XP Install Catch-22

L

littlenemo

I'm ;not exactly a newbie, but I'm kind of stupid regarding some things, so
please bear with me. I'm planning to install WindowsXP SP2 on some new
hardware with clean (unformatted, SATA) drives. The motherboard is an Abit
AB9 Quad GT which will have an Intel Core2 quad processor. The logistics
have me a little puzzled. I'm not sure if I have what I need to get through
the installation without problems. My hard drive will be a SATA drive. At
this point, I don't have any floppy drive (not sure if I need one). I have
only an LG SATA DVD ROM optical drive. I know the motherboard supports SATA
drives, but I'm pretty sure I need some software drivers as well. I've heard
that XP didn't support SATA, but I'm not sure exactly what that meant. The
Abit motherboard came with a CD ROM which looks like it has SATA drivers on
it. I suppose I can't very well use the optical drive for installation of XP
unless the SATA drivers are loaded. Similarly, I can't use it to load the
motherboard drivers either, since the SATA DVD ROM is the only means I have
to access both the Abit CD and the XP CD. Can anybody suggest a neat
solution to this problem? Kind of a catch-22 or a paradox. I need the SATA
optical drive to access the Abit CD and the XP CD but it won't work without
first accessing a CD containing what it needs to work. I thought the newest
computers were designed to work without floppy drives and often don't have
support for them anyway (my motherboard has the support for the FD, but can I
get by without it?), I know that at one point the XP install asks for a
floppy containing 3d party drivers, but is it possible to use something like
a flash drive with a disk image, or something similar?
 
P

Pegasus \(MVP\)

littlenemo said:
I'm ;not exactly a newbie, but I'm kind of stupid regarding some things,
so
please bear with me. I'm planning to install WindowsXP SP2 on some new
hardware with clean (unformatted, SATA) drives. The motherboard is an
Abit
AB9 Quad GT which will have an Intel Core2 quad processor. The logistics
have me a little puzzled. I'm not sure if I have what I need to get
through
the installation without problems. My hard drive will be a SATA drive.
At
this point, I don't have any floppy drive (not sure if I need one). I
have
only an LG SATA DVD ROM optical drive. I know the motherboard supports
SATA
drives, but I'm pretty sure I need some software drivers as well. I've
heard
that XP didn't support SATA, but I'm not sure exactly what that meant.
The
Abit motherboard came with a CD ROM which looks like it has SATA drivers
on
it. I suppose I can't very well use the optical drive for installation of
XP
unless the SATA drivers are loaded. Similarly, I can't use it to load the
motherboard drivers either, since the SATA DVD ROM is the only means I
have
to access both the Abit CD and the XP CD. Can anybody suggest a neat
solution to this problem? Kind of a catch-22 or a paradox. I need the
SATA
optical drive to access the Abit CD and the XP CD but it won't work
without
first accessing a CD containing what it needs to work. I thought the
newest
computers were designed to work without floppy drives and often don't have
support for them anyway (my motherboard has the support for the FD, but
can I
get by without it?), I know that at one point the XP install asks for a
floppy containing 3d party drivers, but is it possible to use something
like
a flash drive with a disk image, or something similar?

Not AFAIK. Get yourself a floppy disk drive (second-hand if necessary) and
connect it during the installation phase.
 
J

John7

Hi,

If supported, set your BIOS to IDE translated SATA access.
Term depends on BIOS brand.
This mode emulates an IDE controller to access SATA drives.
Make sure drive is attached to main chipset (Northbridge / Southbridge),
not an additional driver chip.

Install Win XP as usual.
Install SATA drivers for main chipset.
Reboot, enter BIOS, change IDE translated SATA access mode to SATA or AHCI..
Again, term depends on BIOS brand.
Save & reboot. Windows should boot and use SATA-drivers.
If you get STOP 0x0000007B BSOD error (boot device missing) the trick won't
work.

Then you have 3 options.
1) Revert the BIOS setting to IDE translated SATA access and stick with it.
You will have slightly less performance because you cannot use SATA advanced
feature).
2) Get/borrow a floppy drive, write the SATA-drivers to the floppy, start
Windows install and press F6 to load additional drivers. Certain Sony USB
floppy drives are also supported.
3) Prepare a slipstreamed Windows install CD including the SATA drivers.
I cannot tell exactly how but probably some else can kick in here if
required.

HTH,
John7
 

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