Cannot find Windows drive

[Quartz]

>the BIOS does not seem to know of the existence of the Windows
> drives either.

If the BIOS can't even see the drives, then they're not there as far as 
the motherboard is concerned. No amount of messing with *nix will 
address that. This is a hardware/firmware problem, not an OS problem.

Things to check:

- Go over all your cables again.

- Make sure that there isn't some weird conflict with that BIOS not 
supporting those drive types.

- If you fully disconnect the BSD drives, will it boot into windows at all?

- Do the drives have any jumpers that control things like SSC, PUIS, or 
alternate PHY modes? Some boards don't support all options.

- Do the drives have dual sata+molex power plugs? Some drives 
(especially WD drives) with dual power will do special delayed/staggered 
spinup stuff and wait for an init signal over the sata data cable before 
starting, so if the BIOS doesn't send what the drive is expecting, 
nothing will happen.


>I tried to
> get into the Intel BIOS Management, but it wants a password

Sounds like whoever 'refurbished' this machine either is screwing with 
you or doesn't know what they're doing. There should be a physical 
jumper or switch somewhere on the board that can forcibly reset the BIOS 
to factory defaults if you set it the right way at the right time; hunt 
down the board's manual for a step-by-step. Sometimes just pulling the 
battery for an hour will do it, depending on the BIOS and board.