Installing XP Pro on SATA Drives

  • Thread starter Thread starter yudolindo
  • Start date Start date
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yudolindo

During the windows XP install process, the installer
freaks and reports that it cannot read various files and
drives and promtly crashes. Is this in part because I am
installing it from a CD boot onto a serial ATA drive? If
so, is there any way I can work around this problem? The
only ATA drivers I have are presumable on the MB's driver
disk. Thanks for any help!
 
-----Original Message-----
During the windows XP install process, the installer
freaks and reports that it cannot read various files and
drives and promtly crashes. Is this in part because I am
installing it from a CD boot onto a serial ATA drive? If
so, is there any way I can work around this problem? The
only ATA drivers I have are presumable on the MB's driver
disk. Thanks for any help!
.
I have not done your type of installation yet, but I
Click to expand...
plan to soon. If you're trying to install Windows XP
onto a serial ATA RAID array you will be prompted to hit
F6 early in the process. At this point you can then
install a motherboard driver that Windows probably
doesn't have. If you're just trying to install Windows
onto a single serial ATA drive I'm not sure if F6 still
applies. I don't think it could hurt to try this option
and then see if you can install the motherboard drivers
anyway.
 
Hi, yes you need to copy the raid drivers onto a floppy then hit F6 as X-ray
Doc poited out.....
Chris
 
Follow the correct procedure for installing third-party drivers for SATA
controllers that are *not* fully integrated into the mainboard - Correct
procedure is pressing F6 when prompted during install and introducing the
necessary drivers on a floppy disk. (Some newer mainboards with *fully*
integrated controllers do not require this, the giveaway being that if it is
needed, and not completed, the SATA drive will *not* be seen by the XP
install procedure)

Additionally here are a couple of other things that may help.

Check the IDE cable connections for the CD drive and, if possible, swap the
cable for a different one.

Check the mainboard manufacturer website for updates to BIOS and drivers.

Hope that helps
and please post an update when possible
Pete
 
-----Original Message-----
Follow the correct procedure for installing third-party drivers for SATA
controllers that are *not* fully integrated into the mainboard - Correct
procedure is pressing F6 when prompted during install and introducing the
necessary drivers on a floppy disk. (Some newer mainboards with *fully*
integrated controllers do not require this, the giveaway being that if it is
needed, and not completed, the SATA drive will *not* be seen by the XP
install procedure)

Additionally here are a couple of other things that may help.

Check the IDE cable connections for the CD drive and, if possible, swap the
cable for a different one.

Check the mainboard manufacturer website for updates to BIOS and drivers.

Hope that helps
and please post an update when possible
Pete
-----------------




.
Peter, do you know if you can only install necessary
Click to expand...
RAID or serial ATA drivers using a floppy disc? I'm in
the process of building such a computer and wasn't even
planning on buying a floppy drive. I thought that
perhaps after hitting F6 one could eject the Windows XP
disc and then install necessary drivers from a CD-ROM.
But I have never done this and will install a floppy
drive if necessary.
 
Hi Doc

Ejecting the XP install CD and inserting the CD with SATA drivers hasn't
been successful in the cases that I'm aware of it being tried. In such
cases the users have always needed to create the floppy disk with the
necessary drivers.

Unfortunately I'm not aware of a way to bypass that F6 procedure.

But given the minimal cost involved it is still advisable to include a
floppy drive in a build.

Without a way around the F6 procedure a floppy may not be needed
immediately, although it will depend entirely on which mainboard you decide
to go with and what kind of RAID array you wish to set up.

There are some mainboards available that will allow you to both install SATA
drives and create a RAID 0 array (striped), but not AFAIK a RAID 1 array
(mirrored), but only when they include the Intel ICH5R chipset - the Asus
P4C800 standard mainboard comes to mind, but there are others.

However a floppy drive is still widely used for updating the system BIOS and
any other SATA or RAID controllers not *fully* integrated on the mainboard
will require the F6 procedure to install XP. As I said to start with, I'm
not aware of a way to bypass this at present but given the potential
situations where a floppy drive could come in handy I'd still include a
floppy drive in any build at least for the next few years.

Best advise I can give, I think, is once you have your mainboard and CPU -
work out what you may need, in all circumstances, to go with it. Personally
I can usually think of a circumstance that a floppy drive would be a useful
addition to a system.

Sorry I can't be more help.
Pete
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