Cannot install on SATA hard drive

[Stephan Vollmer]

Hello!

I have the problem that I cannot install Windows XP SP2 on
my SATA harddrive. (Sorry for the length explanation.)

Hardware:
- Asus A8N-SLI Premium, AMD Athlon64 X2 3800+, 2 GB RAM
- 400 GB SATA Seagate ST3400832AS (nForce4 onboard SATA)
- 120 GB PATA Seagate ST3120026A (Primary Master)
- 60 GB PATA Seagate ST360021A (Primary Slave)
(See below for partition details.)
- LG GSA-4163B (Secondary Master)
- Pioneer DVD-ROM DVD-106 (Secondary Slave)
- Creative SB Audigy 2 ZS

The Problems are as follows:

First Problem:

- I boot from CD (Windows with integrated SP2), press F6 and
load the nForce4 driver from floppy.
- Setup continues loading all other drivers.
- In the screen where I can select onto which
drive/partition Windows should be installed, all 3 HDDs are
listed with all partitions.

- When I select a partition from the SATA drive and press
Enter, setup displays the following error message:

| To install Windows XP on the partition you selected,
| Setup must write some startup files to the following disk:
| (120 GB Seagate disk)
| Howewer, this disk does not contain a Windows XP-compatible partition.

So the question is: Why does Setup refuse to install Windows
on the SATA drive?


Second Problem:

I tried to disconnect the 2 PATA drives to force setup to
install Windows on tha SATA drive. But now the computer
freezes when booting from CD:
- The message "Press any key to boot from CD appears".
- I press a key.
- The screen stays black and I can't even get to the point
where the blue setup screen appears. So I don't even have
the chance to press F6.


What I've tried:

- Installed Windows on the 120 GB PATA HDD - works! Windows
also recognized the 400 GB SATA HDD when I connect it later.

- I copied the installed Windows from the 120 GB PATA to the
SATA drive - works!

- Tried a different motherboard: MSI K8T Neo with VIA K8T800
Chipset and onboard SATA controller: same problems as above.

- I don't think it's a hardware problem because Linux works
just fine. Even lengthy compile sessions (glibc, Firefox
etc.) complete without errors. Memtest also reported no
errors.

- Built a custom Windows setup CD with nLite and integrated
the nForce4 drivers - same problems.

- I searched the internet and found many SATA-related setup
issued, but most of them are the typical "F6 problems" or
don't have a solution.


I'm really frustrated because I can't find a solution for
these problems. Besides, a Windows repair installation does
not work either because Setup cannot find the installed
Windows.

Thanks in advance for your help!

- Stephan



Partition scheme:

400 GB SATA
----------------------------------------------------
149 MB FAT16 C: (Pri,Act)
60 GB NTFS D: (Windows should be installed here)
261 GB NTFS E:
25 GB NTFS F:
25 GB ReiserFS (Linux /)
35 MB Ext2 (Linux /boot)
510 MB Linux Swap

120 GB PATA
----------------------------------------------------
7 MB unallocated
100 GB NTFS H: (Extended partition)
500 MB Linux Swap
4 GB ReiserFS
1 GB Ext3 (Linux /home)
800 MB Ext2 (Linux /backup)

60 GB PATA

 

[neil]

What happens if you unplug the PATA drives and try with only the SATA drive
connected.??

Neil

 

[Stephan Vollmer]

What happens if you unplug the PATA drives and try with only the SATA drive
connected.??

It happens what I described under section "Second Problem":
Setup hangs and doesn't even get to the "Press F6" screen.

- Stephan

 

[neil]

Sorry my mistake I didn't scroll down far enough. Ooops.

Does this help
http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/A8N-SLI-PREMIUM-PROBLEM-HELP-ftopict168780.html
scroll down to the first reply.
Neil

 

[Stephan Vollmer]

Does this help
http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/A8N-SLI-PREMIUM-PROBLEM-HELP-ftopict168780.html
scroll down to the first reply.

Unfortunately not. I've already connected the SATA HDD to
the nForce4 controller and disabled the Silicon Image SATA
RAID controller.

Thanks for your help!

- Stephan

 

[Mikey S.]

Did you a try tapping a combination of

[F Lock]+[F6]

in very quick succession?

 

[Stephan Vollmer]

Did you a try tapping a combination of

[F Lock]+[F6]

in very quick succession?

Maybe it's a stupid question, but what is "F Lock"? I've
never heard of that.

Unfortunately, it didn't work either. I can't even get to
the screen where I could press F6 if I have only the SATA
disk connected.

With both SATA and PATA disks connected, I have no problem
and can press F6. But setup still refuses to install on the
SATA disk.

