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will do.......though i have already followed exactly the instructions on the ASUS website to no avail...

anyway, we'll see what ASUS say in the morning.

I just ran the too available here CPU-Z and it says i have a A7N8Z DELUXE motherboard...which may go a way to explaining the problem with the BIOS update. I shall try with the Deluxe BIOS.

another update....another problem....

I have now sucessfully updated BIOS to rev 1008. But i still dont think BIOS is recognising the SATA HDD. Going through the F6 function on windows setup i got it to istall the SATA drivers no problem. But it still wont detect the HArd drive.

Driving me nuts this is.

Right...slowy getting there I think.

On the motherboard you need to move jumper pins to ENABLE SATA.

I now get a RAID controller screen on startup and it recognises the HDD.

However, I still cant get windows setup to install on it.

What error are you getting on the windows install? If it's recognized in bios, you should be good to go.....

v

Right PROBLEM SOLVED.

For anyone in the future this is what i had to do.....

Physically change the jumpers on the motherboard to enable the SATA / RAID controllers. Details found on the motherboard manual available at the ASUS website
Update the BIOS to v1008
In BIOS....enable SATA/SCSI (now available scinve BIOS version 1008)
and set 2nd boot device (behind floppy) to HDD-1. (in advanced menu)
- (my old HDD was set as HDD-0) - though i never ran both at the same time.
- I worked this out by chance..after enableing the RAID controllers i got another screen when booting up showing all SATA devices. i noticed that it said 1 - WD******** so as a last ditch attempt i went back to BIOS and changes the 2nd boot device to HDD-1 and hey presto it worked.

Next I had to install the SATA drivers using the F6 function before Windows installs. Restarted and it all works fine now.

Thanks all.
Hope this saves someone a headache or 2. I never phoned for any technical help as I decided I wouldnt be able to explain what I had done..lol

excellent work, sidevinders.....hope you stick around.....we can always use good help here....

Glad that it worked out for you, and I sincerely hope you stick around here....I'll request this one be marked 'answered'.