Cannot boot with SATA drive attached

[malison]

I recently bought an SATA drive. My system already has 4 IDE hard drives, a DVD drive, and CD-ROM configured in the following way.

Motherboard is an Asus P4G8X Deluxe

IDE 1 Master: hard drive w/ Windows XP Pro
IDE 1 Slave: CD-RW
IDE 2 Master: hard drive
IDE 2 Slave: hard drive
Promise IDE 1: DVD+-R/RW
SATA 1: new hard drive
SATA 2: unused

I want to boot from the IDE 1 master like I always have been, and use the new SATA drive for additional storage to replace an IDE drive that failed. However, if the SATA is plugged in, the BIOS refuses to boot from the IDE drive. On top of that, it won’t boot from the CD-ROM or floppy drive either!

I’m able to get into the on-board RAID setup. It detects the new drive just fine, and I was able to do a low-level format. Still, the only way I can even boot my computer is to unplug the SATA drive.

Things I’ve tried:
Tried creating a boot floppy -– wont boot from floppy
Tried to install Windows XP on SATA -– wont boot from CD-ROM
Formatting the new drive -– I was able to format the drive, but it doesn’t seem to help
Plugging the SATA into the second SATA slot on the motherboard -- same results
Changing the boot order to only boot from floppy/CD-ROM/or IDE -– boot sequence doesn’t seem to have an affect
Updated the BIOS to the latest version -- no apparent change

I'm out of ideas.

[Cogar]

Unfortunately, I am not familiar enough with your motherboard to offer detailed suggestions. However, I did write a guide that should contain enough information to help. It is located here --> link.

[malison]

Thanks Cogar,

Unfortunately, I can't even boot into Windows (to install the drivers) if the SATA drive is plugged in. I unplugged it, and installed the drivers. The hardware profile shows the RAID controller.

[malison]

Fixed! (sorta)

I was under the impression that SATA drives are "hot-swappable". Since I don't actually have the right unit for a hot swappable drive, I figured it can't hurt to do it manually (could it??)

I plugged the power into the new SATA drive, and plugged the SATA cable into the motherboard (but not into the hard drive). I was able to boot to the IDE drive like normal. Once Windows fully loaded, with a lot of anticipation I might add, I plugged in the SATA cable to the hard drive. So far so good.

I now have a situation that I couldn't seem to get to before. Windows is loaded, and the SATA drive is on and connected. I opened the Device Manager, right-clicked on the Silicon Image SiI 3112 SATARaid Controller and selected "Scan for hardware changes". Next, I went into the properties of the controller to see if it detected the drive. Amazing! It listed everything on the Device Info tab. Disk Drive capacity, model, serial number, firmware revision, and so on. It looked like I was in business!

A quick stop over to the Disk Management snap-in and a wizard popped up. It found a new "Disk 5", and asked if I wanted to initialize it. Done. I performed an NTFS format and the drive showed up in Windows Explorer, ready to be used.

FINALLY!

I haven't rebooted since I got the drive working (just a few minutes ago). I'm affraid I'll have to disconnect the drive, load Windows, and then reconnect it every time I reboot. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

[Bofinn]

I've seen hard drives go bad after "unplugging" them with the system on. be careful!

[wallijonn]

Silicon Image SiI 3112 SATARaid Controller

What other ports are there and are the other ports on a different type of controller (like the ICH5, Promise, etc.)?

[hipster]

One other thing you may want to check in Bios when the Sata is connected is to go to Boot and below "Boot device priorities" is "Hard disk drives" (at least that's how it is with my Asus P4C800E-deluxe)check to make sure your Sata is not set as 1st drive for boot here and change accordingly.
I always have to do this when I temporarily attach a drive to my Primary or secondary ide ports(not in use with my configuration). I'm not sure if this will even apply to your specific situation though? Good luck!