SATA trouble /w Biostar K8VGA-M

[noble]

Hello, I'm once again in need of your help. I'm putting together a computer for a friend. The parts are:

- Biostar K8VGA-M motherboard
- Seagate 160 GB sata hd
- other stuff, with no problems

Heres what happened. I put together all the parts, everything seems to work except the computer can't find the SATA HD. So I check the bios settings and under Integrated Peripherals I switch the SATA mode from RAID to IDE, as I think I'm supposed to. But after I do this the computer won't boot past the Biostar logo.
I know this is not a problem with XP install and sata drivers, the mobo simply won't find the HD. I also tried a different power plug and SATA cable, and when I put the HD in to another computer it worked fine. So I'm pretty sure it's the MOBO with the problem.
I also got the mother board switched to another of the same type from the retailer, exact same results.
What can I do, should I update the bios? Or is there some other thing I can try?

 

[mangyrat]

in bios check the boot order.
it may be trying to boot up to raid or something like that and when bios gets to that point it halts.
set it so it boots to cd, harddrive, floppy and then have it do boot other devices all so

 

[noble]

I'm starting to think this problem is related more to the SATA hd.

When the computer freezes, it's the first screen with the Biostar logo. I can't access bios when this happens, but if I disconnect the SATA hd, the computer won't freeze. So I'm going to try and change the HD today. I'll come back with results, if any.

 

[mangyrat]

good luck im new to sata my self.
i had no problems at all with the wd 250 sata drive bios found.

 

[noble]

YES, it finally works. I exchanged the Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 sata HD for 7200.7 and after that no problems. A weird experience in all. But I'm glad it works now.

 

[mangyrat]

after you tested it in a diferent sys i would have placed $ on it beeing a good drive lol
learn somthing new every day

 

[noble]

Yeah, live and learn.

 

[rivarcan]

SATA II W/jumpers

YES, it finally works. I exchanged the Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 sata HD for 7200.7 and after that no problems. A weird experience in all. But I'm glad it works now.

You should use a jumper on pins 5 & 6 to "downgrade" your HD to 150MB/s data transfer.

Please check here:

http://support.wdc.com/KnowledgeBase/answer.aspx?ID=1337

Second Generation Serial ATA (SATA II) hard drives are not detected when connected to a VIA or SIS Serial ATA controller. These First Generation Serial ATA (SATA I) controllers include the following chipsets:
VT8237
VT8237R
VT6420
VT6421L
SIS760
SIS964

A bit late... but you never know who could still consider this useful