Can't install XP on ABit Mobo with HPT366

[Robert S]

I am trying to install XP on an ABit motherboard with an HPT366 HDD
controller. If I don't load a driver for this controller, the hard drive is
not recognised during installation. If I load a driver (from numerous
places on the net), the installation program freezes on "Setup is starting
Windows".

I don't seem to be able to get an "official" driver form the ABit website.

Can anybody advise me?

 

[Dominique]

I am trying to install XP on an ABit motherboard with an HPT366 HDD
controller. If I don't load a driver for this controller, the hard
drive is not recognised during installation. If I load a driver (from
numerous places on the net), the installation program freezes on
"Setup is starting Windows".

I don't seem to be able to get an "official" driver form the ABit
website.

Can anybody advise me?

I have the diskette that came with an Abit BE6 motherboard, if your board
is different, it should still work because it's the same chip and the
diskette sticker doesn't refer to BE6 but to Hot Rod 66 Driver Disk
Version 1.20. It is for Windows 95/98/2000, the 2000 driver might work
with XP.

There is a bug with Win2000 that I don't know if it exist with XP, if you
use some Maxtor 20 gig hard disk on the HPT366 controller under Win2000,
the system freezes and it's a NO-GO.

I've zipped the content of the diskette and it is a 76KB zip file. I
could send it to you be email, can I use
"(e-mail address removed)"?

If you are using WinZip you must check the "Use folder names" option in
the "Extract" dialog box, and copy the extracted files and folder on a
diskette and you'll get the same diskette than me.

Dominique

 

[Robert S]

I have the diskette that came with an Abit BE6 motherboard, if your board
is different, it should still work because it's the same chip and the
diskette sticker doesn't refer to BE6 but to Hot Rod 66 Driver Disk
Version 1.20. It is for Windows 95/98/2000, the 2000 driver might work
with XP.

There is a bug with Win2000 that I don't know if it exist with XP, if you
use some Maxtor 20 gig hard disk on the HPT366 controller under Win2000,
the system freezes and it's a NO-GO.

I've zipped the content of the diskette and it is a 76KB zip file. I
could send it to you be email, can I use
"(e-mail address removed)"?

If you are using WinZip you must check the "Use folder names" option in
the "Extract" dialog box, and copy the extracted files and folder on a
diskette and you'll get the same diskette than me.

Dominique

I would be most grateful if you could send the file to me at the above
address. If I can't install XP (which seems to be becoming a lost cause),
somebody has suggested installing 2000 then doing an upgrade. I've found a
driver that doesn't freeze up with W2000.

Many thanks,

Robert.

 

[Dominique]

I would be most grateful if you could send the file to me at the above
address. If I can't install XP (which seems to be becoming a lost
cause), somebody has suggested installing 2000 then doing an upgrade.
I've found a driver that doesn't freeze up with W2000.

Many thanks,

Robert.

I sent you the email yesterday (tuesday), but today when I came back from
work, I checked my emails and your email was not delivered because of
"illegal attachement" is there another way to get it to you?

Here's what they say:

<[email protected]>: host
gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com[66.249.83.27] said: 552 5.7.0 Illegal
Attachment
h36si13183064wxd (in reply to end of DATA command)

I'll check back the group thursday night.

Dominique.

 

[originalbl]

I came across the same problem of the computer freezing or halting
while trying to install Windows XP and received the message "Setup is
starting Windows." You know it's frozen because pressing alt+ctrl+del
doesn't respond. After much searching I found out, at least in my
case, that the Windows installation program was not able to identify
the computer system/BIOS as ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power
Interface), a standard for hardware recognition, even if your
motherboard/BIOS is indeed ACPI. So this is what you can try:

1) Boot from the Windows Installation CD (boot order may be needed to
be changed in BIOS, and you may have to press a key when asked to boot
from CD during startup. I suppose you can also start the installation
program from the harddrive).
2) Press F5 to bring up the Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) menu, once
the Windows installation program begins with the blue text screen. It
may ask you to press F6 or F2 but instead press F5 instead!
3) There will be various menu options but select "Advanced
Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) PC" if indeed your BIOS
supports ACPI (most do these days.)
4) Then from here on Windows installation should progress and not
stall. To go past the "Setup is starting Windows" screen it only took
me a few seconds but no more than 1 minute, even though Microsoft says
it may take up to 30minutes.

Here are the useful links from which I found this information.

- TheElderlyGeek.com's "Clean Install Windows XP:"
http://www.theeldergeek.com/clean_installation_of_windows_xp.htm

- Microsoft's "HOW TO: Specify a Specific or Third-Party HAL During
Windows Setup:"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/216251/EN-US/

And more Microsoft links:
- "Windows Setup Hangs When 'Setup Is Starting Windows' Screen
Appears"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/217073
- "Windows XP Does Not Respond at 'Setup Is Starting Windows XP'
Message"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310760
- "Troubleshooting Text-Mode Setup Problems on ACPI Computers"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/224826/EN-US/

I hope this helps those who've had the same problem as me and took
forever to figure this out.