Serial ATA

[Alan]

I just purchased a new system with a 120 gb serial ATA
drive. The issue that I ran into is that this drive in
the bios now shows up under serial devices, instead of
hard disks where it usually is. Since it does not show up
under hard disks, WinXP setup does not see a HD on the
machine, and aborts the install. Anybody else run into
this problem, and have a workaround?

 

[Pete Baker]

Alan

You haven't given any details of the hardware you are using so the
instructions are going to be very general.

In general, you'll need to have the SATA drivers available on a floppy
disk ready for the install process - you'll find them on your mainboard CD
or manufacturers website, or if relevant on the CD with a PCI card-based
controller.

As the XP set-up begins you will be prompted to 'Press F6 to specify
third-party RAID or SCSI drivers' - at this point you should press F6 and,
when asked, insert the floppy disk with the relevant drivers. Select the
appropriate driver when asked and continue with the setup. There may be
some delays during this process and the set-up may appear to be continuing
without recognising the key-press - so don't panic.

When successful you'll be able to select the HD to install on.
If you are not given the HD you have not completed the procedure
correctly. Check you are using the correct drivers, have any relevant BIOS
updates for your mainboard, and try again.

Hope that helps
Pete