OEM, drivers, and XP

[none]

I've written before that I have a Sony VGC-RA820G that I want to "ditch" the
OEM build of Windows (Media Center) for plain old XP Home. I don't care
about the Media Center, but what I'm really after is total ability to have a
*real* XP disc, not the hidden partition/etc. that takes me back to the
stoneage of 1 1/2 yrs ago when the PC was new. Sony's mantra for system
problems seems to always be "reinstall the OS as it was the day you bought
it." Great.

I tried, knowing I'd have some drivers missing, but didn't know the hard
drive would be the first to be a problem. The XP Home install seemed to be
going OK, but when it had formatted my C drive, it then stopped saying
something about "no usable partition to install Windows." How strange.
Then it struck me, Windows might not natively support the SATA drive
(Maxtor) in my machine. That, plus the 915 Express Intel chipset.

Into the wee hours of the morning I tried to dig around for a SATA driver
downloadable from Maxtor. There are none. Their tech support suggested I
buy a "cheap" controller card and just use the CD (then throw out the card,
since the "smarts" are built into my motherboard). Sony, by the way, has no
such drivers downloadable. So I'm stuck there.

As for the Intel chipset drivers, I guess, still not quite sure, you can
indeed create a floppy that at some point throws the files in need for the
chipset. For the hard drive, I gather this is the "magic F6 trick" where
the question is something like "do you have additional drivers to add" or
something like that, usually for exotic drives, I guess, but it makes all
the difference in the world.

Sony gave me the speech about no longer being covered if I change OS's (I'm
not covered now, warrantee expired). Emails gave me to understand that Sony
makes no commitment to help in these regards.

I do really appreciate Microsoft's help today, a rep named Patrick bridged
me in with both Maxtor and Sony. We didn't resolve the problem, but
perhaps a resolution will follow soon. I can't be the only person to eschew
the OEM way of doing things. I want my OWN XP disc, not some strange
emergency partition!

Sony, to their credit, does make some drivers available on their website,
though I'm not sure how to get some of them loaded with the Windows install
(like the Intel chipset drivers). At any rate, if anyone has successfully
taken an OEM machine "married" to it's bundled OS (with such useless
ephemera as AOL and other unwanted goodies) and turned it into a "true
Windows machine" with a few updated drivers... please let me know. My first
attempt bombed, I dunno.

Thanks! Bill Halvorsen

 

[Richard Urban]

You have to download the correct SATA drivers from the manufacturer of your
computer - for your specific model number. You then extract these drivers to
a clean floppy.

At the beginning of a Windows XP installation you will be "briefly" (about 5
seconds) prompted to press F6 to install drivers. A couple of minutes later
you will be prompted to install the actual drivers. Put in the floppy disk
and point to your SATA drivers. Continue from there.

Windows will use these SATA drivers unless you consequently update them to
some other from within device manager.

You will also have to load the M/B drivers for your particular computer, and
any other necessary drivers (video, sound, LAN, etc).

--
Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I've written before that I have a Sony VGC-RA820G that I want to
"ditch" the OEM build of Windows (Media Center) for plain old XP
Home. I don't care about the Media Center, but what I'm really after
is total ability to have a *real* XP disc, not the hidden
partition/etc. that takes me back to the stoneage of 1 1/2 yrs ago
when the PC was new. Sony's mantra for system problems seems to
always be "reinstall the OS as it was the day you bought it." Great.

I tried, knowing I'd have some drivers missing, but didn't know the
hard drive would be the first to be a problem. The XP Home install
seemed to be going OK, but when it had formatted my C drive, it then
stopped saying something about "no usable partition to install
Windows." How strange. Then it struck me, Windows might not natively
support the SATA drive (Maxtor) in my machine. That, plus the 915
Express Intel chipset.
Into the wee hours of the morning I tried to dig around for a SATA
driver downloadable from Maxtor. There are none.

You need the appropriate SATA driver for your motherboard, not for the hard
drive. Try Sony's web site.

 

[none]

You need the appropriate SATA driver for your motherboard, not for the
hard drive. Try Sony's web site.

In a phone call between Microsoft and Sony, it was determined no such
downloadable driver exists; Maxtor support, still with Microsoft on the
line, said I'd need to buy a cheap controller to get the SATA driver, but to
throw it out and just use the drivers from the CD (might, might not work).
The chipset drivers are available from Sony; whatever it takes to make the
SATA drive work, is not. Still looking for someone who has actually done
this.

 

[Richard Urban]

Go here http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html and download/run Belarc
advisor. Look under bus devices. What type of SATA controller do you have
shown?

Post back with info.

--
Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Bruce Chambers]

I tried, knowing I'd have some drivers missing, but didn't know the hard
drive would be the first to be a problem. The XP Home install seemed to be
going OK, but when it had formatted my C drive, it then stopped saying
something about "no usable partition to install Windows." How strange.
Then it struck me, Windows might not natively support the SATA drive
(Maxtor) in my machine. That, plus the 915 Express Intel chipset.

No, it's not at all likely that Windows would include device drivers
for devices that didn't exist when it (WinXP) was developed....

Into the wee hours of the morning I tried to dig around for a SATA driver
downloadable from Maxtor. There are none.

No, of course not. Why would a hard drive manufacturer provide device
drivers for the SATA controller on the motherboard?