Thanks for your help,

- Stephan

 

[Anna]

What happens if you unplug the PATA drives and try with only the SATA
drive connected.??

Neil

Stephan responds...
It happens what I described under section "Second Problem":
Setup hangs and doesn't even get to the "Press F6" screen.
- Stephan


Stephan:
Just so we clearly understand the precise nature of your problem...
Is it that you're trying to directly install the XP OS onto your SATA drive
but are unable to do so? Is that the basic issue here?

I ask that because you later say, "Installed Windows on the 120 GB PATA
HDD - works! Windows also recognized the 400 GB SATA HDD when I connect it
later. I copied the installed Windows from the 120 GB PATA to the SATA
drive - works!"

So if I correctly read you, you're able to install XP onto your SATA drive
through some sort of copying (cloning?) function from a PATA drive that
contains the OS, yes? So what exactly is the problem? Could you clarify
this?
Anna

 

[neil]

Are you sure the bios is set correctly for one SATA disk. (not RAID enable)
Have you considered a bios update if it looks like it is applicable. The XP
CD is definitely XP with SP2 isn't it.
I had a look through the motherboard manual online it seems to show the
nForce 4 SATA connectors should be used for a single drive. Are there any
settings in the bios to set these as the boot device.??

Neil

Did you a try tapping a combination of

[F Lock]+[F6]

in very quick succession?

Maybe it's a stupid question, but what is "F Lock"? I've
never heard of that.

Unfortunately, it didn't work either. I can't even get to
the screen where I could press F6 if I have only the SATA
disk connected.

With both SATA and PATA disks connected, I have no problem
and can press F6. But setup still refuses to install on the
SATA disk.

Thanks for your help,

- Stephan

 

[Stephan Vollmer]

First of all: It works now (partly) - but I don't know why!


I just tried to connect the SATA drive to SATA port 3
instead of 1 and now it works. It even works when I
reconnect it to port 1. I could even install Windows to the
SATA drive.

The only minor thing that still doesn't work is the problem
that I still cannot install Windows to the SATA drive while
the PATA drives are connected. But that's not so important.

What I still wonder about is the fact that during the last
couple of weeks I tried everything without any success -
different power and SATA cables, different motherboard,
power supply etc.

The whole thing still feels a bit weird because normally
these problems don't vanish without a reason ...

Stephan:
Just so we clearly understand the precise nature of your problem...
Is it that you're trying to directly install the XP OS onto your SATA drive
but are unable to do so? Is that the basic issue here?

Yes that was the problem - I couldn't install Windows to the
SATA drive. When the PATA drives were connected, Setup
refused to install to the SATA drive. When I disconnected
the PATA drives, Setup didn't even start.

I ask that because you later say, "Installed Windows on the 120 GB PATA
HDD - works! Windows also recognized the 400 GB SATA HDD when I connect it
later. I copied the installed Windows from the 120 GB PATA to the SATA
drive - works!"

So if I correctly read you, you're able to install XP onto your SATA drive
through some sort of copying (cloning?) function from a PATA drive that
contains the OS, yes? So what exactly is the problem? Could you clarify
this?

The problem was that I couldn't install Windows to any
harddisk while the SATA drive was connected. So I had to
install it to the older (slower) PATA drive. Afterwards, I
managed to transfer the freshly installed Windows partition
to the SATA drive. That worked, but afterwards Windows
"felt" quite unresponsive and slow and even crashed several
times.

Another concern was the question what would happen when I
eventually get rid of the PATA drives. I wouldn't have been
able to reinstall Windows to the SATA drive later.

The bottom line: It works now, but I don't have a clue why
it didn't work before.

Sorry for this quite lengthy description and thanks for your
help!

- Stephan

 

[Stephan Vollmer]

Hello Neil!

First of all: It works now - see other posting for details.
I still answer your questions, maybe it helps someone else
who has a similar problem.

Are you sure the bios is set correctly for one SATA disk. (not RAID enable)

Yes, it is. I have Linux with GRUB as boot manager on this
disk and it boots fine.

Have you considered a bios update if it looks like it is applicable.

I updated the BIOS to the last stable version 1009. As this
didn't help, I updated it to the last beta version 1011-001.

The XP CD is definitely XP with SP2 isn't it.

Yes, it's an original CD which contains WinXP SP2 - so it's
not a selfmade slipstream CD.

I had a look through the motherboard manual online it seems to show the
nForce 4 SATA connectors should be used for a single drive. Are there any
settings in the bios to set these as the boot device.??

Yes, you can set the boot order for the harddisks and other
devices. I've set it to:
CDROM, SATA 1, PATA Primary Master, PATA Primary Slave

Cheers,

- Stephan