SATA HDD Install

Question

Hello,   I've got a Dell PowerEdge 800 with Win 2003 server as OS.  It has a total of 4 sata ports.  3 ports are now occupied with 250 GB HDD.  When I try to add/install a new 250gb and plug it into port 2 (this port is available), the computer does not boot but instead just beeps continiously.  The drive I'm trying to add is a Western Digital 250 GB SATA disk.  No jumper settings.  After this scenerio, I took out the drive and the system booted normally.  Might help to mention that I did change the bios setting of port 2 to 'auto'.   Any help, tips & trick sare much appreciated.   TIA, Manny

ROUX sebastien · Answer

hi,   Are you in ATA or RAID mode in bios?   (Intergrated device - SATA controller)   Cheers.

mmjr · Answer

Hello, Thanks for the response This unit came with a integrated sata controller.  No raid. Thanks Manny

Dev Mgr · Answer

Under the integrated devices section in the bios (see some info here), check if the motherboard is set to raid or ata. This is the motherboard's raid capabilities.

This is what sebastien was asking about.

mmjr · Answer

Hello,

Ok, I will look into the BIOS settings and will post here. Not possible for me to re-start the server at this moment. I believe it doesn't have Raid configured to it because the 3 hard disk are directly connected to the port on the motherboard. Anyway, I will double check.

Thanks much,
Manny

Dev Mgr · Answer

The ports on the motherboard can be configured as 'plain' sata or as raided sata. So the physical connections aren't enough to tell either way.

If it's configured as raid in the bios, adding a drive may 'throw off' the raid controller configuration, which could be causing your symptoms.

PowerEdge HDD/SCSI/RAID

SATA HDD Install

Was this post helpful?