Windows XP re-install on A7N8X deluxe and SATA

[Chi Wan]

I'm having problems doing a fresh re-install of Windows XP Pro on my PC.
Specs as follows: -

Asus A7N8X-Deluxe 1.04 1007 bios
AMD 2500+ Athlon XP
Seagate 160 gb SATA HD
1 x 512 mb Corsair 3200 ram
Gigabyte Radeon 9700 Pro Gfx card

I have installed XP many times on my Pc but only with IDE Hard drive in it.
Now that I have got my first SATA drive it will not install at all. This is
what happens

1. Boot from XP CD
2. Press F6 for additional drivers
3. Put in the latest Siimage SATA Raid driver floppy in and select a:
4. XP loads the driver
5. XP continues all the way until 'Setup is starting Windows' or something
like that. Then it just hangs, caps lock doesn't work, no HD activity
nothing. Have to press the reset button

Never had problem with IDE hard drive so is it a compatibility with the SATA
driver/controller. I downloaded the latest driver from the Silicon Image
site and also tried using the drivers on the CD that shipped with the
motherboard. Same thing. Hangs in the same place all the time. Anyone have
the same issues?

Any ideas/solutions?


Kind Regards



C Wan

 

[peter]

I would suggest you check your BIOS settings to make sure that your 1st boot
device is set to CD and 2nd boot device to HD0.Your 1st boot must be right
or you would not be able to boot off CD
also here is a website just to check your XP setup procedure...never know
I assume you have the SATA enable jumper set to 1+2 which should be the
default setting
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sg_clean.asp
peter

 

[JBM]

I'm having problems doing a fresh re-install of Windows XP Pro on my PC.
Specs as follows: -

Asus A7N8X-Deluxe 1.04 1007 bios
AMD 2500+ Athlon XP
Seagate 160 gb SATA HD
1 x 512 mb Corsair 3200 ram
Gigabyte Radeon 9700 Pro Gfx card

I have installed XP many times on my Pc but only with IDE Hard drive in it.
Now that I have got my first SATA drive it will not install at all. This is
what happens

1. Boot from XP CD
2. Press F6 for additional drivers
3. Put in the latest Siimage SATA Raid driver floppy in and select a:
4. XP loads the driver
5. XP continues all the way until 'Setup is starting Windows' or something
like that. Then it just hangs, caps lock doesn't work, no HD activity
nothing. Have to press the reset button

Never had problem with IDE hard drive so is it a compatibility with the SATA
driver/controller. I downloaded the latest driver from the Silicon Image
site and also tried using the drivers on the CD that shipped with the
motherboard. Same thing. Hangs in the same place all the time. Anyone have
the same issues?

Any ideas/solutions?


Kind Regards



C Wan

Here's what I've found. If you just have one
HD (either SATA or PATA) you can set boot
to HD0. If you have a PATA and SATA and
you want to boot from the SATA, set boot to
SCSI. You can also set boot to SCSI if you
want to boot SATA regardless.
This will all change if you have an add in scsi
card.

 

[Rob]

I have a ver 2.0 board but recently tried to install a Seagate 120G SATA
Drive. I liked to go crazy, as I couldn't load XP to it, nor could I
get my IDE drive to boot/run consistently when the SATA drive was hooked
to the system. I tried several driver/BIOS combinations and SATA Cables
to no avail! I downloaded the Seatools program from Seagate and got
errors...sometimes. Drive was defective. RMA'ed that sucker and the
replacement went in like a snap.

Rob

 

[JBM]

I have a ver 2.0 board but recently tried to install a Seagate 120G SATA
Drive. I liked to go crazy, as I couldn't load XP to it, nor could I
get my IDE drive to boot/run consistently when the SATA drive was hooked
to the system. I tried several driver/BIOS combinations and SATA Cables
to no avail! I downloaded the Seatools program from Seagate and got
errors...sometimes. Drive was defective. RMA'ed that sucker and the
replacement went in like a snap.

Rob

Great, glad you got it working

 

[Chi Wan]

tried windows 2000 cd and still getting the same error 'setup is loading
windows'. any more ideas? I swear this PC will be going out the window very
soon.............

 

[JBM]

tried windows 2000 cd and still getting the same error 'setup is loading
windows'. any more ideas? I swear this PC will be going out the window very
soon.............

If you have the same problem in both XP and win2000 I'd guess it's a
hardware problem. have you tested your drive as Rob suggested?

 

[C Wan]

Downloaded the seagate tools and drive passed with flying colours. Still no
joy.

Swapped video card.
Swapped ram

When I last had XP on I was running an Athlon XP2100. Now I have a 2500
Barton - will this have any bearing on the install issue. I know that XP
records a list of your hardware settings when first installed. I am using
the same XP Cd


Thanks

 

[Patrick Phillips]

I am using
the same XP Cd


Thanks

Hi, you might want to check that your CD of winXP is OK? It could
have some damaged track causing a hang.

