K9N6SGM-V Won't boot XPSP3 off SATA (or Mepis or Win7 either)
Nobody > (Revisited)
fix(es) needed for another time.
(and apologies for not having written down the BIOS rev, etc)
As it sits now, it's running fine with a 500G WD PATA drive.
It just irks the crap out of me that I can't get it working on SATA.
There are no options in the BIOS to set SATA for IDE emulation or AHCI,
and there are only 2 SATA ports on the mobo.
It will access SATA drives just fine, just won't boot.
I suspect it's BIOS/chipset driver issues (nVidea chipset)
Tried updating BIOS, but couldn't get MSI's version of AFUDOS to work
right and didn't feel like trying someone else's AFUDOS at the time.
The whole idea with going SATA was so that I could keep a
running/working recent image/copy on a drive sitting in an Antec
EasySata dockbay for fast recovery. (it's a "long-distance relative"
support thingie). All that would be needed to get them back up would be
a quick walk thru the BIOS and they could boot off the SATA drive in the
EasySata dockbay.
It's not a big deal, they can still keep a fresh image on the SATA drive
in the EasySATA and move it back to the PATA drive with a bootCD of
Easus TODO Backup or Partition Manager (as long as the PATA drive itself
hasn't crashed, and "this user" is far more likely to hose up the boot
with "India-Delta-Tenner-Tango" issues<g>)
But it just pisses me off.
--
"Shit this is it, all the pieces do fit.
We're like that crazy old man jumping
out of the alleyway with a baseball bat,
saying, "Remember me motherfucker?"
Jim “Dandy” Mangrum
Paul
> I don't have the box in front of me, but would like to figure out the
> fix(es) needed for another time.
> (and apologies for not having written down the BIOS rev, etc)
>
> As it sits now, it's running fine with a 500G WD PATA drive.
> It just irks the crap out of me that I can't get it working on SATA.
>
> There are no options in the BIOS to set SATA for IDE emulation or AHCI,
> and there are only 2 SATA ports on the mobo.
>
> It will access SATA drives just fine, just won't boot.
>
> I suspect it's BIOS/chipset driver issues (nVidea chipset)
>
> Tried updating BIOS, but couldn't get MSI's version of AFUDOS to work
> right and didn't feel like trying someone else's AFUDOS at the time.
>
>
>
> The whole idea with going SATA was so that I could keep a
> running/working recent image/copy on a drive sitting in an Antec
> EasySata dockbay for fast recovery. (it's a "long-distance relative"
> support thingie). All that would be needed to get them back up would be
> a quick walk thru the BIOS and they could boot off the SATA drive in the
> EasySata dockbay.
>
> It's not a big deal, they can still keep a fresh image on the SATA drive
> in the EasySATA and move it back to the PATA drive with a bootCD of
> Easus TODO Backup or Partition Manager (as long as the PATA drive itself
> hasn't crashed, and "this user" is far more likely to hose up the boot
> with "India-Delta-Tenner-Tango" issues<g>)
>
> But it just pisses me off.
>
A BIOS update is your best bet.
A Newegg review from 7/10/2008 says
"Cons: Boot sequence gets confused if you mix SATA and PATA drives
when both have OSes installed. BIOS settings don't seem to
stick if you let the normal boot sequence happen. I'm sure
a BIOS update would fix the problem."
Since the BIOS is so basic looking, that might be your only option.
You say you can access the disks in regular situations, so that
rules out hardware issues.
Paul
Nobody > (Revisited)
> A BIOS update is your best bet.
>
> A Newegg review from 7/10/2008 says
>
> "Cons: Boot sequence gets confused if you mix SATA and PATA drives
> when both have OSes installed. BIOS settings don't seem to
> stick if you let the normal boot sequence happen. I'm sure
> a BIOS update would fix the problem."
>
> Since the BIOS is so basic looking, that might be your only option.
> You say you can access the disks in regular situations, so that
> rules out hardware issues.
>
> Paul
Thanks, that's about what I suspected.
MSI uses AFUDOS as a BIOS tool (and am well acquainted with it...)
The version MSI provides is ancient, goes off-screen on both CRT and LED
monitors.
I've always used the version supplied by the board vendor, but am
wondering if using the version(s) directly off AMI's website would work.
http://www.ami.com/support/bios.cfm
Actually, it looks like they also have a Windows version as well.
That may work better in this case, as I'm having to support this machine
via TeamViewer remotely..
Paul
> On 7/11/2011 11:02 PM, Paul wrote:
>
>> A BIOS update is your best bet.
>>
>> A Newegg review from 7/10/2008 says
>>
>> "Cons: Boot sequence gets confused if you mix SATA and PATA drives
>> when both have OSes installed. BIOS settings don't seem to
>> stick if you let the normal boot sequence happen. I'm sure
>> a BIOS update would fix the problem."
>>
>> Since the BIOS is so basic looking, that might be your only option.
>> You say you can access the disks in regular situations, so that
>> rules out hardware issues.
>>
>> Paul
>
>
> Thanks, that's about what I suspected.
>
> MSI uses AFUDOS as a BIOS tool (and am well acquainted with it...)
> The version MSI provides is ancient, goes off-screen on both CRT and LED
> monitors.
>
> I've always used the version supplied by the board vendor, but am
> wondering if using the version(s) directly off AMI's website would work.
>
> http://www.ami.com/support/bios.cfm
>
> Actually, it looks like they also have a Windows version as well.
> That may work better in this case, as I'm having to support this machine
> via TeamViewer remotely..
As long as the BIOS chip is socketed and can be removed for
maintenance, go for it. If the BIOS chip is soldered in,
think twice (do the research, and find out how often
the various provided flash methods, fail).
If the flash update fails, there is always badflash.com .
If the chip is socketed, you can extricate yourself for
about $30. (Less, if a local shop has a programmer you
can use. I used to have access to a universal programmer
at work, that could program practically anything, for
a purchase price of around $7000.)
The same can't be said, for the newer motherboards with
serial flash on them. There is a seven pin header for
re-flash, but try and find a reasonably priced flasher.
On many boards, the eight pin DIP is soldered in. Only
a few, bother with a socket. Many people end up sending
the board back to the manufacturer, to get rescued. At
least with the older boards, with 32 PLCC chip package in
a socket, there are more options.
Paul
Nobody > (Revisited)
No biggie if the flash fails, never gave been all that happy with this
mobo. The nVidea chipset on this muddaboad has never really impressed me.
There's still some new (or NOS) AMD/ATI chipsetted AM2+ DDR2 mobos out
there, so I can reuse the CPU and RAM.
--
"Shit this is it, all the pieces do fit.
We're like that crazy old man jumping
out of the alleyway with a baseball bat,
saying, "Remember me motherfucker?"
Jim �Dandy� Mangrum