Member Avatar for hund2110

I just bought a Maxtor Maxline III 250 GB SATA-II 300 HD to put in my Sapphire PURE Crossfire motherboard, and even though BIOS detects it, the operating system when I try to install Windows, does not.

Now I've tried several things:

Frist I ran Maxtor's diagnostics program powerMax, which didn't find a harddrive either.

Then I made a boot disc with MaxBlast, which sure enough detected the harddrive, but still nothing happened in Windows Installation.

Then I copied the ATI Raid drivers from my Motherboard Bundle Disc to a floppy and pressed F6 during Windows installation and now it tells me it can't read the floppy because it doesn't recognize the "file-system" or something like that?

I'm just at a loss...I've been struggling all day.

Any advice would be a godsend!

It's worth noting that I own two other harddrives. A Seagate and a Maxtor, and while I can run Windows fine on the Maxtor disk, if I try to delete the partition it doesn't recognize the harddrive either.

  • 4 Contributors
  • 4 Replies
  • 186 Views
  • 4 Years Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by ch_srao12

Dani AI

Generated

If the BIOS sees the disk but the Windows installer does not, the problem is almost always a storage-controller/driver mismatch or the installer not being able to read the driver media — not a dead drive. has already done useful diagnostics; the following is a focused, prioritized checklist and explanation that fills gaps the replies did not cover (and it shows why ’s request for the motherboard model is important).

First things to try (in this order): change the SATA controller mode in BIOS to “IDE” or “Compatibility” temporarily so the installer can use the generic ATA driver (note: changing the mode on an existing Windows install can break that install, so disconnect other Windows drives or back up first); use a known-good internal floppy for the Windows XP F6 flow (many external USB floppies or images are invisible to text-mode setup); ensure any F6 floppy contains extracted driver files (.inf, .sys, .cat, and/or txtsetup.oem) in the root — not just an .exe installer. If you cannot supply a real floppy, create an installation ISO with the controller drivers integrated (slipstream with nLite or similar).

If the installer still won’t see the disk, boot a Linux live CD/USB (GParted/Ubuntu/SystemRescue) to confirm the kernel sees the drive (/dev/sdX) and to inspect dmesg for errors — if Linux sees it, the drive and cables are likely fine and this points squarely at the Windows driver. If Linux does not see it, try a different SATA cable/port, swap the SATA power connector, and test the disk in another PC to rule out a bad cable/power or a drive RMA.

Final notes: check you have the correct chipset controller driver for the exact motherboard model and OS bitness, avoid using compressed vendor installers on the floppy, and be cautious about BIOS updates — only flash if a specific controller bug is documented. These steps prioritize safe verification before destructive fixes.

Recommended Answers

All 4 Replies

Member Avatar for sillycliff

please list specs of motherboard

Member Avatar for csecondfaze008

Make sure that the jumper on the hdd is set to cable select, master or slave, and that its position is activated in the bios. Try a different ide cable, in some rare instances the pc wont detect the hdd so you have to set jumper to slave and put cd drive in master position and it detects for some reason. One sure fire way is plugging the hdd into a different pc that detects it and format/partition optional and then put it back in the one thats being a POS for no reason and try it.

Member Avatar for csecondfaze008

Also rare, try a bios flash and if the bios detects it put not the windows installation disk then download Opensuse or Ubuntu Linux Distro .iso and format/partition with that disk, then put windows back in it should work. If none of that works than i would have to see it to help you. good luck

Member Avatar for ch_srao12

My Desktop Bios had detected Hard Disc. I have try to install the XP Operating system. I have select the CD Boot completed default drivers after that start the windows than system not take hard disc. while that time keyboard and mouse are not working. what can i do?

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.