Their tech support suggested I
buy a "cheap" controller card and just use the CD (then throw out the card,
since the "smarts" are built into my motherboard). Sony, by the way, has no
such drivers downloadable. So I'm stuck there.

What about the motherboard manufacturer? I doubt very much that Sony
builds their own motherboards; they purchase them from someone else, and
just assembled the computer.

As for the Intel chipset drivers, I guess, still not quite sure, you can
indeed create a floppy that at some point throws the files in need for the
chipset.

And I'm sure the instructions are readily available on both Intel's and
the motherboard manufacturer's (if it wasn't Intel) web sites.

For the hard drive, I gather this is the "magic F6 trick" where
the question is something like "do you have additional drivers to add" or
something like that, usually for exotic drives, I guess, but it makes all
the difference in the world.

I don't understand a reference to "magic" in connection to a process
that's remarkably unchanged since the days of WinNT, 10 years ago.
Nevertheless, it has almost nothing to do with the hard drives, and
*everything* to do with the specific type of controller to which the
hard drives connect.

Sony gave me the speech about no longer being covered if I change OS's (I'm
not covered now, warrantee expired). Emails gave me to understand that Sony
makes no commitment to help in these regards.

Standard practice in the industry (and just about every other industry
I'm aware of, for that matter). You vary from the way the manufacturer
designed the product, and you're own your own.

I do really appreciate Microsoft's help today, a rep named Patrick bridged
me in with both Maxtor and Sony. We didn't resolve the problem, but
perhaps a resolution will follow soon. I can't be the only person to eschew
the OEM way of doing things. I want my OWN XP disc, not some strange
emergency partition!

While I agree that having a real installation disk is important -- so
much so that I never buy computers from companies who won't provide one
-- I don't understand why you waited until after making the purchase to
start doing a little basic product research.

Sony, to their credit, does make some drivers available on their website,
though I'm not sure how to get some of them loaded with the Windows install
(like the Intel chipset drivers). At any rate, if anyone has successfully
taken an OEM machine "married" to it's bundled OS (with such useless
ephemera as AOL and other unwanted goodies) and turned it into a "true
Windows machine" with a few updated drivers... please let me know. My first
attempt bombed, I dunno.

Certainly, and it's normally easily done. Use a generic OEM CD (so a
new license needn't be purchased), download and copy to CD and/or
diskette as necessary all of the component manufacturers' device
drivers, and proceed.

Simply boot from the WinXP installation CD. You'll be offered the
opportunity to delete, create, and format partitions as part of the
installation process. (You may need to re-arrange the order of boot
devices in the PC's BIOS to boot from the CD.)

HOW TO Install Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;316941

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/clean_install.htm

Remember, WinXP won't have a driver for the SATA controller built-in.
Very early in the boot process, just after having booted from the WinXP
CD, the screen will display the words to the effect: "Setup is examining
your system." Press <F6> when this happens, and have the *motherboard
manufacturer's* WinXP-specific drivers for your SATA controller
available on a floppy disk.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

 

[Yves Leclerc]

I've written before that I have a Sony VGC-RA820G that I want to "ditch" the
OEM build of Windows (Media Center) for plain old XP Home. I don't care
about the Media Center, but what I'm really after is total ability to have a
*real* XP disc, not the hidden partition/etc. that takes me back to the
stoneage of 1 1/2 yrs ago when the PC was new. Sony's mantra for system
problems seems to always be "reinstall the OS as it was the day you bought
it." Great.

I tried, knowing I'd have some drivers missing, but didn't know the hard
drive would be the first to be a problem. The XP Home install seemed to be
going OK, but when it had formatted my C drive, it then stopped saying
something about "no usable partition to install Windows." How strange.
Then it struck me, Windows might not natively support the SATA drive
(Maxtor) in my machine. That, plus the 915 Express Intel chipset.

Into the wee hours of the morning I tried to dig around for a SATA driver
downloadable from Maxtor. There are none. Their tech support suggested I
buy a "cheap" controller card and just use the CD (then throw out the card,
since the "smarts" are built into my motherboard). Sony, by the way, has no
such drivers downloadable. So I'm stuck there.

As for the Intel chipset drivers, I guess, still not quite sure, you can
indeed create a floppy that at some point throws the files in need for the
chipset. For the hard drive, I gather this is the "magic F6 trick" where
the question is something like "do you have additional drivers to add" or
something like that, usually for exotic drives, I guess, but it makes all
the difference in the world.

Sony gave me the speech about no longer being covered if I change OS's (I'm
not covered now, warrantee expired). Emails gave me to understand that Sony
makes no commitment to help in these regards.

I do really appreciate Microsoft's help today, a rep named Patrick bridged
me in with both Maxtor and Sony. We didn't resolve the problem, but
perhaps a resolution will follow soon. I can't be the only person to eschew
the OEM way of doing things. I want my OWN XP disc, not some strange
emergency partition!

Sony, to their credit, does make some drivers available on their website,
though I'm not sure how to get some of them loaded with the Windows install
(like the Intel chipset drivers). At any rate, if anyone has successfully
taken an OEM machine "married" to it's bundled OS (with such useless
ephemera as AOL and other unwanted goodies) and turned it into a "true
Windows machine" with a few updated drivers... please let me know. My first
attempt bombed, I dunno.

Thanks! Bill Halvorsen

For Intel chipset, you might be able to use the standard Intel drivers found
on www.intel.com. Not sure if Sony "tweaked" them.