[Anthony Moore]

I have a lot of external USB2.0 hard drives to house my dvd collection.

I just got a new computer and all of these still work well with it.

The problem is my new 250GB SATA hard drive I just bought. I cant get the computer to recognize it.

There is a slot for an internal SATA drive so it should work fine. I bought a SATA data cable and hooked it into the motherboard right next to the one that came with the computer (there are 3 extra open slots). I then plugged in the proper SATA power cable.

When I turn it on I get no errors, but it doesnt recognize it either..not in MY COMPUTER or in the DISK MANAGEMENT section of the CONTROL PANEL.

I tried to go into my BIOS to see if there's anything there, but my keyboard is wireless optical so it wont even let me press F2 to get into the setup..(I dont think it loads up until Windows starts?). Is this what I need to do? Will this solve my problem if I get a regular wired keyboard? Is there a setting in the BIOS to have it recognize the SATA drive? Or is there a problem with the way I connected it?

Any help would be great...THANKS!

[Patrick Sun]

You should get a wired keyboard, and get into the BIOS and then poke around the settings for hard drive devices, and make sure the SATA connections are enabled.

[Paul Padilla]

You're definitely on the right track...the BIOS is the first place I'd look. Wireless really isn't the difficulty as far as getting into the BIOS, it's usually the USB (assuming your wireless KB receiver is USB). Legacy USB keyboard support isn't always enabled by default in the BIOS, but you may just not be persistent enough.

With my Bluetooth/USB keyboard at home I have to repeatedly hit (in my case) the delete key while the computer is running through it's POST to get into the BIOS. Sometimes it takes a couple of tries of restarting before it lets me in. There seems to be some lag time as to when it's recognized at that early in the boot up process.

If you absolutely can't get in you can get a USB to PS2 keyboard adapter for a buck or two at Office Depot, CompUSA, etc. Or if you have an old PS2 plug keyboard or know of someone who can lend you a keyboard with the PS2 plug, that would be even easier.

[Anthony Moore]

My new Dimension 9100 doesnt have a PS2 input!

I have the Microsoft Optical mouse and keyboard plugged in by USB.

Is there any way in my bios?

[Paul Padilla]

EEEK! I should have asked. Some of the newer 4700C and 5100Cs we use don't have parallel ports either.

In that case, legacy USB keyboard should definitely be enabled in the BIOS. If they're not giving you PS2 ports anymore then they have to give you the ability to access the BIOS.

If you still can't get in with the wireless you'll have to get your hands on a wired USB KB.

[Chris Dias]

Have you tried pressing F-Lock or whatever it is called before pressing F2? For some stupid reason, MS has decided to default the function keys to "off" or "auxilliary" or whatever. So in order to get the F2 button to even work, you have to first press F-lock.

Chris

[Anthony Moore]

Well, my fuction keys work without having to do that in Windows.

(BTW, Im at work, so I have been unable to try anything mentioned here yet..but i will tonight)

Thank you for all your replies.

Any other ideas?

[Anthony Moore]

F-LOCK!

Thanks!