 

[JBM]

Activation won't keep you from installing windows.
It may lock you out when you activate if it decides
it has already been activated on another computer.
But Patrick has a good idea about the damaged CD.

 

[Rob]

This is just a SWAG but maybe the floppy your using to install the SATA
drivers is shy a couple bits! Put the drivers on one of the disks you
had the Seatools on, as we know those should be good. If I have read
correctly, you've tried to use Win2K and XP, and they both stop at about
the same point consistently. It sounds as if you're getting past the
partitioning and formatting process but things freeze when data streams
should start happening. Just another link in the chain to explore.

Rob

 

[Patrick Phillips]

Downloaded the seagate tools and drive passed with flying colours. Still no
joy.

Swapped video card.
Swapped ram

When I last had XP on I was running an Athlon XP2100. Now I have a 2500
Barton - will this have any bearing on the install issue. I know that XP
records a list of your hardware settings when first installed. I am using
the same XP Cd


Thanks

Hi, keep an eye on this posting having same problem....

From: <[email protected]>
Newsgroups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus
Subject: XP INSTALL ON SATA DRIVE NOT WORKING - P4P800DLX
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-15"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-Newsreader: MicroPlanet Gravity v2.60
Lines: 7
Date: Wed, 03 Dec 2003 05:00:13 GMT
I need some help here. I have a new P4P800 Deluxe motherboard and a
Seagate 160GB SATA HD. I am trying to do a clean install of XP on this
drive but can seem to make it happen. XP install freezes at the first
blue screen where is says Windows Setup and never goes any further. I
know that this has to be SATA related but I can't for the life of me
figure a work around. Anyone else solve this one? Thanks in advance
for any help you can provide.

1st reply +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Hi Jaiello,

I have the non deluxe P4P800 here.

First, you're meant to make a floppy
from the makefile.exe file (i think it's called)
off the cd, that came with the mobo.

And when you do a clean install, you're meant
to press F6 during install. and XP (hopefully)
will ask for that floppy, so the SATA drivers
can be installed). I did it the long way, I'm pretty
sure this one in the BIOS, is set to SATA under the
IDE connections. The SATA in this isnt the main
master, it's the 2nd primary Master (on the
2nd primary IDE connection in the BIOS).

I take it the SATA on yours, is on the 2nd
primary master? or main primary master?

And have you, set it on AUTO in the BIOS?

Will it be / Is it the only hdd in your system?

And did XP's install, manage to format it before
it kept crashing?

And are you sure you've connected one of
the molex power cables to the SATA? via
an adaptor? It doesnt have it's own power.
It needs to be connected, via an adaptor to
a 4 pin molex plug.

Let me know, and I'll try and help you out

Cheers

 

[Patrick Phillips]

1st reply +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Hi Jaiello,

I have the non deluxe P4P800 here.

First, you're meant to make a floppy
from the makefile.exe file (i think it's called)
off the cd, that came with the mobo.

And when you do a clean install, you're meant
to press F6 during install. and XP (hopefully)
will ask for that floppy, so the SATA drivers
can be installed). I did it the long way, I'm pretty
sure this one in the BIOS, is set to SATA under the
IDE connections. The SATA in this isnt the main
master, it's the 2nd primary Master (on the
2nd primary IDE connection in the BIOS).

I take it the SATA on yours, is on the 2nd
primary master? or main primary master?

And have you, set it on AUTO in the BIOS?

Will it be / Is it the only hdd in your system?

And did XP's install, manage to format it before
it kept crashing?

And are you sure you've connected one of
the molex power cables to the SATA? via
an adaptor? It doesnt have it's own power.
It needs to be connected, via an adaptor to
a 4 pin molex plug.

Let me know, and I'll try and help you out

Cheers

whooooops sorry...wrong post!

 

[Chi Wan]

Guess what everything is now hunky dory. This is what I did

1. Re-flashed bios to 1007 with additional parameters /cc /pn etc
2. Pulled out all the expansion cards (soundblaster 2, videocard) and
reseated them
3. Went into bios and turned off APIC

Put CD in again and it went back to the same 'windows is starting' message,
expected it to fall over but to my amazement it carried on this time and
completed

Figure that one out. Looks like a combination of the above sorted it. Spent
a day and a half on this - was going to buy another
motherboard...............

Thanks for all your help guys


C F Wan

 

[Rob]

Glad you got it!! Runs real nice too, don't it?

Rob

Guess what everything is now hunky dory. This is what I did

1. Re-flashed bios to 1007 with additional parameters /cc /pn etc
2. Pulled out all the expansion cards (soundblaster 2, videocard) and
reseated them
3. Went into bios and turned off APIC

Put CD in again and it went back to the same 'windows is starting' message,
expected it to fall over but to my amazement it carried on this time and
completed

Figure that one out. Looks like a combination of the above sorted it. Spent
a day and a half on this - was going to buy another
motherboard...............

Thanks for all your help guys


C F Wan