Installing Windows

[Guest]

Ok, All of the components im about to list are brand spankin new k, i have an
asus a8n-sli motherboard
amd athlon 64 3500+
dual leadtek winfast geforce 6800 le graphics cards
two 512 mb ddr400 ram sticks
seagate 80gb sata hdd
lg dvdrw 16x that also supports dvd-ram
cheap floppy drive
aquagate alc-u01 liquid cooling

now when i try to install windows it either randomly locks up when booting
windows setup or either with 36 to 33 minutes left on the installing devices
bit, only once has it gotten far enough to enter the key, then it locked up,
another time i got to the dialog box for regional settings then it locked up.
what do i do?

 

[DL]

Use a single ram stick and vid card.
Ensure bios is set to defaults
try again

 

[peterk]

are you installing the ASUS Sata drivers during the XP install??
peterk

 

[Guest]

i have tried wat u said DL and that didnt work, i dont have any asus sata
drivers peterk, besides the ones that come with windows. i am trying to
install windows xp pro service pack 1. a new development in my probs, in one
of my failed attempts to install windows i tried using a raid array, now
since that didnt work i deleted the array. the windows setup as well as the
raid setup detect the hdd, but in the bios, the line that says first sata
master..., is completely gone, it now starts at second sata master which of
course is blank cos i only got 1 hdd. is there any way that i can install
windows to another hdd from within windows, cos i can use a friends hdd to
boot windows.

 

[peterk]

My ASUS mobo came with a CD that had the SATA drivers on it....plus other
things.They were Silicone Image Sata drivers.
Your uses NVidea drivers.Look in your mobo manual for the proper settings
for your SATA connectors and make sure you have the drive connected to the
proper SATA connector.You might not have SATA drivers on the CD but if you
do........
These needed to be copied to floppy.During the installation of XP it asked
if I was installing onto a HDD that was NOT EIDE to push F6...at which point
it looks for the drivers but only on the floppy drive.Then all installed OK.
I have the RAID drivers loaded but do not use them.I just let the screen
flash by.....one day I will.When I learn more about RAID and its set up.
In your instance you need to connect the SATA drive to connector 1 or 2
only.
The RAID setup can be cancelled in the BIOS and I believe you'll need to
safe and exit to take effect.
Look at chapter 2.3.6 in your manual for auto configuration and detection of
SATA drives.
Then on page 2-23 for enabling the SATA .
page 2-24 explains RAID...how to enable/disable.
page 2-33 shows how to set 1st boot etc.
Then try your XP installation again.
if that still fails You can always try to load the default settings in the
BIOS
peterk

 

[Guest]

you must have a different manual than me, section2.3.6 dont exist2-23, 24 are
abt power and 2-33 dont exist. and how will loading default settings make it
see the first sata master again, if it wasnt detecting the hdd it should just
be apearing as blank, but it just aint there.

 

[peterk]

I went to the ASUS website and downloaded the manual for the A8N-SLI
motherboard...which you have???
Default settings reverts back to before you played with the RAID at which
point it saw the HDD
peterk

 

[Guest]

its ok, the hdd is back to normal, i found the problem, in the bios i still
had raid enabled 4 that drive, but newho, i still cant get windows to
install, it still locks up, the same as usual, i have updated the bios as
well and that hasnt fixed it.

 

[Guest]

new developments people, i thought that maybe i needed to install the latest
version of windows, ie. including sp2, it worked, i managed to install
windows and get into it, and activate it, but shortly thereafter i restarted
my comp and guess what, it froze at the boot screen and i was unable to get
into windows. i used recovery console to do FIXMBR and it reutrned that the
MBR was stuffed so i attempted to fix it, the of course, as warned, destroyed
the partition and now i am once again trying to install windows and it is
freezing at the boot screen.

 

[Guest]

another note i forgot, when i DID get into windows the first activation
number it gave was invalid, i had to close it and open it to make another 1