What just happened to my computer?

[Galactic Druid]

*nods* the ribbon is plugged into the drive and the only socket on the mobo it would fit in. My PSU has like 5 free 4 pin supplies, so I picked one and plugged it in.

When i hit DEL to enter setup and look at the BIOS (I have no idea what I'm talking about), I see a bunch of SATA; no device detected messages, with one slot that is detecting my DVD drive. There's not even IDE in the listing.

[mayovagn]

*nods* the ribbon is plugged into the drive and the only socket on the mobo it would fit in. My PSU has like 5 free 4 pin supplies, so I picked one and plugged it in.

When i hit DEL to enter setup and look at the BIOS (I have no idea what I'm talking about), I see a bunch of SATA; no device detected messages, with one slot that is detecting my DVD drive. There's not even IDE in the listing.

Yeah, sata did muddy the waters a little for legacy drives... You may be able to change the 'Sata mode' though careful with that as it can have unexpected results. Best bet is wander the menus and read things without changing them until or unless you find something that looks 'right'.

[Galactic Druid]

There was one option that said I could detect SATA as tiehr IDE or A-something, I didn't change it though, as it was already set to IDE.

Now that you mention it, I saw the word Legacy in there somewhere....

[mayovagn]

There was one option that said I could detect SATA as tiehr IDE or A-something, I didn't change it though, as it was already set to IDE.

Now that you mention it, I saw the word Legacy in there somewhere....

The option you likely need is almost certainly in there somewhere. If I had the machine in my own hot little hands I could find it fairly easily. *mutters*

[Galactic Druid]

Come move to Texas! I'll poke around a bit more, but I don't want to change too much. The drive only has like 50 gigs of space, I'm either going to need to replace it or my whole damn PC.

[Adammair]

There was one option that said I could detect SATA as tiehr IDE or A-something,

Probably ATAPI? *gives his final suggestion before bowing to the supremacy of those who know more about such things than he does, with a sad sigh, that he couldn't help more*

[mayovagn]

Come move to Texas! I'll poke around a bit more, but I don't want to change too much. The drive only has like 50 gigs of space, I'm either going to need to replace it or my whole damn PC.

Sounds like you just need a drive and an operating system. What is the model of your motherboard?

I can possibly look up the manual for it and locate the option you need.


M.

[Galactic Druid]

Ummmmm, I'm not sure. It's a prefab PC, an ASUS to be specific. I still have all the recovery media. My current plan is to just go buy a new SATA HDD when I can afford one, plug it in the same way the broken one was, boot from the recovery media to install everything, then use the 7 upgrade disc.

[mayovagn]

Ummmmm, I'm not sure. It's a prefab PC, an ASUS to be specific. I still have all the recovery media. My current plan is to just go buy a new SATA HDD when I can afford one, plug it in the same way the broken one was, boot from the recovery media to install everything, then use the 7 upgrade disc.

Usually with Asus motherboards the model number is stamped on the board in white lettering if that's any help. *Smiles*

[Galactic Druid]

Alright, let me go pull it out again...

[mayovagn]

Alright, let me go pull it out again...

That's what she said! (Or in old tyme brit speak 'As the actress said to the bishop)

[Galactic Druid]

I see a sticker with a barcode and some numbers buring under some cables and the processor's casing. Is that what I want?

[mayovagn]

I see a sticker with a barcode and some numbers buring under some cables and the processor's casing. Is that what I want?

Its usually stamped in white directly onto the board rather than being on a sticker. The barcode is likely the part or serial number.

Model number if not there can possibly be found in the bios...

*May is falling asleep here, offering the baton to someone else to help Guy through the night*

[Galactic Druid]

Damnit, now I have to go plug it back in?

Aww, I think i'm done for the night. With any luck, I'll have a new SATA drive tomorrow or friday and I can stop messing around with my BIOS completely.

Thanks for all your help May, even if we didn't get it running tonight, I now know what to look for, instead of going to the store and asking "I need a hard drive that doesn't plug in with the ribbon thingie, but the small thing that says P18 on it instead. hurr durr", so that's worth something right there.

Maybe I'll get an awesome HDD. Supposodly, data transfer rate was the only thing holding this PC back...

[mayovagn]

Ask for a Sata desktop hard disk drive.

Make sure its at least a 7200RPM model (Most are, though you can find slower 'green' drives, faster spinning drives cost lots of money)

Buy the largest capacity you can reasonably afford.


And I am really going to go sleep.  (Honest!)

[Galactic Druid]

Looking at newegg, it looks like the 10000+ RPM ones get expensive, almost expensive than a solid state drive (are those worth it?$100 for a 150 GB...) depending on size. It looks like 7200 is standard, so I'll avoid going green (that sounds terrible, lol), and get myself a decent drive. Thanks May! You're awesome.

[Oreo]

*laughs* I was going to suggest NewEgg. :D

[Galactic Druid]

Ugh, look at the message, Phone typing is painful. It even makes my grammar suck.

[Kaia]

I have an original 7 disk...

[Galactic Druid]

I'm afraid someone has you beat by roughly 2000 miles, Kaia. Also, like I said earlier, I did manage to find mine.

Not to mention, my current HDD is borked up the ding ding, so an OS repair isn't going to mean much right now.

[Kaia]

Want one of my old ones?   >.>

[Galactic Druid]

Tempting, but I think I really wanna go for a new one after all the trouble, make this thing last...

[Kaia]

Ah well there is that.  Just hurry lol

[Galactic Druid]

I wonder how many people have looked at my two threads here, "Do I need to keep paying for virus protection?" and "What just happened to my PC?" and suspect the two are related...

[Sarena]

*hugs you*  The thought had occurred to me, yes.  BUT I really don't think the two are related, hon.  Your computer was five years old, things like this happen.