Windows 7 Sata controller problem

[jackoab]

I installed a Videomate E750 TV Card without any software as I intended to use it with Media Centre in Windows 7 Home Premium and afterwards the computer refused to boot eventually coming up with "Can't find BOOTMGR" so I uninstalled the card but was left with the same problem, tried running Windows 7 Recovery disc and it couldn't fix the problem, eventually after a lot of plugging and unplugging various drives and changing cables I found that if I transferred the HDD from Sata 0 to Sata 1 it booted up OK but after returning to the original Sata 0 the same fault occurred. Now I'm not too technical but it appears to me that the fault must be in the Motherboard Sata Controller, could anyone give me some guidance on this as the Motherboard is only 3 months old and still under warranty, needless to say on Monday the TV card will be returned.

Thanks in advance for and help offered.

 

[Saltgrass]

The computer boots to the first active partition it encounters during the boot sequence. The drive order in the Bios determines in what order the drives are checked for that partition. If it encounters an active partition without the correct boot files, it errors out.

You say nothing in your post about adding drives or changing anything in the Bios, so it seems a little strange the situation occurred.

If you could use the snipping tool to take a picture of your Disk Management window and attach using the paper clip, it would be very helpful.

 

[jackoab]

Hi Saltgrass, Thanks for your reply, there have been no changes made to the HDD since I set it up 3 months ago, I haven't even opened the case until I installed the TV card, it was working without a problem up to this time, I've tried to insert a copy of the boot manager but not sure how to do it, Jack.

 

[Saltgrass]

Can't see your image. Using the paper clip, you need to upload it which normally also attaches it.

Otherwise, I still do not see what might have messed with your boot manager unless the install of the TV card somehow overwrote something it did not know about, but is just does not make sense.

I will check your video card to see if I can find anything.

I also noticed there was a driver put out on 3/31/2010

 

[jackoab]

Don't know if you will be able to see it this way, the thing to notice is that "C" partition is now on SATA1 whereas before it was on "0" and if I return it to there it won't boot.

 

[Saltgrass]

The drive number is controlled by the SATA connectors. The Drive Order is determined in the bios. Since you only have one active partition, your system should boot no matter which drive it is. Unless there is an issue with the logical drives which I will try to check out.

Having two of the same size hard drives might make it harder to determine which drive is which and it seems different bios routines handle that differently. But there should be something that differentiates them when setting an order. Maybe if the wrong drive is set to primary, it is also set in the boot order the other drive is not seen by the boot.

I have seen nothing to indicate why adding a TV card would mess up your boot. Maybe powering the system down was involved.

Do you have a reason why you have all the logical partitions? I know Win 7 will not do that unless you are adding a 4th partition with space still left on the drive.

 

[jackoab]

Hi Saltgrass, Thanks again for your input.

I realise that the drive No. is controlled by the SATA connectors and that the BIOS determines the order which is why at the start I disconnected my second HDD and it made no difference, the only way to get it to boot was to trnsfer my first drive to the no. 1 connector on the motherboard, what confuses me is that with the second drive connected to the 0 connector I can read it OK , whereas if I put the drives in their original positions it again refuses to boot. As the Windows 7 recovery disc failed to help I ruled out a software fault and decided it must be the motherboard controller but then why will it read the second disc? I'm loathe to try the TV Card again as if it did the same to the second controller I would be in real trouble.

The reason I have all logical partition is because I don't know better, my knowledge is limited and self taught but I generally sort out any problems I have and enjoy doing so.

By the way I've at last found the paperclip you referred to, quite well hidden I thought, Jack.

 

[jackoab]

Just to keep you up to date with my progress(?)

I went through everything I could think of, took out all cards and memory and reseated it all reconnected and switched on only to be faced with the same error as before (missing BOOT MGR), disconnected the second drive, put the first drive back to SATA 0 and everythingis working so it looks like the TV Card is innocent. Tomorrow I will re-install the TV Card and leave the second drive out to see what happens, will keep you informed!

 

[Saltgrass]

There are times when strange things just happen, and it is very hard to track them down. Putting in the TV card might have effected your system in some way. Did you completely power down the system prior to installing the card. Turning it off is not good enough, you need to unplug also.

I did not notice, but your XP drive also has an active partition. If it is encountered first during the boot, you will get the Bootmgr message or some other error, unless you have valid boot files in that partition.

My comments about the logical drives is not a critisim, but an observation that Win 7 could not have set it up that way. You must have had a previous install or used another utility to set up the partitions. The fact you tried the recovery DVD may account for the two active partitions, but only you would know your exact situation.

Disconnecting the drive set to primary in the bios and rebooting sets the other drive to primary. It stays that way until you change the bios, or in some circumstances change the configuration and reboot. So, if you disconnect the primary drive, reconnecting it may not move it back up to primary in the bios.

It appears you have 2 DVD drives. Are they both Sata and which connectors are they on?

And lastly, many motherboards now have 2 SATA controllers. Are you using only the primary controller for your drives?

 

[jackoab]

First the good news, this morning I installed the TV Card and it works perfectly, Windows found and installed the drivers and in 15 mins. I was watching TV!

Now to answer your questions, I have 4 SATA Controllers on the motherboard (0123), 0&1 are used by my two HDDs and 3&4 are used by the optical drives, the second HDD which was a 250GB I replaced with a 500GB to make it easier for the computer to diffrentiate between them and at the moment everything is working without problems. By the way when I installed the card originally it was completely disconnected from everything and was on my dining table as this is the only way I can work.

Again Saltgrass thanks for your input and if anything goes wrong I will keep you informed, Jack.