Okay, onward and parallel (not upward) it seems :-)Bit of a problem on initial boot up of the new system.. specs firstASUS P4c800-E DeluxeIntel P4 3.0 1 gig Crucial 2x512 PC3200 DDRWD Caviar 120gb Serial ATA HDATI AIW 9800pro 128mb video card52x24x52 CD-RW drive8x4x12 DVD dual format driveInfo related to last subject post by me on heat sink paste;After 30 mins from new:CPU temp 40C 104FMB temp 33C 91FVcore 1.5363.3 3.155v 5.2412v 12.34 I installed the CD and DVD drives as master and slave on the primary IDE.I installed the Serial ATA HD on the SATA1 mb plug-in and I'm using a SATA power cable for power supply. So far, I booted the system and went into bios setup and set everything as per ASUS manual (or at least what I think is right)I set HD to "raid" vs "IDE"Saved & ExitRebooted..Reboot does not want to see my Serial HD. (does see it in auto-detect in bios settings, but as 3rd IDE)Also says Bios not installed.And then just goes to flashing cursor on black screen. no input from keyboard.Did I make the mistake of getting a Serial ATA hd (I'm planning on going with another to make two on RAID in future) and it only can operate with TWO HD installed if other than IDE ?I'm REALLY not sure about the "Bios not installed" as that's on a chip and it lets me make settings and save etc.Man.. I know it's been about 4-5 years since I built a system but things sure are not as smooth as last time :-) Although I AM just over 55 this time LOL Doesn't help, that's for sure ! ASUS FAQ pages did not help of course.. (or I wouldn't be bothering you with this)On the plus side, memory checks are fine, get a splash screen for the ATI video card, gets into Bios setup screens.What am I missing here ? Oh...And NO smoke from any place :-lol

A little something from ASUS FAQ:"After setting "Configure S-ATA as RAID" to Yes, an additional option called "Serial-ATA BOOTROM" will pop up and its default value is disabled. Please enable "Serial-ATA BOOTROM" and you will be able to get into Intel RAID BIOS setup menu with Ctrl+I during POST" I don't get any additional "pop up" like that when I set it to "RAID"

Well you havent mentioned that you were intending to run raid. If you dont have two sata hard drives my suggestion would to turn raid off.

You need two identical HDDs to run RAID. Thats why you're having problems. :)

>You need two identical HDDs to run RAID. Thats why you're>having problems. :)Well, my Bios choices are RAID or IDE and the new serial HD only has connection for serial ATA.So... buying ONE Serial ATA drive at a time will NOT work at all then?I figured I could run on one until I installed another at later date.Sure seemed to me like you could use a serial drive even if you didn't want to run RAID though.Sure got bit that time, spent all my upgrade funds so new system will now have to go into the corner until I can order another Serial ATA drive... OUCH ! That will be some time yet.. I see this MB does let you have up to 6 drives so maybe I can find a small cheap IDE hd to get it running while I save for the SATA drive..Thanks, but I sure didn't want to hear THAT :-)

As John mentioned you don't have two HD so don't set up RAID at this time. I've never used a serial HD but I still wonder if your CD ROM and burner shouldn't be in the secondary IDE plug in? I would start over,unplug the cd rom and burner and try to get the HD configured first,then go for the cd's. At some point in time you'll need to look in BIOS and most likely change the boot order of the drives. You'll want the CD rom to boot first to install Windows and then switch back to your HD. Also there should be a setting in BIOS to disable a floppy search on boot-up. Good luck!David

David,So YOU are saying that I CAN still use the Serial ATA hd alone ?I see no connection between the IDE side and the Serial side so not sure what taking the CD burners out will do for me. I'm not saying it won't.. just further discussion on the subject :-)Thanks for the input,

>Well you havent mentioned that you were intending to run>raid. If you dont have two sata hard drives my suggestion>would to turn raid off.Thanks Maxis...However my choices are only RAID or IDE in Bios and the HD is only SATA plug in :-(

"So YOU are saying that I CAN still use the Serial ATA hd alone ?"I'm using my Raptor in a stand alone config. Works just fine. I'm using the SiI 3112 SCSI drivers. 3 partitions and formatted for NTFS.Just curious, Tom... does your BIOS offer the choice of configuring for SCSI? Mine is an AMD system, but yours should have some way to configure the boot sequence. Mine is:First boot device= FloppySecond boot device= SCSIThird boot deivce= CD-ROMHope this helps,

