My system uses the Intel microATX DG33TL with the following configuration:

1) Intel Core 2 Quad (SLACR) 6600
2) 2x2GB Crucial PC5300 (667 MHz)
3) WD 500GB SATA (model WD5000AAKS)
4) HP 1070i DVD Burner SATA

I updated the BIOS with the latest release from Intel by booting with a USB flash key.


The BIOS successfully identifies the CPU and the memory with no issues.
It also identifies my Memorex USB flash card.

However, the BIOS does not recognize any of the two SATA drives (hard-disk and DVD burner).

I checked all cable connections: power and data.
I tried all possible BIOS configurations:

AHCI
IDE

connecting the data cables to different SATA ports with no success.
I do not have (and I do not want :-) to use IDE (PATA) drives.

1) Has anyone experienced a similar issue with this motherboard?
2) Can anyone help me to fix this issues?

Your help is very appreciated.
Thanks!
Dario

Clear cmos. Load defaults in bios. Up vdimm to specs.

Use AHCI if you're reinstalling Windows. Try enabling RAID even if you don't have a RAID setup. I use RAID or none of my harddisks will show up in bios. I don't raid the disks.

Also, on my X38, there's a new selection for dvd drive. It's NOT CDROM/DVDROM. The bios copies part of my dvd writer model to read like P4-LG-DVD-BLAHBLAHBLAH. So if you set boot order to CD, it may not boot the dvd drive at all.