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VT6421 PCI Card not recognized

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My motherboard does not support SATA, so I bought a PCI card to install new hard ATA hard drive with SATA connection. However, when I boot up I get the message 0 Hard Drive found. Hard drive is powered up. The PCI card appears to be dead. Is there something I am supposed to do to PCI card to get hard drive to boot up? Thanks in advance.

7 replies

by thechas

If the PCI card is working, and you have the drive jumpers set properly, you should see a drive detection screen toward the end of POST that will show your drive.

In order to boot from the drive connected to your PCI controller card, you need to set the boot order to SCSI. That is the BIOS default setting to boot from a drive on a plug-in card.

When installing Windows, you may need to use the F6 option and load the driver for your card.

If you are attempting to move a hard drive that has Windows installed on it to this motherboard. Be aware that Windows does not like big hardware changes.

I would try forcing the system to boot into safe mode the first time you boot up.

Your alternative is to perform a repair install of Windows.

Chas

by Former member

In "device manager"?. Have a look in there and see if your drive is shown..

Please post back if you have more problems or questions.

by thegoose78

No reference to SCSI in BIOS at all. If I boot from old failing hard drive, I see the SCSI in device mgr. I was able to format hard drive attached to SCSI while in Disk Drives computer management. Using old drive, the SCSI is now the "E" drive. However, I know old hard drive is failing. I want the drive attached to the SCSI to be my boot drive, but it is not recognized when booting up. I can't select it in the BIOS because there is no entry. Thanks in advance.

by thechas

What boot options does your BIOS have?

The BIOS does not usually list specific plug-in controllers.

Options for plug-in cards could include:
other, PCI, RAID

Your BIOS also may not be listing the drive on your PCI card because it is not a boot volume. You may need to install Windows on the drive before your motherboard wil allow you to boot from it.

Chas

by thegoose78

Thanks for your replies. At this stage, I'll probably order another hard drive, IDE. Did not things could be so complicated.

by thechas

There is one last thing you should do before you give up on this card.

Try it in different slots in the motherboard.

Sometimes cards conflict with other devices and you need to move the cards around to find a slot order where it all works.

Also, on the first boot with the card installed, make sure you enter BIOS setup. On the plug-n-play or PCI page there should be a option to force an ESCD update. Select yes, the save and exit.

It is also possible that this card is just not compatible with the chip-set on your motherboard. So, if you do buy a different card, make sure it uses a different controller chip.

Chas

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