Computer will not boot

Discussion in 'PC hardware help' started by oz560, May 12, 2008.

  1. oz560

    oz560 Member

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    Hey guys I have a problem with my HP Vectra VL420. I purchased a SIIG SATA Card and a 320gb Western Digital HDD. whenever i try to boot Win XP from my IDE Seagate HDD the cursor (like in DOS) just flashes and will not boot win xp. the WD HDD will however work when i remove the SATA Cable from it wait for XP to boot then plug it in.

    The specs are:
    HP Vectra VL420
    30gb Seagate IDE HDD
    320gb Western Digital HDD
    SIIG SATA PCI card
    Pentium 4 proccessor

    and i also upated my bios to the latest version and still nothing.
     
    oz560, May 12, 2008
    #1
  2. sammorris

    sammorris Senior member

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    Have you actually changed the priority of the drives in the BIOS?
     
    sammorris, May 12, 2008
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  3. oz560

    oz560 Member

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    yes and the SATA drive will not show up in the BIOS.
     
    oz560, May 12, 2008
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  4. sammorris

    sammorris Senior member

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    Hmm, is the SATA card trying to run in RAID mode?
     
    sammorris, May 12, 2008
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  5. oz560

    oz560 Member

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    Im not sure what RAID is but on my other computer the bios on the SATA card will show up, but on my vectra it will not.
     
    oz560, May 12, 2008
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  6. sammorris

    sammorris Senior member

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    Is it seated correctly in the PCI slot and have you checked it still works after moving it to this PC? (i.e. trying it again back in the old one)
     
    sammorris, May 12, 2008
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  7. oz560

    oz560 Member

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    yes i have.
     
    oz560, May 12, 2008
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  8. sammorris

    sammorris Senior member

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    Using same cable? Is the drive being powered correctly?
     
    sammorris, May 12, 2008
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  9. oz560

    oz560 Member

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    Yes. i have the SATA cable plugged in and the power connector on firmly.
     
    oz560, May 12, 2008
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  10. oz560

    oz560 Member

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    Im thinking it might be my computer bios or my SATA card bios. would it be any of those?
     
    oz560, May 12, 2008
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  11. sammorris

    sammorris Senior member

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    Is this HP PC quite old? It may have difficulty recognising large drives.
     
    sammorris, May 12, 2008
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  12. oz560

    oz560 Member

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    It came with windows 2000 SP1 which i upgraded to XP and i think it was made in 1999. do you need to know the S/N?
     
    oz560, May 12, 2008
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  13. sammorris

    sammorris Senior member

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    Then it isn't going to be compatible with hard drives larger than 32GB... sorry.
     
    sammorris, May 12, 2008
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  14. ddp

    ddp Moderator Staff Member

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    ddp, May 12, 2008
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  15. sammorris

    sammorris Senior member

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    Hmm fair enough, I do note that the VL400 is subject to that restriction though.
    Was there ever a 127GB limit for hard disks by BIOS/Motherboard, or was that solely OS-related?
     
    sammorris, May 12, 2008
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  16. ddp

    ddp Moderator Staff Member

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    i think just os & possibly just xp & maybe win2k without their service packs. i've fdisked & formated a 320gig using win98 bootdisk with no problem.
     
    ddp, May 12, 2008
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  17. marsey99

    marsey99 Regular member

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    i think the 128gb issue was pre xp sp1.

    does the card only support sata 1 and the hdd is sata2? ifso does the hdd have a jumper on the rear to change it back?
     
    marsey99, May 12, 2008
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  18. oz560

    oz560 Member

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    well xp recognizes the 320gb hdd but im pretty sure its the sata chip bios because the card bios will show up when i boot it on my other computer but it will not show up on my VL420.
     
    oz560, May 13, 2008
    #18

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