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I'm adding a new hard drive (A seagate ST31000340NS; I had links in here but I don't have enough reputation to post them. Interestingly, the bios recognizes it as a ST31000340AS, but it was bought as the other number...) to a friend's hp pavilion d4650e (mobo specs; google the model if you want the rest of the info, can't do more than one link.). Have had quite a time with it. Finally figured out that the hard drive needed a jumper set to limit the speed to 1.5gbps so the mobo would recognize it, and the bios DOES recognize it now. But not windows (using windows 7), using add new hardware or diskmgmt.msc. According to my friend, who was at the computer when it first booted after adding the jumper, a new hardware found dealio popped up saying something about raid, but I can't provide more info then that since I didn't see it.

Ubuntu livecd recognized the drive before we changed the jumper. Haven't checked since then. XP didn't recognize it, that's the OS we started with. Upgraded to 7 hoping it might fix the problem.

The only other info I can think of that might be immediately relevant is that the drive is plugged into the fifth sata channel, and the first channel is empty. Is this a problem? I assume not, because the two other drives (in a raid 0) and the cd and dvd drives are also on channels past the first one, and are recognized.

Ask questions and I'll update with info!

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  • If there's no HDD mode options in the BIOS, how is the existing RAID 0 controlled? Is that RAID made of PATA drives? Also you mention it's plugged into the "fifth sata channel" yet the mobo specs say there's only 4 sata ports? Feb 4, 2010 at 3:53
  • Also, you say Add New Hardware doesn't find it, and that it doesn't show up in Disk Mgr, but does is it showing up in the Device Manager? Feb 4, 2010 at 4:17
  • There's a raid controller built-in. The raid is SATA drives, and I don't know where the settings are for them exactly, because I haven't been messing with them. They are listed in the BIOS but I've not gone into the detail view for either of them. It doesn't show in device manager. And the specs are right, there are only four sata ports on the mobo, but the bios reports six channels. =P Also, Device Manager does not recognize the drive.
    – user27129
    Feb 5, 2010 at 11:26

3 Answers 3

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I'm adding a new hard drive, a Seagate ST31000340NS. Interestingly, the bios recognizes it as a ST31000340AS, but it was bought as the other number...

If it were me, I would take the sucker out and check the label to make sure it matches what you bought. And if after you get past your current problems if the drive model is still reported as AS rather than NS I would check with Seagate about it.

The ST31000340NS looks to be the enterprise version of the drive and I assume you paid a premium for it. Seagate may indeed sell exactly the same hardware and only change the labels and the warranty periods ... but you should at least get the label you (I assume) paid extra for. No?

Finally figured out that the hard drive needed a jumper set to limit the speed to 1.5gbps so the mobo would recognize it, and the bios DOES recognize it now.

This is supposed to be auto-negotiated ... oh, well. Suppose it doesn't make any difference since the board apparently doesn't support anything better than first generation SATA speeds.

But not windows (using windows 7), using add new hardware or diskmgmt.msc.

"Add new hardware" is not where I would be looking. I would look in the device manager (run the command devmgmt.msc in a command prompt). I expect you will find the drive listed there. My guess is that it is probably also showing up in diskmgmt.msc and just needs to be (1) initialized (assigned a MS serial number?) and (2) formatted. But WTHDIRK?

Ubuntu livecd recognized the drive

Which is why I expect Windows 7 will also recognize it. I seriously do not see how this could be a driver issue. Any drivers for the chipsets on this motherboard would already be included in Windows 7.

You might have a problem with Windows XP if you used too early a version. Heck, the early versions of Windows XP did not even support a hard drive capacity larger than 128GB. XP was around a long time and went through some changes. But so long as you were using at least XP SP2 you should have been OK there as well.

The only other info I can think of that might be immediately relevant is that the drive is plugged into the fifth sata channel, and the first channel is empty. Is this a problem?

You lost me here. Below is an image of the motherboard from the link in your question. There are only four SATA ports on this board. Why are you talking about the "fifth sata channel"? There are only four SATA ports unless the motherboard reference you gave is wrong.

Are you using the latest BIOS? If not I would get it from HP and upgrade. (It was dated Dec of 2007 IIRC).

A8M2N-LA (NodusM3) motherboard

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The controller mode in the BIOS is set to AHCI? That certainly is an issue with XP and maybe with Windows 7 too, depending on the controller.

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  • The bios has no options for AHCI or other modes. The only option related to the controller/hard drives are whether to enable the sata controller or not, and that's only for ports 3 and 4, according to the info in the bios.
    – user27129
    Feb 4, 2010 at 3:12
  • @tehgeekmeister - that's so typical HP, no surprise. the only way around is to load the SATA drivers during Windows Setup. XP only allows to load those drivers via Floppy disk (or you slipstream the drivers into the CD). You will probably not find XP drivers on the HP support. Windows 7 allows to load the drivers from USB during setup.website, you'll have to check the controller manufacturer's website.
    – Molly7244
    Feb 4, 2010 at 3:40
  • The only drivers available for win7 for that chipset are an earlier version than what's included in win7 according to windows, so I didn't install them. I did find the drivers, however, and was about to install them. Are you sure they have to be installed during setup for an extra hard drive to be recognized?
    – user27129
    Feb 5, 2010 at 11:23
  • i'm not talking about the chipset driver, i'm talking about the SATA controller. however, if that drivers is required, it would be available from HP (for Windows 7, not Windows XP, as the folks at HP don't think they have an obligation to provide for an operating system that wasn't shipped with this computer).
    – Molly7244
    Feb 5, 2010 at 12:14
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Right Click on Computer Click on Manage. Double click on Disk Management.

Do you see the drive there? Is it missing a Drive letter? It's possible that windows just doesn't know what the drive letter should be so it goes "ooohhhaaaahhhhhhhhhaoaoaoaoahhhh!! UNH!" and decides not to show it.

You can give it a drive letter by right clicking it and selecting "Change Drive Letter and Paths..."

Quote by Jeff Dunham on his Christmas show .... Dunno why I thought of that when looking at your issue. :)

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  • He says that it's not visible "using add new hardware or diskmgmt.msc". "Diskmgmt.msc" being the standalone Disk Management console. ;) Feb 4, 2010 at 4:25

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