Drives Disappear in Vista

[darren01]

Help! After nearly 8 weeks of lurking on this forum and fiddling with VMC, I cannot figure this out.

Basically I have a VMC running the following setup:
Gigabyte GA-M78SM-S2H Mobo
AMD Athlon 64 X2 (AM2) 5200+
Corsair DDR2 2GB 667MHz (should have gone faster, but had it lying around)
Seagate 80Gb HDD SATA (O/S) *Set as IDE*
WD 1Tb HDD SATA (Media) *Set as IDE*
Pioneer DVR-215 SATA DVD *Set as IDE*
Hauppauge HVR2200

I have followed the recipe here It Finally Works!!!!!! and find the following things:

If I load VMC and record TV or whatever, all works fine. Then, when I try to setup where it records, VMC hangs. If I switch back to Vista, then both the WD HDD and the DVD drive have disappeared. Even in Device Manager they are not there.

Should include. In the Windows Event file it shows "Drive [D] has disappeared from the system without being stopped...."

I have updated the BIOS (only 1 version available). Updated to the latest drivers for everything.

So any suggestions would be very very welcome!

[krypto]

Originally Posted by darren01

Then, when I try to setup where it records,

. I assume that you are referring to the recorded TV location?

Have you started from square one physically and checked all your hardware connections. Can you copy stuff to and from the WD HDD whilst in Vista and can you read from the DVD drive?


Edit: Posting the same thing twice won't get you any quicker answers

[darren01]

Originally Posted by krypto

. I assume that you are referring to the recorded TV location?

Have you started from square one physically and checked all your hardware connections. Can you copy stuff to and from the WD HDD whilst in Vista and can you read from the DVD drive?


Edit: Posting the same thing twice won't get you any quicker answers

Right, when I try to specify the recorder location.

Can move data around, copy files etc no problem.

Sorry about the double post, thought I may have put the original in the wrong place.

Darren

[krypto]

Okay... that is weird.

From memory there are 2 ide options in the bios, are you using "native ide" and why not "ahci" ? (not sure if they are the right terms)

Clutching at straws I would try
- check that the WDD partition is not an active partition
- delete the partition on the WDD and reformat (If windows won't let you do this it usually means that some of the system boot files have been placed on the drive during the initial installation)
- move the sata connector to a different port

[darren01]

Ok, fair call. I can confirm this also happens if I try AHCI. Soooo I went back to "native" IDE to see if it was a driver problem.

I have moved the cables to different SATA ports and (in desperation) put a non-SATA drive into the mix as the primary drive, installed Vista again, config'd VMC and.... same issue! WDD and DVD-RW disappear after going into VMC.

I will have a go at your suggestion of re-partitioning/formatting the second drive and see what that does.

Failing all this, I have a XP MC2005 CD that I may revert to....

D

[krypto]

You can be sure it will turn out to be something simple.

Since you are reinstalling vista, suggest the following.
- Nuke (partition and format) the WD drive
- Disconnect all drives other than the primary
- Reinstall vista
- Plug in WD drive
- Move recorded TV to WD drive

Maybe one of the forum gurus will have some better ideas.

[darren01]

No luck on any of those options I am afraid. I think it is a dud Mobo. Will get it returned and see if another one fixes my problem.

Thanks for all the assist.

D

[darren01]

So just for those who read this post.

A faulty HDD was the culprit. I changed the Motherboard and about 3 days after doing that the Seagate SATA drive had a catastrophic failure.

Still waiting on the other mobo to come back, but I have a fully functioning VMC Media Centre now.

THanks for those who checked in with ideas