[rogerh]

Hello,

Let me preface this by saying that this is my first motherboard upgrade, so I could be making the most simple mistakes......

I got a more current ASUS motherboard (P5K), and am trying to bring up my system. The MB will post and allow me into the ASUS bios control panel. I have the latest bios installed (correct for the CPU), and the CPU and memory are correctly recognized. Problem is that my IDE drives (hard drive with Linux, and DVD burner) are not recognized - I have no SATA drives. The IDE cable and master slave arrangement are the same as for my old ASUS board, and works fine with the old board. I figure either that I have not set up the bios correctly, or the IDE/SATA controller on the ASUS board is having trouble. Once I exit the bios, the system does seem to identify the HD as bootable - the Mandriva blue screen for 2010.2 comes on and the countdown happens, then the little loading icon spins on the bottom of the screen for a long time (don't hear the disk being read), and then a sizable error message (seemingly about not being able to find any devices or root).

Any suggestions or observations?? I have reinstalled the old MB so that I have internet access, so any testing would entail putting the new board back in (not too bad, but don't want to make a habit of it......)

Thanks -- Roger

[daniewicz]

I would clear the CMOS on the new motherboard to return it to its default settings, then retry. There will be a jumper on the board to achieve this (you will need the manual to locate the jumper). Alternately, remove the battery from the motherboard and wait 5 minutes with the power supply unplugged. Either way you have the motherboard returned to its default state which is where you want to start.

[rogerh]

Hi,

Thanks for the suggestion. I did clear the CMOS when I was having trouble getting the MB to post (removed the battery and shifted the jumper for 10+ sec) - it fixed the posting problem, but then I hit this IDE drive recognition problem.....

Regards -- Roger

[daniewicz]

Are there more than one IDE slots you can plug into? May the slot you are trying is bad.

Try plugging and unplugging several times into the IDE slot to ensure a good connection.

[rogerh]

Sadly there is only one IDE slot (I gather all is going SATA - lucky to get one IDE slot I guess....). I have contacted the vendor and they are taking the board back. Now I need to source another, this one hopefully fully functional!! May be back with more when I get that one.

Regards -- Roger

[rogerh]

Well, I've got the new motherboard installed. I still had a problem with the IDE cable being able to identify my drive, so I got an IDE to SATA converter (figuring it would not work) and it actually seems to work.....maybe. The drive shows up in the bios, but for some reason the system does not seem to view it as bootable. However, if I wait a bit it initiates Grub, fires up the disk, and I get to the desktop. I figure I have the boot or SATA setup wrong in the bios - anyone have any suggestions. I assume if the system recognized the disk, the system load will be lightning fast (as opposed to what is happening now......). Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Thanks -- Roger

PS - HUGE improvement in speed and usability once the system is loaded !!

This post has been edited by rogerh: 18 February 2012 - 02:41 AM

[rogerh]

Just an update - I altered the jumper on the drive from master (as suggested in the bios manual) to single device, and things are much better. The drive is still identified as not bootable, but the system jumps to the blue linux boot select screen almost immediately. The drive bootable situation may be a result of the IDE / SATA adapater ??

Thanks -- Roger

[daniewicz]

Quote

The drive bootable situation may be a result of the IDE / SATA adapater ??

Yes, this is possible I suppose.

Do you have another IDE cable you could try?

[rogerh]

This is no longer on an IDE cable, but on a SATA cable. The adapter fits into the IDE slot on the drive and has a SATA cable attachment (and power for the adapter chip). I could plug it into another SATA port on the motherboard, but not sure this would help. There are two SATA plugs on the motherboard designated for the master drive and two others indicated for slave drives (but not sure it really matters).

I probably need to do some more investigation into what constitutes a 'bootable drive' and figuring out why this aspect of the drive is not being seen......

Thanks -- Roger

[daniewicz]

OK I understand.

[rogerh]

The IDE drive with adapter is booting acceptable well, and I'll just use it this way until I upgrade OS to the newest Mandriva or if the IDE drive fails (and will transition to the SATA drive). Thanks for the help - solved.

Regards -- Roger