Defective SB710 symptoms on GA-MA770T-UD3P?

[viccard]

Hey guys,
I wonder if my Windows 7 install nightmares can be explained by a defective mobo.
I put together a new system::
Athlon II X4 620, GA-MA770T-UD3P, 4Gigs of G.Skill 1600 memory, WD Caviar Black 640Gig sata hard drive.

I can start the install from the Windows 7 dvd.
The fist few install screens take obnoxiously long time, like 10 mins at each blue-wallpaper or "setup is starting" screen (it looks like it hangs at those points)
And when I finally get to HD selection Windows doesn't see any.
It offers to browse for drivers (which I do, I got them on a flash drive, latest from Gigabyte website), reads them, and then still doesn't see the HD.

Few important points:
- I tried every possible combination of sata ports for my HD and DVD already
- I tried all SATA/IDE related setting in BIOS, (Native IDE, SATA, RAID, AHCI)
- I did update bios to F4
- Caviar Black should not be a problem, I connected it to a working machine and could format, write/read from it.
- I was able to install Windows on a crappy, chirpy 30Gig IDE hard drive that I plugged into a single IDE port on that mobo.

My guess at this point is a defective SATA controller or entire SB710 on the motherboard.
Should I just go with a mobo replacement at this point?

[artdrivers]

Re: Defective SB710 symptoms on GA-MA770T-UD3P?

Can you install a different OS on that GA-MA770T-UD3P?

[viccard]

Re: Defective SB710 symptoms on GA-MA770T-UD3P?

I found the solution,
it's a common Windows 7 problem on many motherboards.

If floppy is enabled in bios (and it is be default), then W7 will start a very slow install and will fail anyway.
Disabling it worked:
Windows 7 - Installation Suddenly Slow | INTO development blog

[artdrivers]

Re: Defective SB710 symptoms on GA-MA770T-UD3P?

Ah! thanks for the heads-up.