# upgrade bios, no os, no hard drive



## cybercrone2 (Oct 22, 2006)

I seem to be stuck in an endless loop. My bios doesn't recognize my new Seagate Barracuda SATA drive (which will be boot drive) and because of that Seagate's DiscWizard does not configure the drive right and Windows XP refuses to install. 

Seagate docs suggest upgrading BIOS as first step of drive installation troubleshooting but I'm not sure how to do that when I don't have an OS. I can download BIOS update on my other computer and put it on CD, but I don't know how to make a bootable CD or, once booted, how to install the BIOS when I have no OS.


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## twajetmech (Jul 1, 2004)

You should be able to flash the bios without an OS, either using your mobo's utility and a floppy, or using Roxio or Nero to make a bootable cd Let us know which mobo you have and maybe we can offer more detailed help. Are you sure your mobo's bios is not seeing the HD or do you need to change settings in the bios to enable sata


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## cybercrone2 (Oct 22, 2006)

twajetmech said:


> You should be able to flash the bios without an OS, either using your mobo's utility and a floppy, or using Roxio or Nero to make a bootable cd Let us know which mobo you have and maybe we can offer more detailed help. Are you sure your mobo's bios is not seeing the HD or do you need to change settings in the bios to enable sata


Not sure what mobo utility you are referring to--how do I access this? 

Can't see anything referring to SATA in BIOS. What am I missing? Origiinal hard drive was also SATA, so is it safe to assume BIOS must already be set up to see SATA? Also, I installed a prior SATA drive using Maxtor software (which I no longer have) and it configured the drive just fine and I had Windows installed; that also suggests bios must be set right? But that drive failed in two days and I returned it and this time I bought a Seagate Barracuda ST3320620AS and used Seagate's DiscWizard for new installs. Seagate gives confusing advice that for recent models you should use DiscWizard 2003, but then that version works only when OS is already installed, and I can't install Windows because DiscWizard for new installs doesn't configure the drive properly (according to error message in Windows installation). AAAARRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!

My mobo is buried behind all the add-in cards and I can't see name. I was already thinking I need to know mobo to ask some other questions but can't find original docs. I'll try again tomorrow and if I still can't find I'll remove those cards and come back with that info. I'll identify SATA controller card at the same time.


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## twajetmech (Jul 1, 2004)

Some mobo's have a built in utility, so that you can hit F2 and it will look on the floppy for a new version of the bios, you can also go to Maxtor's website and download the maxtor software for free. Have you tried clearing the cmos....this will return your bios to all its default settings....maybe then you will have access to your HD.


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## cybercrone2 (Oct 22, 2006)

twajetmech said:


> Some mobo's have a built in utility, so that you can hit F2 and it will look on the floppy for a new version of the bios, you can also go to Maxtor's website and download the maxtor software for free. Have you tried clearing the cmos....this will return your bios to all its default settings....maybe then you will have access to your HD.


Thanks! I'll try all these suggestions and report back. The mobo utility accessed with F2 is a great thing to know about--I hope my mobo supports it.


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