URGENT! Cannot recognize hard drive!

catalyst1

BSOD
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I just put together a computer:

Gigabyte GA-K8U
AMD Sempron 2800+
Western Digital Caviar SE 80GB
OCZ 512MB stick
MSI NX6200

Now, the hard drive definitely powers on - I hear it spin up and everything, and the BIOS itself recognizes it. The problem comes in when I try to install Windows. The installer tells me that it cannot find a hard drive! I tried another hard drive, switching the SATA port on the motherboard and different copies of the Windows installer. What's going on? Is it possible that this board doesn't have full SATA compatibility? I did notice that the SATA support seems to be separate from the BIOS, but I'm not sure. URGH! I need to have this working by tomorrow! THANKS GUYS!
 
Did you check all cables? Make sure they're all connected securely and in the right places? If the mobo is pata and hd is sata, i dun think it's going to work. But I doubt that you got that mixed up... hmmmmm. I'll get back to you...
 
Why don't you install the third party drivers for the sata connection....
you will have to drag them out of the driver files in the mobo driver disc and slip them to floppy.. There should be a how to(read me) file in the disc.

reboot with xp installation disc and right after you are prompted to hit any key to boot to cd there will be a quick prompt for loading the third party driver files by hitting F6 you must do this ASAP or you will pass it up and will have to keep rebooting till you get them installed properly
 
I would try that, except I have no immediate way of getting the files onto floppy. I just have my laptop running right now with no floppy drive.
 
Update: A curious thing - I just got done installing Windows 98 on it. How can Windows 98 be able to install without a hitch, and Windows XP Pro be having such a problem? I really need some help here!

I'm gonna go try to upgrade from Win98 now. If that doesn't work, I'll try to copy the drivers from the mobo CD in Win98.... or something.
 
no.... In command prompt you have to install the sata drivers, thats the answer cus my mate had the same probelm, then he installed the drivers in command or ms-dos and it instaled windows.
 
How exactly do I do that? Also, what if the computer in question has no floppy drive? The mobo driver disc is CD, so what can I do?
 
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