Boot problem on an ASROCK 4 core dual vsta

[Pob255]

I've recently upgraded my old Athlon 2400XP and to save costs as I couldn't afford a new CPU+motherboard+memory+graphics card I went for this board and a Pentium4 D 3.0ghz

While I've had a few problems with the change over, namely:

• Lost the MFT on a hard drive
• Old PSU could not cope (a new Akasa 400W is on the way )

I've managed to sort thoes out but now I'm at a really niggley little problem, the ASROCK manual is no real help and they not got any FAQ info for this board yet on there website.

The Problem is this, Currently I have 1floppy, 1DVDr/w and 2IDE Hard drives pluged in.
I've set the boot sequance to Floppy,DVD,HD1 (master on IDE1)
But when I boot it up after detecting the drives and all the other post stuff it goes into a freedos bit (which I assume is on the board) which tries to set up a SATA raid to boot off. But I have no SATA in the system.

Now if I hit f11 duering the post I get the boot selection and I can select the floppy, dvd or ether HD and it will then boot off that without problem.
It's just the hassle of haveing to do that each time that is annoying me.

Anyone out there have this problem or experience with it?

How the heck can I tell the motherboard to get stuffed and boot off the IDE like it should?

[sp3n]

hmm shot in the dark here, but try:
BIOS -> Advanced (Chipset?) Screen -> IDE Configuration -> Onboard SATA Operation Mode -: Set to non-RAID

[Pob255]

Yep I did that to no effect.

[Disturbedguy]

Hmm is that in the bios?

Or could you actually go into your BIOS and disable SATA/ RAID?

[Pob255]

Yes what Sp3n said is exactly how it is in the BIOS

And what I'd love to do is turn SATA off in the BIOS, but I cannot find that option anyware and the ASRock manual doesn't even list the BIOS setting let alone what they actually do


EDIT:On a happy note, supplier emailed me to say the Asaka is out of stock, so I'm getting a ThermalTake 470W for the same price

[Pob255]

Ok I think I might of found it.
After looking at the ASRock web site again I found a download of the manual and discovered the book that comes with the motherboard is actually the quick start guide not the manual.


Looking through the actual manual I've found a bit that mentions "VIA SATA Raid Utility" it's in the boot section of the BIOS.

Well I'll have to try and find it in the actual BIOS when I get home.

[Pob255]

Stranger and stranger, that SATA option is not in my BIOS

I tried clearing the CMOS and all of a sudden it stoped tring the SATA on boot up.
However when I tried to boot up windows the pc would just freeze up on the loading screen (Clean install of XP sp2)
I booted off the XP cd and tried a windows revover, still froze on loading bar.
So I tried a reinstall over the top of the old one and it freezes up again.
It shouldn't be the HD it's brand new.
I'd been wondering if it was my memory (a missmatched pair of 512mb DDR 333mhz) so I ran memcheck on it, it came up with errors
so I checked each in turn to see which is the problem, nether came with errors so I put the both back in and it's working.

Now reinstalling windows

Although the SATA thing at boot up is back again.

[kalniel]

Very suprised you didn't get a manual with the board - my ASrock (different model) came with a very helpful manual.

The freedos bit shouldn't be happening at all I don't think.

What version BIOS are you using?

If we can't sort it, I recommend posting at ocworkbench, they've got a great ASRock section in their forums.

[Pob255]

Ooo Ta Kalniel that does look like the place to post about this motherboard.

I'm not sure which BIOS it is, I'll check today when I get home and probably flash it to the latest.

[Pob255]

Flashed the BIOS to the 1.6 latest I saw on ASRock site, no change on the boot up VIA SATA Raid Utility option is still missing. :/

However the nice shiney new ThermalTake is great and all my stability issues seem to have dissapered x2

I'll do a heavy test over the weekend and report back.

[Blitzen]

EDIT:On a happy note, supplier emailed me to say the Asaka is out of stock, so I'm getting a ThermalTake 470W for the same price

And you are happy about that?

Phone your supplier and tell him to keep that TT PSU and send you something else.
They are poor quality units and tend to take components with them when they die!

There is far better for a similar price out there.

[Pob255]

And you are happy about that?

Phone your supplier and tell him to keep that TT PSU and send you something else.
They are poor quality units and tend to take components with them when they die!

There is far better for a similar price out there.

Umm ok would be been usefull advice a few days ago, ho hu.
The thermaltake actually came from a differnt supplier (mircodirect)

For future reference what is a good PSU for 40quid (inc vat)?

[artaxerxes]

Enermax, Seasonic, Sparke, Antec... all good brands. There is a whole world of PSU recommendations!

[edit to add link]

http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/showthread.php?t=103