SATA drives and Windows XP

[Rodney L]

I am having trouble with Windows XP installing on SATA
hard drives. I created a drivers diskette, so when
Windows begins to install, I press F6 and point it to the
A: drive. It lists all the drivers available and I choose
the one for XP. When XP gets to the point when it shows
the hard drives available for installation, it says that
there are no local drives available. I have confirmed the
installation of the drives by checking them through the
BIOS configurations....the BIOS recognizes that the HD is
there. What other options do I have? Thanks!

Rodney

 

[Paul]

How many SATA's do you have Rod?

You really only need the drivers if you use RAID 0 or 1.

If you only have 1 SATA dont bother with trying to install
drivers with the clean install. Just let XP format the hdd and install
XP on it. It SHOULD work.

 

[Paul]

Oh install SP1 after you install XP. That might help too.

 

[Airman Thunderbird]

Might as well skip SP1 and go with SP2, don't you think?

 

[Guest]

Thanks....but, I'm trying to install XP on a brand new,
unformatted drive. I'm booting from my CD and then trying
to get XP installed.

Any ideas? Thanks!

 

[Airman QPD]

How big's the drive. I believe XP has a problem with oversized drives
until you install SP1 or SP2.

 

[Paul]

Yup u do a clean install. Chuck the CD in make it the boot device in the
BIOS.
Save the settings in the BIOS. Reboot.

So it boots from the CD. XP's CD should be bootable. And should install
straight from CD till XP finishes installing. Yup until you install SP1
or SP2, XP may not see a hdd bigger than 131 or something mb.

I cant remember the exact size. BUT yup, if u have SP2 now install it
after installing XP. It may pay to also format in NTFS than Fat32.

 

[Paul]

Oops, after u chuck the CD in, you'll see a message saying press a key
down the bottom of the screen. Press a key. XP will start installing.

It'll reboot a few more times after this. (It will also say press a key
everytime
the XP install tells you it's rebooting).

DON'T press a key AGAIN (everytime it reboots).

Leave it so it continues installing XP.

If you keep on pressing a key everytime it reboots, it'll start installing
XP
all over again from scratch. And you'll be there forever!

 

[RodneyL]

My HD is 160G. Since I can't get XP to recognize the
drive, how can I get SP1 or SP2 on it? It's during the
DOS-based install that it says no drives are installed.

 

[Paul]

How are you trying to install XP Rod? You DON'T do it
thru DOS. (DON'T use a floppy that has been formatted with DOS on it).

You boot directly from CD. Chuck the CD in the CDROM. Boot up
and go into the BIOS. Change the bootdisk to CD. Then save the settings.

Then let the CD boot by itself (NOT with a floppy or via the disk drive).

Once you see the message " press key to continue" down the bottom
left of the screen. Press a key and XP will install. As I said before
everytime the XP install tells you its rebooting. DON'T press anymore
keys. Let it do its thing. And XP will finish installing onto the hard
drive.

Once you get to the XP install screen, tell it to FORMAT in NTFS.
And it'll format the hdd and then install XP onto it. (Once XP has installed
go back into the BIOS and change the bootdisk back to the hard drive).

The only other thing I can think of (why its not working), is the
connection (if the SATA connection is on the motherboard), or on a PCI card.
That connection DOESN'T include the power to run it. You HAVE TO get an
adapter for the power to the SATA and connect it to a spare MOLEX power
connection, in order for it to work. (so it has power going to it).

 

[Thomas Wendell]

I've read on these gere groups that all STA controllers are not alike,
others XP recognizes automatically, for others you need the drivers (F6 at
beginning of CD boot). But you don't use RAID drivers from the floppy unless
you've made a RAID array.
There should be single drive drivers on that floppy too.....


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[Nathan McNulty]

Also, there is a limit to 137 GB if the XP Install CD doesn't have at
least Service Pack 1 slipstreamed into it. I would suggest downloading
the network install of Service Pack 2 and slipstream it to make a WinXP
SP2 CD. Then install from that. I have an SATA drive that the XP Setup
recognizes just fine. Your chipset may not be supported the way mine
is. Generally speaking you only need to use F6 if you have RAID
drivers, but yours may require more work. I would double check all of
the BIOS settings. In my BIOS, I have to have SATA Enhanced enabled in
order to get it to work right.