So I just built my new system with the following parts and am trying now to install Windows, but it keeps giving me this error message:

"Marvell adapter initializing bios version ..xyz...
Adapter 1
No hard disk is detected"

and then after that it says...

"reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media in selected boot device"

My components are:

ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard
Intel Core i7-950 Bloomfield 3.06GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601950
OCZ Platinum 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Voltage Desktop Memory Model OCZ3P1600LV6GK
Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000HLFS 300GB 10000 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM (system drive)
Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drives - OEM (X2)
LG Black Blu-ray/HD DVD-ROM & 16X DVD±R DVD Burner SATA Model GGC-H20L
EVGA 017-P3-1294-AR GeForce GTX 295 1792MB 896 Bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 64-bit

I only have my CDrom drive and 1 HD connected via SATA cables at the moment. Then I went into BIOS and set the boot priority to go CDROM, then HDD.

And it still gives me this error message.

On the Main Page of BIOS it lists SATA 1, SATA 2, SATA 3 etc all the way to SATA 6. And under SATA 1 it show the HDD and Under SATA 2 it shows the CDROM drive. So I know it sees them.

Also under "storage configuration" there is a section called "Configure SATA as" and the options are: IDE, RAID, and AHCI. It's currenly on IDE.

What could be the problem? Thanks for anyone who can help.

LG Black Blu-ray/HD DVD-ROM & 16X DVD±R DVD Burner SATA Model GGC-H20L
http://www.newegg.com/Product/.....6827136133

Scott, thanks so much for your help.

No I did not update the BIOS yet. Can I do that before installing Windows? If so how?

I'll enable AHCI and increase the timeout value and repost with the results.

Thanks again!

Sam, you can and should update the BIOS before installing Windows, unless you already have the latest. Get the latest BIOS from the "Download" tab at the motherboard's webpage at Asus. It looks like 0504 is the most recent, from 25 May, 2009. If you look at the manual, page 71 section 3.1, there are several ways to update the BIOS. It's actually almost ridiculous. My preference is to use EZ Flash 2 and a USB flash drive. If you have a diskette drive and diskettes, you can do it that way, but they don't hold much. A USB key can hold the new BIOS image and the backup of the old image. Be sure to do the backup before flashing the new BIOS, just in case.

I'm still looking in the manual for possible reasons why the Vista DVD won't find the hard drive.

Scott, you are awesome. I just have to say that. I've been talking with people all over the internet about this all day and you are the first person to understand what is going on and to get this far with me. I still haven't fixed it yet, but thanks for at least that.

Anyway, I just finished updating the BIOS like you suggested to 0504, so that's all done.

That's very interesting about the 2 controllers. This is starting to make more sense now. Yes, you are correct, I have no IDE devices. All my HD's are SATA and my BlueRay DVDROM is also SATA so I have no problem disabling the Marvell Storage ROM in the BIOS. Do you know where that is located to disable?

As for which SATA connectors the HDD and DVDRom are connected to I feel like I tried a bunch of combos. First it was 1&2, then some 1&3. Currently the HDD is located on 1 and the DVD is on 5. You are correct about the locations. 5&6 are sticking up.

Which ones should they be in? Keep in mind I also have 2 other HDDs so 3 in total. Just that the other 2 aren't hooked up yet as I thought I'd keep it simple first until I get things working and get Windows installed. Then after I did all of that I thought I'd install the other 2 drives. Is that a good plan or should I do them all at once?

Thanks again for staying with me here.

Ok so I experimented and it looks like the the Marvell Storage Boot ROM is a sub option of the Marvell Storage Controller. So if I disable the Controller, the Marvell Storage Boot ROM automatically disappears and is not an option any more. Also under Marvell LAN 1 and Marvell LAN 2 there is a sub option called just LAN Boot Rom. If both of the Marvell LAN 1 & 2 are disabled then the LAN boot ROM goes away and is not an option any more.

Sam, thanks for the kind words. Regarding the SATA ports, some motherboards are picky about which ones are used for boot devices. From what I see in the manual, this board is not one of them. So if you are seeing the same results with the HDD and DVD in 1 & 2, 1 & 3, or 1 & 5, then that is further proof that this is not related to the boot problem.

There is merit to your plan of starting with one hard drive to reduce complexity. However, I would also recommend that after you have licked this boot problem to get those drives added in as soon as possible. It's also a good idea with a new build to load it up with all the parts and do some stress testing. I didn't see a power supply listed above -- what kind do you have?

For the Marvell Storage Controller, my recommendation was only to disable the Boot ROM. That will get rid of the "no drive found" message. If you disable the entire controller, the eSATA ports won't work and neither will the PATA/IDE ports. So the question you have to ask yourself is this: "If I connect an eSATA or PATA drive, 12 to 18 months or more in the future, and it doesn't work, will I remember that I disabled the controller?"

For the LAN Controllers, it's the same story. You should leave the controllers enabled, just disable the Boot ROM. When you enable the LAN Boot ROM, it is trying to boot from the network which requires a server on the LAN hosting a boot image. The message about "PXE" and the "MAC ADDR" is all related to an attempt to boot over the network that ends in the "Media Test Failure". This should also have no effect on booting from the primary SATA controller.

What is in your boot sequence?

That sounds like a good plan. Remember that you will need to enable the Marvell Storage Boot ROM to boot from a PATA/IDE drive.

So, from what you have read about others with the same problem, did anyone pinpoint the source of the problem? A system that can't boot from a SATA CD/DVD is flawed somehow. Does it seem that the motherboard is the cause or the DVD drive?