Adaptec 1210SA "Hard drives not found"

[iconSYS1]

I recently purchased 2 Dell Precision 650 work stations which have 2 320GB Sata hard drives and Adaptec 1210SA PCI SATA raid controllers. I'm trying to load windows 2003 R2 on the PCs and keep getting the error "Setup did not find any hard drives installed in your computer"

I have tried , Pressing F6 and installing every driver adaptec has listed at their site. I have tried slipstreaming the drivers into a 2003 installation as a friend recommended , I have also tried loading winodws XP , with the same results. Is there something I'm missing in the Bios?? I'm really at the end of my rope thinking I just wasted $400.00 on 2 computers that I cant get to work.

 

[iconSYS1]

In case someone else has this issue in the future :

Never solved, I'm thinking the drivers aren't compatible with Windows Server 2003 R2 version. (although, wouldn't work with XP SP1 either ? ) Purchased two $19.99 no-name PCI raid controllers with LSI logic chips. Hard drives came up without issues.

 

[Roadki11]

Im guessing you tried this one?

http://www.adaptec.com/en-US/speed/raid/aar/windows/aar1210sa_win2k-xp-2k3_drv_b45a_exe.htm

In bios did you tell it to boot from the sata controller and not the IDE? Sure doesnt look like it should be that hard. I have a Precision 650 dual Xeon 3.0, best machine i ever owned. It has adaptec scsi U320 though, got the drivers off the dell site. Try setting up an account on dell and enter the service tag, it will get you all the drivers you need for that shipped box. Dell likes to use vendors hardware and load their own firmware requiring dell drivers.



RoadKi11

"This apparent fear reaction is typical, rather than try to solve technical problems technically, policy solutions are often chosen." - Fred Cohen