xp won't recognise third SATA drive

> davesurrey wrote:

>> Have been using XP Pro with an AsRock ConroeXFire-eSata2 mobo and two
>> sata HDDs and it' s been nice and stable.
>> Now trying to add a third SATA drive but although the BIOS sees the third
>> drive it doesn't show in XP (neither an icon in my computer nor in Disk
>> Management.)
>> I formatted this third drive by disconnecting the second one temporarily
>> so windows would recognise it and then format and make active in Disk
>> Management.
>> But reconnecting back all 3 disks I can only see two again, except in the
>> BIOS.
>> Bios is AMI P1.40 09/06/2006.
>> To me this looks like a Windows and/or driver issue and not BIOS as the
>> bios sees the three drives. But I could be wrong.
>> Help please.
>> Thanks

>
> Verify how the Southbridge ports are set up.
>
> The ICH7 has four SATA and an IDE connector, capable of handling six
> disks.
> Intel splits these up as three groups of two, for the purposes of this
> discussion. Two SATA behave like an old ribbon cable, so that is why
> I think of them as working in pairs.
>
> If a person wanted to install Win98, Win98 expects command and control
> addresses in the I/O space, and the disks to be at IRQ14 and IRQ15. Intel
> set up a mode, called the "legacy" mode, where any four disks could be
> mapped to look like that. But the four disks would be arranged in pairs.
> For example, if in "legacy" mode, the four SATA could work as if they
> were two ribbon cables, but that would leave the IDE port disabled.
> Or, you could use a pair of SATA, the second pair of SATA would be
> disabled, and the IDE port would work. Legacy supports four of six
> potential drive spots.
>
> Your symptoms sound like the system was installed, while the chipset
> was in legacy mode.
>
> In Native mode, all six disks can be used at the same time. All disks
> are mapped into the PCI address space. (Command and control registers
> are an offset to the PCI Base Address Register or BAR.) Win2K and
> WinXP have native mode drivers that understand this PCI mapping, when
> a certain minimum Service Pack is being used.
>
> Looking in the manual, the BIOS default appears to be Enhanced. So if you
> hadn't touched the settings, all would be fine. (I've seen
> at least one product, that uses a Legacy setting as the default.) I'm
> looking at PDF page 50. Enhanced is the one I'd use. "Compatible"
> is the Legacy operating option, and will limit the number of working
> ports to four of six.
>
> http://download.asrock.com/manual/Co...ire-eSATA2.pdf
>
> So the question is, what would happen if you change the BIOS setting,
> while an existing OS is installed ?
>
> Maybe someone else knows the answer to that. I'm not going to guess.
>
> Generally, you want to select the exactly right settings on page 50,
> before installing any OS, because the consequences of a mistake, mean
> lots of cleanup work later. For example, on Intel chipsets, moving
> between RAID for boot, and non-RAID for boot, in terms of drivers,
> is a PITA.
>
> For some background on Native versus Legacy, Intel has this document.
> It doesn't explain everything, but will give a few hints about how it
> works.
>
> (SATA Programmers Reference Manual - PDF page 11 is best)
>
> http://www.intel.com/design/chipsets/manuals/252671.htm
>
> Paul

> "Paul" <nospam@needed.com> wrote in message news:g4j4md$slv$1@aioe.org...

>> davesurrey wrote:

>>> Have been using XP Pro with an AsRock ConroeXFire-eSata2 mobo and two
>>> sata HDDs and it' s been nice and stable.
>>> Now trying to add a third SATA drive but although the BIOS sees the third
>>> drive it doesn't show in XP (neither an icon in my computer nor in Disk
>>> Management.)
>>> I formatted this third drive by disconnecting the second one temporarily
>>> so windows would recognise it and then format and make active in Disk
>>> Management.
>>> But reconnecting back all 3 disks I can only see two again, except in the
>>> BIOS.
>>> Bios is AMI P1.40 09/06/2006.
>>> To me this looks like a Windows and/or driver issue and not BIOS as the
>>> bios sees the three drives. But I could be wrong.
>>> Help please.
>>> Thanks

