Thread: Biostar M7NCG 400 v7.2 with SATA PCI Controller Card

because this board does not support SATA, you will have a hard time installing onto an SATA drive due to a driver issue. as i'm sure you have already discovered, this board does not like the default (or detected settings) in the bios and requires the proper settings for a successful xp install. this board gave me a hell of a time when i tried to install windows using components that the specs claimed to support and came dangerously close to a "chance" encounter with a wall. while on my personal quest for answers, i encountered individuals who also suffered a similar plight as you. i faintly remember something about this board requiring you to install a driver for the SATA support via a 3.5" floppy before the board will properly recognize the hard drive. hate to be the bearer of bad news but you may be better served using an old EIDE drive for your OS. if your search here (which i assume you did before posting) came up null, might i suggest searching the web for more answers. this board is also popular in the HTPC and silent pc crowds, it was on one of those forums that i first read about similar problems associated with this board and the SATA drivers.

on a side note, i hope that you are using ddr 333 (pc 2700) ram (especially if you are using the nvidia igp) and have all the correct settings for the memory and processor in the bios. the MCNCG is one mother of a board to work with out of the box. sorry i can't offer you more assistance.

best of luck

sedtc

Thanks for your reply.

All the hardware (with the exception of the SATA card) I'm using with this board was used successfully on an MSI board with the nForce2 chipset and had no problems. The memory works and Windows installs normally using an IDE hard drive connected to the onboard controller.

I've read several posts about needing to press F6 when Windows Setup starts in order to load the drivers for the controller, but unfortunately, my install doesn't get this far as it gets stuck at the screen right before the blue Windows Setup screen. I think my only option is to install Windows onto the SATA drive using another computer and then attach it back to the Biostar and see if it boots up, as I really don't know of any other option. I've tried practically every change in the BIOS I can think of relating to this, but to no avail.

I've searched this forum and Google, but still haven't found a solution to this problem. Its got me stumped.

your problem is bios related, it sounds to me like the board does not see your pci controller and is looking for an ide device. check in the boot manager (IIRC, press F9 after you turn on your system to get to the boot manager), you may need to set the PCI device to boot after your cd drive (if this is an option), also check the bios settings for the boot devices and boot priority. i wouldn't try loading xp on another machine because you will encounter driver issues when you try to use the hard drive on the biostar board. aside from the issues with different board specific drivers, when you connect the drive to the controller, the board still won't recognize it. your problem is getting the board to see the device attached to the pci slot.

Originally Posted by sedtc

your problem is bios related, it sounds to me like the board does not see your pci controller and is looking for an ide device. check in the boot manager (IIRC, press F9 after you turn on your system to get to the boot manager), you may need to set the PCI device to boot after your cd drive (if this is an option), also check the bios settings for the boot devices and boot priority. i wouldn't try loading xp on another machine because you will encounter driver issues when you try to use the hard drive on the biostar board. aside from the issues with different board specific drivers, when you connect the drive to the controller, the board still won't recognize it. your problem is getting the board to see the device attached to the pci slot.

I think that it might see the device, but there may be some sort of conflict with the IDE controller or something. I'm really not sure. When the board posts, the SATA card displays the hard drive that is connected, so it would seem that it is being recognized. I can't totally disable the IDE controller because I am installing from a DVD drive attached to it.

I was thinking of just getting the base Windows setup on the hard drive by using another computer (all the stuff that happens before the reboot happens). I'm thinking that at that point, drivers won't be an issue, because it won't have actually installed Windows yet. Then, move the hard drive to the Biostar to do the actual Windows install.

Originally Posted by DeltaFX

Dunno the bios of that board, but you may have something like
1st boot device : Fdd
2nd boot device: Hdd0
3rd boot device : CD-ROM
Boot other device (than the 3 listed previously) : enabled/disabled

is the " boot other device" enabled ?

Yep, I have "Boot Other Device" enabled.



Thanks for your help!