>>"So YOU are saying that I CAN still use the Serial ATA hd>>alone ?">>I'm using my Raptor in a stand alone config. Works just fine.> I'm using the SiI 3112 SCSI drivers. 3 partitions and>formatted for NTFS.>>Just curious, Tom... does your BIOS offer the choice of>configuring for SCSI? Mine is an AMD system, but yours should>have some way to configure the boot sequence. Mine is:>>First boot device= Floppy>Second boot device= SCSI>Third boot deivce= CD-ROM>>Hope this helps,No, don't see any toggle to SCSI device...I can of course configure the sequence of boot but for now I'm usingFirst= floppysecond=CDromthird= HDAs I have nothing on the HD yet and need quick access to external files still.Right now when booting up it says:SATA378 bios version 1.00.0.0.33 Searching....."No device found""No Bios installed"And then of course to black screen with flashing cursor... (no control input)When I tried doing a boot with the WinXP CD in the drive it did load drivers etc (into memory is assume) but then stopped and gave me the warning:"session3_initialization_failed"I'd tell myself to go back and check HD connections but I've done that PLUS the auto feature in the Bios DOES see the HD and puts the details on screen !? Keep in mind that the Bios setup screen is as far as I can get right now...And of course whatever loaded from Win CD is lost on shutdown.If YOU are doing it with ONE serial ATA drive then *I* must be able to do it as well. Just that little item called "HOW" ? :-lolThanks,

Asus/intel Canterwood boards (Which you seem to have) dont have Scsi controllers onboard. As a result that scsi info above doesnt matter much. What you need to know is how to set up your SATA HD as a stand alone...I dont have an asus P4C manual but i DO have a P4P800 Manual for the Intel Springale Chipset .. with more or less the same features as yours. So ACCORDING TO THE P4P800 BIOS ... should be similar enough.. DO THE FOLLOWING:1Go back to IDE configuration2 Select IDE OPERATE MODE Make sure it Says [ENHANCED MODE]3 In the ENHANCED MODE SUPPORT ON bracket select [s-ATA+P-ATA]4 In the CONFIGURE S-ATA as RAID line select [NO]See if it boots this timeHope it worksMaxis

>Asus/intel Canterwood boards (Which you seem to have) dont>have Scsi controllers onboard. As a result that scsi info>above doesnt matter much. What you need to know is how to set>up your SATA HD as a stand alone...I dont have an asus P4C>manual but i DO have a P4P800 Manual for the Intel Springale>Chipset .. with more or less the same features as yours. So>ACCORDING TO THE P4P800 BIOS ... should be similar enough.. DO>THE FOLLOWING:>>1Go back to IDE configuration>>2 Select IDE OPERATE MODE Make sure it Says [ENHANCED MODE]>3 In the ENHANCED MODE SUPPORT ON bracket select>[s-ATA+P-ATA]>4 In the CONFIGURE S-ATA as RAID line select [NO]>>See if it boots this time>>Hope it works>>MaxisThanks Maxis, been there quite a few times :-lol I've tried those settings and got nowhere fast.. this is what the P4C manual says also, so of course I followed right along with it...Just has to be something simple, I'll go over the Bios again.Doesn't seem like I want to select "RAID" for single drive though..UPDATE:Thought I might have a solution....I tried copying the drivers from the ASUS CD on a floppy and then ran WinXP install until I could hit "F6" to specify a Mfg drivers disk.... allowed me to access the A drive but then came up with:"Can't find TEXT SETUP.OEM"Now a little 1.44 floppy can only hold so much.. any idea what it wants from the ASUS install CD? I sure don't see anything by that name on the CD. Might not even be the way I need to go, but I'm trying anything now.This is getting me down now !Thanks for all input,

Okay, now I'm thinking about the jumper settings on this drive..If you are using a Serial ATA on a SATA1 plug, where do you have your jumper set ?Mine is still factory set for "CS" cable select but I'm thinking maybe it needs to be set for "single" neutral position. (sideways jumper on 6&4)WD site talks all about IDE drives but really doesn't give much user info on the Serial models... that I've found so far.Any single Serial ATA users know their jumper settings ?Best,

Okay, just got this answer on jumper settings for WD Serial ATA drives at their site: (BTW, not on the HD jumper setting page)"Western Digital Serial ATA drives have a jumper block located next to the ATA power connector. There is generally no need to change the default jumper setting in order to use the drive. The only use of this jumper block is to enable or disable power management for the drive. The drives ship in the default position with the shunt on pins 1-2 (disabled). Alternatelty , the jumper can be removed completely with the same result. Placing the shunt on pins 3-4 (enabled), designates that the drive will power-up in standby mode. For most users the default position should be used."Soooo, there goes THAT hope...Pushing on to next detail I can find.Feel free to jump in with bottom line answer ANY time folks :-lol

I type this as WinXP is loading on the new system behind me ! :-)"It was a tough fight Maw, but I won"Found two items that kept me from getting to the Windows install...The Bios did not have the needed drivers and all for a single Serial ATA drive. I had to make a floppy from the ASUS CD that had this info on it.The second and just as important is that the Bios had a default setting for the "Promise" on board controller BUT it ONLY was for RAID !Disabled the on-board controller and let it load the software controller...... Windows loading :-)I'm sure I'll hit other snags before it's running smoothly, but at least not I can get to it !Thanks to all for your input, hope having this in the files will help someone else one day.Best,