Multipurpose topic

I have to vent, and I have problems that need solving (some of which are psychological, and I don't expect you to help me with). So, it is indeed multipurpose and I didn't mislead you with the title.

First, I am incredibly frustrated. I hate computers, and they feel the same about me. We used to get along, but it appears something soured the relationship. I just bought a new system, and had the computer store set it up by installing all the hardware. I get into the Windows XP Pro install stage, and it tells me that I don't have a hard drive. WTF? I look inside, and switch where the SATA cable is attached to the motherboard. Still nothing after I turn the power back on. FUCK! Then I take the side panel of the case off again, wiggle around the SATA cable again for a bit (I have a second one so I was trying to switch them in case the cable is FUBAR, but I could disconnect it from the drive and didn't want to force the issue). I go to turn on the power, and sparks come out of the power supply. Shit. I hope to hell that it was just the psu that shorted, and not the motherboard. I am so upset, because I always have trouble setting these things up, and I just wanted to install Windows and some other programs before I went to bed.

Now, for my problems. Why isn't it recognizing my SATA drive? It's this motherboard, so it should work with it. And, why are computers so frustrating? They never cooperate when you need them to. It's like having an annoying younger sibling that likes pushing your "buttons" when you are pissed off.

AAAAGGHHH!!!!!!

For those interested, my system includes the following:
AMD Athlon64 3000+
Sapphire Radeon 9600XT 128 MB
512 MB PC3200 RAM
80 GB SATA 7200 RPM
The aforementioned mobo
AGear AXio 868 BK case with 480 W psu
NEC 17" Flatscreen CRT

 

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Sorry, don't know nothing about SATA drives. But, I can commiserate with the dreaded computer "problems." Seems like a lot of computer problems have no basis, just random perturbations from sunspots or some crap. You'll spend hours diddling with this and that and just when you've reached the point of frustration and are about to throw the fucker out the window, it miraculously works. For no reason. Maybe it has something to do with the uncertainty principle.

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Don't fiddle with it any more. Call your manufacturer and ask them how to proceed. Must be a warranty, heh? "Sparks" sounds pretty serious.

 

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Check the SATA drive for Jumpers, Your jumpers might be misconfigured. You will either want Cable Select (CB) or define which is Master (MA)* and which is Slave (SL) in the instance of multiple drives.

If you don't configure the jumper correctly, the drive will appear not to work, however it could just be this single thing keeping you from installing.

(* Choose MA if CB doesn't work for single drive setups)

One other note, If you have only one drive in your BIOS DESELECT RAID... RAID only work with two or more drives, so it might also cause errors if you only have one drive.

 

check for MASTER and SLAVE behind the hard drive.,theres a black or brown or blue cover(small,open from one side cubiodal shaped cover,hiding the open pins) Check this or i could say if the above (similiar to what Strydie mentioned) doesnt work,then it could be that :

• your HD is in trouble.
• Cable you are using to connect from MBoard isnt working anymore.
• or check for Primary or Secondary slots.Are you connecting accoring to your settings of Jumper?

I am not a misandroid myself(i cant be,its my field!

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) but yeah i know how frustating it can be.

bye!

 

I will have a look at the jumper settings, but I think I am going to take it to a different computer shop to have them look that the psu problem (at least I hope that's what it is), so they can look at the HD as well. The thing is though, the computer store I bought it from built it for me, so you would think that they would do it right.