hello computing.net, i have re-installed a sata hd that i had in this computer before. i booted with knoppix because and it recognized the drive and drive letters (except they call them sd5,sd6,....). then i booted to the bios and it was not recognized. i booted to windows and it was not recognized there also. stumped. thnaks, craig craig cn60@hotmail.com

Is it possible you were confused about what drives were seen by Knoppix. If the BIOS doesn't recognize a drive then it isn't possible for the OS to see it. Check your BIOS settings. SATA controllers must be enabled and both data and power cables connected. If the motherboard is SATA I only and the hard drive is SATA II you may need to set a limiting jumper on the SATA drive. Don't kink the SATA data cable.

hello, i am definitely not confused as to what knoppix was seeing. and like i stated this drive was in the machine a long time before. since koppix is seeing i would gather the sata cables are not bent. i do not know what you mean though by ocntrollers is that specific to windows. craig cn60@hotmail.com

The SATA controllers are NOT specific to any OS. They are the interface between the motherboard and the hard drive. You can enable/disable them in the BIOS. BTW, don't post your email address in the open unless you like spam. Some folks think the BIOS is the POST screens that show when starting the computer. Entering the BIOS (setup) requires some keyboard action on your part. Describe in detail what drives, both hard and optical, are installed in this computer. Also, what type and what connection is in use.

OtheHill, i have a dell xps 400, with 1tb hdd and a .5tb hdd. both are sata drives. the 1tb is my primary the .5tb has been in my computer before and is just used for storage. 2 optical drives--dvd drive and dvd rw drive. D and E respectively. 4 drives- f,g,h and i part of my 13in1 card reader. and i do know what bios is. thanks, craig

Well, I certainly can't explain how Knoppix could see a hard drive that isn't configured in the BIOS. Concerning the BIOS configuring the drive did you check out the variables I mentioned? As mentioned many SATA II hard drives have a jumper on the drive to only allow SATA I speeds for compatibility purposes. You state you had this drive installed in this computer before. Was it connected to the same SATA port? Speaking of SATA ports, not all SATA ports are the same. Some will default to an IDE compatibility mode so SATA drivers are not needed. This works but does sacrifice the added speed you might gain from running in SATA II mode. Other ports may only support storage drives and can't be booted from. Then there are RAID only SATA ports. I still can't explain why a hard drive that is NOT configured in the BIOS could show in ANY OS. If you say it is happening I have to take you word for it. One possibility is that the BIOS IS configuring the drive but there is no indication of that. I suggest you try entering the BIOS and disable fast boot and any LOGOS. Save on exit. This should allow you to see what is being configured in the BIOS. If you are using either a SATA mode (AHCI) or a RAID mode, the drive may show in the POST screens but not in WinXP due to no SATA controller drivers being installed.

I am also puzzled by the fact that Knoppix can see a drive that the bios doesn't. It seems impossible.