>> Verify how the Southbridge ports are set up.
>>
>> The ICH7 has four SATA and an IDE connector, capable of handling six
>> disks.
>> Intel splits these up as three groups of two, for the purposes of this
>> discussion. Two SATA behave like an old ribbon cable, so that is why
>> I think of them as working in pairs.
>>
>> If a person wanted to install Win98, Win98 expects command and control
>> addresses in the I/O space, and the disks to be at IRQ14 and IRQ15. Intel
>> set up a mode, called the "legacy" mode, where any four disks could be
>> mapped to look like that. But the four disks would be arranged in pairs.
>> For example, if in "legacy" mode, the four SATA could work as if they
>> were two ribbon cables, but that would leave the IDE port disabled.
>> Or, you could use a pair of SATA, the second pair of SATA would be
>> disabled, and the IDE port would work. Legacy supports four of six
>> potential drive spots.
>>
>> Your symptoms sound like the system was installed, while the chipset
>> was in legacy mode.
>>
>> In Native mode, all six disks can be used at the same time. All disks
>> are mapped into the PCI address space. (Command and control registers
>> are an offset to the PCI Base Address Register or BAR.) Win2K and
>> WinXP have native mode drivers that understand this PCI mapping, when
>> a certain minimum Service Pack is being used.
>>
>> Looking in the manual, the BIOS default appears to be Enhanced. So if you
>> hadn't touched the settings, all would be fine. (I've seen
>> at least one product, that uses a Legacy setting as the default.) I'm
>> looking at PDF page 50. Enhanced is the one I'd use. "Compatible"
>> is the Legacy operating option, and will limit the number of working
>> ports to four of six.
>>
>> http://download.asrock.com/manual/Co...ire-eSATA2.pdf
>>
>> So the question is, what would happen if you change the BIOS setting,
>> while an existing OS is installed ?
>>
>> Maybe someone else knows the answer to that. I'm not going to guess.
>>
>> Generally, you want to select the exactly right settings on page 50,
>> before installing any OS, because the consequences of a mistake, mean
>> lots of cleanup work later. For example, on Intel chipsets, moving
>> between RAID for boot, and non-RAID for boot, in terms of drivers,
>> is a PITA.
>>
>> For some background on Native versus Legacy, Intel has this document.
>> It doesn't explain everything, but will give a few hints about how it
>> works.
>>
>> (SATA Programmers Reference Manual - PDF page 11 is best)
>>
>> http://www.intel.com/design/chipsets/manuals/252671.htm
>>
>> Paul

>
> Hi Paul,
> Thanks for your very comprehensive reply. However (although you were not to
> know) I knew the bulk of that already.
> My set-up uses Extended mode already and this was set-up prior to WinXP
> install.
> I have read elsewhere that trying to change to AHCI mode may help (but there
> again no-one has confirmed this) but changing it may well cause WinXP to
> freeze. Guess what? I can confirm it does.
> Where do I go from here?
> Does this look like a WinXp issue or the BIOS of what?
> Thanks
>

> davesurrey wrote:

>> "Paul" <nospam@needed.com> wrote in message
>> news:g4j4md$slv$1@aioe.org...

