SATA and XP Home

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dean Lillywhite
  • Start date Start date
D

Dean Lillywhite

Does XP Home support sata drives, as i can get the drive
recognised at bios level but windows refuses to see it
and aborts installation
 
Dean

XP Home will have no problem with SATA drives. Any issue will always come
down to hardware.

In order to install XP (of either flavour) you need to follow a particular
method to install the SATA drivers.

You haven't given any details of the hardware you are using so the
instructions are going to be very general.

In general, you'll need to have the SATA drivers available on a floppy
disk ready for the install process - you'll find them on your mainboard CD
or manufacturers website, or if relevant on the CD with a PCI card-based
controller. Make sure that, if you need to copy onto a floppy disk, you
transfer all the files from the SATA driver folder - special attention
needed to ensure you include the txtsetup.oem file.

As the XP set-up begins you will be prompted to 'Press F6 to specify
third-party RAID or SCSI drivers' - at this point you should press F6 and,
when asked, insert the floppy disk with the relevant drivers. Select the
appropriate driver when asked and continue with the setup. There may be
some delays during this process and the set-up may appear to be continuing
without recognising the key-press - so don't panic.

When successful you'll be able to select the HD to install on.
If you are not given the HD you have not completed the procedure
correctly. Check you are using the correct drivers, have any relevant BIOS
updates for your mainboard, and try again.

Hope that helps
Pete
 
Thanks Pete that helps a lot. I knew that install sata on
a raid array required driver installation using the F6
method but was not aware the same applied to standard
single sata drive. Replaced the drive with an ide one now
to save time but will know what to do in the future!

Thanks again

Dean
 
Dean

My pleasure Dean.

If the option is available choose the Non-RAID SATA driver during
installation on a single SATA drive.

Update again when you have it successfully installed or if you run into any
other problems.

Cheers
Pete
 
Pete

Once again tnx for your help all working fine now and
even the txtsetup.oem file was showing to the right
directory (unlike some raid ones i have come across).

Cheers
Dean
 
Pete,
I previously had the same issues as Dean with my SATA drive, and I think you hit on the one thing I got wrong. I was trying to use the Raid drivers, so it didn't work with a single drive. Thanks for the detailed instructions!

Alan
 
Hi Alan

Let us know if that is the issue... the choice between RAID and Non-RAID
will be dependent on how the mainboard manufacturer has implemented SATA on
their board - some use the RAID SATA driver in both instances.

Basically you should be given the option during XP installation *if* the
mainboard supports it.

Hope that helps
and don't forget to update
Pete
---------------------------------

"alanrc54" wrote in message
Pete,
I previously had the same issues as Dean with my SATA drive, and I think you
hit on the one thing I got wrong. I was trying to use the Raid drivers, so
it didn't work with a single drive. Thanks for the detailed instructions!

Alan

"Pete Baker" wrote in message
 
I think it was--I loaded the Via drivers and I think I was supposed to also
load the Promise drivers which were also on the MSI setup CD. Meanwhile, I
cheated and bought a Promise SATA 150 TX2+ card, which came with a
ready-made driver floppy, which worked like a charm on the first try. WinXP
setup was able to use the SATA drive as the only hard drive. The only
"catch" was that I had to disconnect the IDE hard drive during the initial
setup, or otherwise Windows Setup would consider the IDE drive the "C"
drive. Once Setup was complete, I reconnected the IDE drive, which is now my
"D" drive as I wanted in the first place. The Promise card only cost around
$40, and now that Windows is already set up on the SATA drive, I can always
switch the SATA drive to the motherboard's SATA port and reuse the Promise
card in a different system.

Alan
 
Thanks for the update and glad you got it to work Alan

The Promise drivers on the MSI CD will have been the SATA drivers you
needed..

But you *may* run into problems if you try a simple swap of the SATA drive
to the mainboard based controller.

Things to watch for :

1. Check that the MSI mainboard allows boot from the on-board SATA
controller. The mainboard manual or website might be able to give you a
clue to that and suitable BIOS settings.

2. The drivers that you have currently installed for the PCI card-based
controller may not be appropriate. Mainboard based drivers are sometimes
specific version for that mainboard manufacturer - adapted to suit that
particular BIOS - there may be a conflict if this is the case. If so, you
should be able to remedy the situation by running a In-Place Upgrade or
Repair Installation as detailed here -

How to Perform an In-Place Upgrade (Reinstallation) of Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;Q315341

(Make sure you pay careful attention to all the information in this article)

Treat the Re-installation as a fresh install for the purposes of the SATA
drivers and have the Promise drivers from the MSI CD available on a floppy
disk ready for use by the F6 method during installation (as detailed
previously).

Hope that helps
Pete
 
Glad to be able to help Alan

Hope you get to the configuration you want in the end.

Pete
---------------------
 
I'm running a single SATA drive on an Asus P4P800 mainboard (Intel 865PE
chipset, ICH5R controller).

I didn't need the Intel RAID drivers for XP Home SP1 to install to the
drive. (I have since installed the latest Intel chipset utility, but XP was
already up and running prior to that.) Other chipsets may, I suppose, vary.

Address altered to avoid spam. Replace nkbob with bobkn.

Bruce Mayo said:
Do you need to install raid drivers, for windows to indentify the sata
Click to expand...
drive?
 
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