Format & Re-Install (SATA)

[James]

Here's my situation. I'm running XP Pro off of a primary SATA drive. It's
getting to the point where I really want to format it and reinstall. With
an old IDE drive, I'd simply boot off of the CD, format and call it a day.
However, I'm unable to load whatever drivers are necessary for my
motherboard in order that the setup program will recognize my SATA drives.
So I'm getting Unknown Disk x 2 when it asks me where to install it (I have
another SATA drive that's blank).

I have an nForce 4 motherboard and I tried throwing the drivers for it on a
blank CD in multiple configurations and loading the drivers, but it never
found them and/or knew what to do with them.

Are there any alternatives that I haven't considered? I'm losing my mind
here. This used to be so simple.

Thanks

 

[David B.]

When installing XP, and you need to provide 3rd party drivers using the F6
option during setup, they must be on floppy, the XP installation will look
no where else.

 

[James]

That's convenient since I haven't had a floppy drive since roughly 2002. So
I can never install XP ever again. Charming.

 

[Jim]

That's convenient since I haven't had a floppy drive since roughly 2002.
So I can never install XP ever again. Charming.

A USB floppy is the usual recommendation.

Jim

 

[John John]

You can fit a floppy to the computer, even if only temporarily while you
install Windows XP, or you may be able to use a USB floppy drive. Only
a handful of USB floppy drives are compatible for F6 driver installation:

A connected USB floppy disk drive does not work when you press F6 to
install mass storage drivers during the Windows XP installation process
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/916196

Other than that you can slipstream the drivers into the installation CD
or install from a network share point.

John

 

[Poprivet]

That's convenient since I haven't had a floppy drive since roughly
2002. So I can never install XP ever again. Charming.

Well ... true, IF you refuse to spend the ten bucks or so and ten minutes or
so to put a floppy drive onto the system. Since it's useless to you, ship
it here, OK? I have the case and time avaialable <g>.

Pop`

 

[Anna]

That's convenient since I haven't had a floppy drive since roughly 2002.
So I can never install XP ever again. Charming.

James:
(We're assuming that installing a SATA controller driver is the problem
here).

This F6 process involving the installation of SATA drivers through the use
of a floppy disk has been and continues to be a near-universal misery. Why
the industry developed this awkward process has been a mystery to many of
us - especially when a more simple & straightforward process of including
the SATA controller driver on the motherboard's installation CD (or a
separate CD) was available. And why they came up with this process during a
period when it was obvious to all that the floppy disk drive was becoming
obsolete and rarely installed on new computers is incomprehensible. So your
frustration over this issue is quite understandable.

Fortunately, as time goes by, there will be less & less need to undertake
the F6 process to provide a SATA driver. Virtually all of the newer
motherboards and many of the older boards come with (in effect) integrated
SATA drivers. But, as you've learned, the use of a floppy disk to install a
SATA controller driver is still necessary in many cases.

There have been a number of reports purporting to detail a process obviating
the need to use the F6 floppy disk routine to install the SATA driver and
instead incorporating the necessary driver info in a slipstreamed XP
installation CD. Frankly in the few times that we've used one or another of
these alternate processes we haven't been successful. But since we always
have a floppy disk drive available, we haven't had a great deal of
experience with the alternate processes. And a number of users have reported
that these alternate processes do indeed work.

Anyway, for what it's worth take a look at this one...
http://unattended.msfn.org/unattended.xp/print/web/36/SESSID=dcf06ecf6f56c19b1a91c3245074b6e9

And good luck...
Anna