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Thread ID: 82219	2007-08-19 23:57:00	Using all my SATA connectors? MSI P965 Neo	HCLPfan (12696)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
582881	2007-08-19 23:57:00	So long story short, after days of troubleshooting I have figured out what the actual problem I am having is but just can't figure out how to fix it. On my new MSI P965 Neo mobo I have 5 available SATA ports. One of them is run by a different chipset than the other four and is my main boot drive and has no problems. The other four, however, are recognized in the bios as IDE even though they are SATA which i believe is how its supposed to be (some type of emulator or something I dunno). But anyway, if I go into the bios all my drives are detected as follows: IDE Primary Master: One of the HD's IDE Primary Slave: None IDE Secondary Master: One of the HD's IDE Secondary Slave: None IDE Third Master: One of the HD's IDE Fourth Master: One of the HD's Now it recognizes them just fine but the problem is that if they are all plugged in the system can't fully boot up. For some reason everything works fine if i only have the third and fourth drives plugged in but if i have anything plugged into the primary or secondary windows holds on bootup at the boot screen as seen here: img3.freeimagehosting.net So basically i can boot up with whatever two storage drives I want but i can't boot up if anything is plugged into the primary or secondary. Does anyone have any ideas why this could be?	HCLPfan (12696)
582882	2007-08-20 00:19:00	From what you wrote [Quote] IDE Primary Master: One of the HD's IDE Primary Slave: None IDE Secondary Master: One of the HD's IDE Secondary Slave: None IDE Third Master: One of the HD's IDE Fourth Master: One of the HD's It looks like all the drives are trying to be "Master". Check the boot order in the BIOS and make sure the drive with the OS is being told to boot first, then set each drive to load in the order as required. See if that helps.	wainuitech (129)
582883	2007-08-20 02:36:00	It looks like all the drives are trying to be "Master". All SATA drives are Master It's a cheap mobo, try updating the BIOS or replace the board with a good brand.	Rob99 (151)
582884	2007-08-20 02:42:00	All SATA drives are Master It's a cheap mobo, try updating the BIOS or replace the board with a good brand. Maybe I didn't word it quite right - Hence if all drives are trying to boot as the master at once then it wont work, thats why I suggested set boot order. Replacing the board "for a good One" probley wouldn't fix the problem. The BIOS update is more useful. [Quote] All SATA drives are Master [End] If thats the case then why is it on my workshop PC with 3 SATA drives, 1 is master the other 2 are slave ?	wainuitech (129)
582885	2007-08-20 03:00:00	Rob is right, all SATA drives are master, do you see a master/slave jumper on a SATA drive? no. Have a look here: www.macgurus.com it states "Installation of SATA drives couldn't be easier. No jumpers to configure since all SATA drives are pre-configured as Master."	The_End_Of_Reality (334)
582886	2007-08-20 03:27:00	Rob is right, all SATA drives are master, do you see a master/slave jumper on a SATA drive? no. Have a look here: www.macgurus.com it states "Installation of SATA drives couldn't be easier. No jumpers to configure since all SATA drives are pre-configured as Master." I know that,:) I have a Gigabyte MB/ 3 SATA drives,( capable of taking 4) 1 DVD Writer. When looking at the BIOS it shows as follows 1 drive is a master ( 320GB), the DVD is a master and the two other SATA drives ( 160 + 80GB)are showing as slaves. All I was meaning and thats the original point - make sure the main drive that has the OS installed is actually the 1st to boot and not the other drives. I have had it when using multi drives the wrong ones booting 1st. As rob pointed out, a BIOS upgrade may fix that problem. Agreeing or disagreeing on whats master /slave wont fix the problem HCLPfan has. [Quote]So basically i can boot up with whatever two storage drives I want but i can't boot up if anything is plugged into the primary or secondary. Does anyone have any ideas why this could be?[end} When you say primary or secondary do you mean something like a Optical drive or another HD ? I have had this happen before myself, and it was the boot order in the BIOS, the ATA drive was trying boot before the SATA drives. So how about some helpful advice or suggestion to try:thumbs:	wainuitech (129)
582887	2007-08-20 04:20:00	Don't know if this will help or not, but I did manage to Duplicate the problem you are having, but your final fix may be different. Connected 4 SATA drives, still showed in BIOS as 2 Master 2 Slave with primary spare. Booted OK. Reset BIOS to default. Plugged in a 40GB ATA drive into Primary and thats the drive that tried to boot first (empty drive, but formatted) That was on a gigabyte board not a MSI. In my case, change the boot order to 320 SATA to boot first, and away it went. When running, all 5 drives showed in My Computer.	wainuitech (129)
582888	2007-08-20 06:08:00	Actually I was simply clarifying something, there is no harm in that, people could get the wrong idea with what you said, nothing wrong with me correcting it, that is unless you don't like to be corrected :rolleyes:	The_End_Of_Reality (334)
582889	2007-08-20 06:26:00	Actually I was simply clarifying something, there is no harm in that, people could get the wrong idea with what you said, nothing wrong with me correcting it, that is unless you don't like to be corrected :rolleyes: LOL:lol: I have no worries about being corrected if I make a mistake.:D No ones perfect apart from Xtra (wont go there:p ) they think so any way. Lets just hope HCLPfan can have his problem resolved. - 1 Problem can have many different answers / solutions.	wainuitech (129)
582890	2007-08-20 11:40:00	Certainly have to check the BIOS boot order. It's also quite handy for selecting an opsys e.g. I used this to switch between XP and Vista while transitioning.	linw (53)
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