floppy disk but this board does not support floppy drives. I called Maxtor who immediately went into blaming the other vendor mode. I have tried the UltimateBoot CD which is supposed to have Maxblast4 but when I download it it only has Maxblast3. Ideas, suggestions? I have never had so much trouble installing a HD before.

A little knowledge is dangerous.

 

[PRPhx]

Try doing a google search for maxblast4 cd. The first entry should be for Maxtor's site. It's rthere as a bootable CD ISO image. Download, burn the image and you should be good to go.

 

[one4thumb]

Try using a USB floppy drive, if you have access to one. or even a thumb drive.

 

[Freestone]

MaxBlast does not have any Windows driver, it is simply a partitioning and format tool. See if the drive shows up in Disk Management (Start, Run..., diskmgmt.msc). If it does, partitioning and formatting can be performed from there. If not, then your OS needs a SATA chipset driver installed.

 

[Freestone]

MaxBlast does not have any Windows driver, it is simply a partitioning and format tool. See if the drive shows up in Disk Management (Start, Run..., diskmgmt.msc). If it does, partitioning and formatting can be performed from there. If not, then your OS needs a SATA chipset driver installed.

 

[paparazi]

Are you sure this motherboard doesn't need SATA controller drivers loading at F6?
No floppy drive connector?
really?
I know many users are choosing not to fit this inexpensive but sometimes vital bit of hardware but I didn't reallize any manufacturer had actually dropped this connection from their motherboard line up.
Martin

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Participate and help others.

 

[moonguppie]

It shows up in the Bios but does not show up in Windows, not even in Disk Managment. I'm tempted to just return and try another brand because from what I read, Maxtor's SATA drive is one that seems to cause trouble.

Thanks for the quick responses thus far.

A little knowledge is dangerous.

 

[paparazi]

moonguppie
Slightly confused!!
"It shows up in the Bios but does not show up in Windows"
So this is not the Boot Drive?
This is a second storage drive?
Perhaps you could explain your setup at lttle more
So does this motherboard have seperate SATA controller drivers? are they installed?

Martin

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[moonguppie]

I appologize for the confusion.

The SATA drive became a secondary drive when I couldn't get it to work and so now the IDE HD is now the Master and the SATA is the slave. So yes, the SATA drive shows up in the BIOS but it is not recognized by Windows XP.

ASUS A8V board
AMD 64bit 3000
Maxtor Diamondback 250gig SATA 150
Windows XP pro
and so on...

Thanks for the help!

A little knowledge is dangerous.

 

[Freestone]

As both Martin and I have stated, you more than likely need a Windows SATA driver installed.

 

[moonguppie]

Agreed, but as far as I can find Maxtor does not offer anything but the Maxblast4.exe application that creates a bootable floppy disk but this board does not support floppy drives, it just has the RAID port where the floppy port is typically found.

A little knowledge is dangerous.

 

[jurgen36]

The Sata drivers do not come from Maxtor, Seagate etc. They are supplied by the mobo manufacturer. Usually on the installation cd or on a floppy, as this drivers are motherboard dependent. Without this drivers XP can not see the Sata drive. You need a floppy for the installation. Its the fault of XP not the drive manufacturer.
Regards

Jurgen

 

[Freestone]

You would get the drivers from the motherboard manufacturer, in your case ASUS.

Asus site is slow for me today, so this is an excerpt from a post to a user I helped who had an A8V Deluxe. As Jurgen states, you would normally need a floppy drive. Since you have Windows installed, you can put the appropriate files on a flash drive and install them from there.

The drivers and manual can be found on ASUS website. I can't give a direct link, but go to

http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us

then Select Product motherboard, Select Series Socket939, then Select Models A8V Deluxe then click Search

Click the Drivers tab. You'll want drivers from the package titled VIA VT6420 (VT8237) SATA RAID Driver Package Version 2.20D WHQL. Step 7) 2. near bottom of the Readme.txt file tells you what files to copy to the floppy.

 

[LawnBoy]

Nicely detailed, Freestone.

 

[Freestone]

Thanks, LawnBoy.

moonguppie: There is one slight type above (good old cut 'n paste) Select Models A8V Deluxe should read Select Models A8V

 

[moonguppie]

Thanks everyone!

This is my first foray into the world of SATA. Is it typical that the mobo's won't have the drivers or do you always have to download them from the manufacturer's site?

A little knowledge is dangerous.

 

[Freestone]

Usually the drivers are supplied on a CD included with the motherboard.

 

[paparazi]

As I stated early in this thread, this motherboard needed SATA controller drivers installing in order to see the SATA drive correctly in windows.
These drivers are always supplied on the motherboard driver disk
They often are designed to be extracted to a floppy disk so if the SATA drive is the "boot drive" this driver can be installed when prompted ie: (Press F6 to installed third party driver) at the beginning of XP install.
Assuming the owner fitted a $10 floppy drive that is.
Well done Freestone.....lots of nice stars.

Martin

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Participate and help others.