[casper0191]

Well you can set first the mother board bios to enable s-ata ports of your board.

[Hughv]

So, there's only two choices. Take a guess as it won't hurt anything.

[casper0191]

So what's the state of the problem so far?

[m00cka]

I have now tried to "downgrade" the firmware from 3.0gbps to 1.5gbps and also different jumper settings. So far there is no change in the outcome; I can neither see the hard drive in BIOS nor in lshw in Ubuntu. Is the MOBO failing?

EDIT: Based on this blog post, it seems like the issue lies on the speed (1.5gbps instead of 3.0gbps). The problem is how to reduce the speed to 1.5gbps as the firmware patch from Samsung did not work.

EDIT2: After another hour with googling, I came over a forum post (at a Norwegian forum) which said that the A7V600-X MOBO requires some S-ATA drivers to be installed. The same post also said that these drivers could be installed by pressing F6 in the beginning of Windows XP installation. Will these drivers be installed on the motherboard or to the hard drive (if so, how would that work, since the BIOS can't see the HDD in the first place)?

[Hughv]

I don't think you need those drivers unless you're installing XP as a boot drive.

[m00cka]

So the solution is to get a new MOBO?

[leroys1000]

Some motherboards have a jumper to enable SATA.
Might check to see if yours has one.

[Hughv]

I don't think so. Contact Samsung, RMA the drive or just get an IDE .

[casper0191]

Hm.. is it possible that a S-ata cable is not working? see if you can replace them.

[m00cka]

That thought has struck me too, but I tried another cable without any better outcome. It is possible though, that I tried the other cable meanwhile the setup was faullty.I will try the other cable a little later today.

EDIT: I just tried it and it didn't help. Can it be other components in the computer that is failing? Elseway it seems like I have to buy a new motherboard.

[casper0191]

But have you already reset the mother board's bios by doing the battery jumper method?

[m00cka]

I have not, how do I do that?

[casper0191]

Well first just let the new hard drive. Remove the mother board's battery then turn on the computer. After the boot up appears it's ask for the proper bios configuration. Don't configure it yet then turn it of again the ninstall the mother board battery again. Then start the computer then go to the Bios set and see if the new drive is now been recognized.

Remember: that when you are going to remove or install the battery the computer is must not be plug to the out let.

[Hughv]

That won't help any, but if you really want to reset the BIOS, click the" Defaults" icon in Setup.

[crjdriver]

OK, a few questions;

Are you sure your sata controller is installed in windows? Do you have any yellow marks in device manager?

Post a screenshot of device manager.

When you enter the bios, does the bios detect the drive?

That board has a via chipset. Are you getting any message about key combos to enter the raid bios. It should be the TAB key however it has been a long time since I have worked on a via board.