>>> davesurrey wrote:
>>>> Have been using XP Pro with an AsRock ConroeXFire-eSata2 mobo and two
>>>> sata HDDs and it' s been nice and stable. Now trying to add a third
>>>> SATA drive but although the BIOS sees the third drive it doesn't show
>>>> in XP (neither an icon in my computer nor in Disk Management.)
>>>> I formatted this third drive by disconnecting the second one
>>>> temporarily so windows would recognise it and then format and make
>>>> active in Disk Management.
>>>> But reconnecting back all 3 disks I can only see two again, except in
>>>> the BIOS.
>>>> Bios is AMI P1.40 09/06/2006.
>>>> To me this looks like a Windows and/or driver issue and not BIOS as
>>>> the bios sees the three drives. But I could be wrong. Help please.
>>>> Thanks
>>> Verify how the Southbridge ports are set up.
>>>
>>> The ICH7 has four SATA and an IDE connector, capable of handling six
>>> disks.
>>> Intel splits these up as three groups of two, for the purposes of this
>>> discussion. Two SATA behave like an old ribbon cable, so that is why I
>>> think of them as working in pairs.
>>>
>>> If a person wanted to install Win98, Win98 expects command and control
>>> addresses in the I/O space, and the disks to be at IRQ14 and IRQ15.
>>> Intel set up a mode, called the "legacy" mode, where any four disks
>>> could be mapped to look like that. But the four disks would be
>>> arranged in pairs. For example, if in "legacy" mode, the four SATA
>>> could work as if they were two ribbon cables, but that would leave the
>>> IDE port disabled. Or, you could use a pair of SATA, the second pair
>>> of SATA would be disabled, and the IDE port would work. Legacy
>>> supports four of six potential drive spots.
>>>
>>> Your symptoms sound like the system was installed, while the chipset
>>> was in legacy mode.
>>>
>>> In Native mode, all six disks can be used at the same time. All disks
>>> are mapped into the PCI address space. (Command and control registers
>>> are an offset to the PCI Base Address Register or BAR.) Win2K and
>>> WinXP have native mode drivers that understand this PCI mapping, when
>>> a certain minimum Service Pack is being used.
>>>
>>> Looking in the manual, the BIOS default appears to be Enhanced. So if
>>> you hadn't touched the settings, all would be fine. (I've seen at
>>> least one product, that uses a Legacy setting as the default.) I'm
>>> looking at PDF page 50. Enhanced is the one I'd use. "Compatible" is
>>> the Legacy operating option, and will limit the number of working
>>> ports to four of six.
>>>
>>> http://download.asrock.com/manual/Co...ire-eSATA2.pdf
>>>
>>> So the question is, what would happen if you change the BIOS setting,
>>> while an existing OS is installed ?
>>>
>>> Maybe someone else knows the answer to that. I'm not going to guess.
>>>
>>> Generally, you want to select the exactly right settings on page 50,
>>> before installing any OS, because the consequences of a mistake, mean
>>> lots of cleanup work later. For example, on Intel chipsets, moving
>>> between RAID for boot, and non-RAID for boot, in terms of drivers, is
>>> a PITA.
>>>
>>> For some background on Native versus Legacy, Intel has this document.
>>> It doesn't explain everything, but will give a few hints about how it
>>> works.
>>>
>>> (SATA Programmers Reference Manual - PDF page 11 is best)
>>>
>>> http://www.intel.com/design/chipsets/manuals/252671.htm
>>>
>>> Paul

>>
>> Hi Paul,
>> Thanks for your very comprehensive reply. However (although you were
>> not to know) I knew the bulk of that already. My set-up uses Extended
>> mode already and this was set-up prior to WinXP install.
>> I have read elsewhere that trying to change to AHCI mode may help (but
>> there again no-one has confirmed this) but changing it may well cause
>> WinXP to freeze. Guess what? I can confirm it does. Where do I go from
>> here?
>> Does this look like a WinXp issue or the BIOS of what? Thanks
>>
>>

> I would have thought Enhanced IDE would have worked for all six ports.
> If the port is physically working, the drive should be detected.
>
> AHCI and RAID require a driver, and there is the chicken versus egg
> problem, where if you switch to AHCI, the system won't boot. And if you
> leave the startup option alone, the new driver won't install unless it
> sees the enumeration it wants. So there isn't an easy solution for
> moving from vanilla mode, to AHCI or RAID. (AHCI supports hot plug,
> which is the first advantage of that driver, that comes to mind.)
>
> A repair install is one option. Press F6 and offer drivers. And then put
> back any missing Service Packs or Security patches via Windows Update.
>
> A second option I've seen described, is moving the C: drive to another
> controller. For example, installing a separate SATA card, install
> drivers for the SATA card, move the drive over to the SATA card and boot
> from it, change the Southbridge setting and then install the new
> Southbridge driver. And finally, move the drive connector back to the
> Southbridge port.
>
> http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/19...ching-storage-

>
> I've heard that there exists a recipe, to change the driver without
> doing either of those options, but I haven't been able to find the
> recipe lately. Finding the right search terms to use, is always fun.
>
> Paul