mainboard doesn't recognize hard drives

[stunter]

OK, here's the setup:

MSI P7N SLI mainboard (Socket 775)- Intel 2.4GHZ Dual Core processor
Seagate 400g SATA drive (Fedora 8 64bit installed and updated)
Maxtor 80gig IDE drive (WinXP SP3 Installed) Set to Master.
Philips DVD SATA drive
GRUB Boot Manager
Nvidia 8800GT (512Mg)

When the computer is turned on, half the time it won't recognize one drive or the other. Looking in BIOS, the drive just doesn't show up. Cracking the case and moving cables to other ports will usually bring them back. Then restart and both drives are there. Then, after awhile one or the other will be gone again.

I talked to MSI and what I basically got was, gee, that's a weird problem, but no real help. When I told them that I mostly used Linux, they said that was the problem. How the OS could make a difference with this since it happens prior to booting any OS is beyond me. I've tried changing cables (both SATA and IDE). I've tried a number of BIOS settings, but haven't been able to solve this issue. Weirdly, the Philips DVD drive always shows up. I seem to get the longest time of it actually all working (four or five resets) using the default setting in the BIOS.

Any ideas?

Stunter

[stunter]

It has been suggested that if I set both drives to "cable select" instead of "master" that this may fix the problem. Any thingts?

Thanks for any help.

Stunter

[mike123]

i had the same problem some time ago, it turned out that my cd drive was conflicting, i have NO idea why or how but when i disconnected it both of my HDDs worked?? strange eh? try it if you already havent

[stunter]

Could be. Strangely, the DVD drive is the only one that always shows up. I suspect some sort of termination problem, but MSI is zero help.

Thanks,

[Seve]

Hello:
Maybe a long shot ?

Try adding

nodmraid

to your kernel boot line and see if it makes a difference.

Your kernel boot line should look like this

.... nodmraid rhgb quiet

Seve

[mike123]

Originally Posted by stunter

Could be. Strangely, the DVD drive is the only one that always shows up. I suspect some sort of termination problem, but MSI is zero help.

Thanks,

yeah same again my cd drive always showed too but back then i had a p75 lol

[stunter]

Seve,

Well, I'll certainly try that. I don't see how what's recorded on the drive will make much difference since the Mainboard can't see the drive during the post test. But I'll try anything.