trouble reinstalling windows xp

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guest
  • Start date Start date
G

Guest

Hi,
I am in serious despair. Had installed new hard drive, everything working
fine and got to lastly restore backup files. Did this at the same time as
sorting out 21GB of unallocated hard drive space on my 160Gb drive. Operating
system seemed to break up and i lost system restore, search functions and
more. System degraded so much that I decided to do a complete fresh install.
(By the way antivirus completely up to date and applied often). Couldn't do a
fresh install because recovery disk had physically snapped in half!!
Got a new one and I still can't reinstall as it throws up a "missing
M5289.sys" message. Decided to try and configure slave drive as master. Bios
only reported 'press any key to continue' and did nothing else but repeat the
message. Checked jumpers and cables, made sure hard drive partition was
deleted - no success, reconfigured slave as primary partition (why - just
because I ran out of ideas!) and same result. Both drives are apparent if i
revert to original master and slave but can't recover computer at all and
don't know which way to go.
Would prefer to reinstall XP on original 160GB drive but would settle for
achieving this on slave made as master (80GB drive).
sorry for long message - any help??
 
woof! said:
... Would prefer to reinstall XP on original 160GB drive but would settle for
achieving this on slave made as master (80GB drive).
sorry for long message - any help??
Click to expand...

Remove (disconnect) the "slave made as master (80GB drive)" from the
computer altogether. Place the 160GB drive on the Master position on
the Primary IDE controller. Verify that the drive is properly
identified in the BIOS and that it is the Master Drive on the Primary
IDE controller. Proceed to install Windows. When Windows is properly
installed bring the 80GB drive online. If you have more than one
partition on the Primary (160GB) hard drive pay attention to where
Windows will be installed, ideally it should be installed on the first
partition.

John
 
Thanks John but no more success -
I disconnected slave, confirmed 160GB as master and the drive showed up in
the bios. Proceeded to start windows installation but same error message
M5289.sys missing appeared. Can't understand why the old 80Gb drive wont work!
????
 
Sounds like that file (M5289.sys) is for SATA or RAID controller. From
your post and mention of Master/Slave I gather that you are not
installing on these. If you have a SATA/RAID controller built-in the
motherboard go in the BIOS and turn it off.

John
 
I didn't think I had the SATA/RAID controller turned on. I've double checked
in the bios and confirm there isn't the option on it to enable or disable. My
last attempt was to install on a single 160GB hard drive that has no
partitions created. I have not had any previous problem. The only other thing
that comes to mind is that when my manufacturer sent me a replacement
recovery disk t moved from windows XP (without SP2) to windows XP with SP2
included. Can't imagine this making a significant difference but thought it
worth mentioning!
Also can't understand why my 80GB drive will not allow an installation of xp
and just says press any key, which when I press a key returns the same
message.

thanks
 
If there is indeed an onboard SATA/RAID controller and if it cannot be
truned off in the BIOS then maybe you need to press F6 very early on
during the setup and supply the SATA/RAID drivers on a floppy diskette.
Usually if you are using PATA drives you should disable SATA/RAID
during installation. I don't think that the SP2 is responsible for this.

John
 
Thanks john for all your help.
I am more & more resigned to just defaulting to purchasing a new computer.
This one is 4 years old and i get the distinct message it wants to retire.
I will have another play in the meantime with the SATA/RAID function. Did
also wonder if it could simply be a problem with the motherboard primary IDE
connection since I am appearing to have a problem loading up on either of the
hard drives i have.
 
It could be a motherboard hardware problem, but a 4 year old pc is not
all that old, they usually last much longer than that. Make sure that
the jumpers on the drives are at the proper location and that the drive
is at the proper location the cable. IDE controllers do occasionally
fail, you could try putting the drive on the Secondary IDE controller
and see what happens. You are trying to do a clean install, right?

You could possibly run hardware diagnostics, your pc manufacturer would
have a set of utilities that can run from a DOS session. I am almost
certain that the SATA/RAID can be disabled in the BIOS, if not copy the
SATA/RAID drivers to a floppy diskette and use the F6 installation
method to install the drivers during the setup. What is the make and
model number of the motherboard or computer? Surely there must be a way
to install Windows on it! What does the pc manufacturer have to say
about this?

John
 
Tried the secondary IDE controller - same result
checked jumpers and cables - all looks correct.
Yes, trying to do a clean install and wipe everything.
Motherboard is ASUS A7V8X. Hasn't got SATA connections.
Attempted to install RAID/SATA drivers by pressing F6 and having the drivers
on a floppy. Message is that the setup CD has already got a windows version
which is better so went with that. No luck!
Tried again and chose to install the ASUS drivers - same result
Following the motherboard manual it says I should be able to access the
RAID/SATA function in the bios under advanced menu / PCI configuration. tried
and the option isn't there. Doesn't appear that it is present.
Manufacturers (MESH Computers) couldn't offer a solution but felt it was a
hardware issue. Their forum suggested it was a RAID/SATA issue though. The
proposed solutions they offered to others with a similar problem didn't work
e.g. copy I386 folder to desktop and try again - no luck.
Once again many thanks for your assistance
 
Success!!

I obtained a free download system set up disk from freepctech.com which
allowed me to format the master drive from dos. From there i tried fdisk. I
then changed the boot orderin the bios to make the CD drive second in line to
the A:/ drive and it allowed me to do the windows xp install.
I am now back in business, not really sure what caused it but there appeared
to be soem sort of conflict that prevented the installation to take place.
many thanks for your much appreciated assistance.
 
Glad to see you got it fixed.

John

woof! said:
Success!!

I obtained a free download system set up disk from freepctech.com which
allowed me to format the master drive from dos. From there i tried fdisk. I
then changed the boot orderin the bios to make the CD drive second in line to
the A:/ drive and it allowed me to do the windows xp install.
I am now back in business, not really sure what caused it but there appeared
to be soem sort of conflict that prevented the installation to take place.
many thanks for your much appreciated assistance.

:
Click to expand...
 
Back
Top