Installing W2K ?????

[TechGaloot]

I'm trying to install Windows 2000 Pro on a new build. The hard drive is SATA 2, and I went to the Western Digital website and found some information that addressed my question: "My drive is connected to a controller card or built-in SCSI, EIDE, or Serial ATA port. Why is it not recognized during Windows NT/2000/XP". The answer was to hit F6 during the "Inspecting Hardware" phase that happens almost immediately. I did that and I get a screen that tells me to hit "S" to specify additional disk controllers for use with Windows 2000, for which you have a device support disk. Then I'm supposed to load the drivers for the SATA drive. However, on the next screen, it tells me to insert the manufacturer supplied support disk into Drive A: and press enter when ready. Well, I'm assuming by drive A; they mean a floppy drive and I have a CD with the drivers on it. I put the Cd into the CDRom drive, hit enter and nothing happens. BTW, it doesn't even try to read the floppy drive. It's as if hitting enter is not being recognized by the system.

What can I do now?

[amdalex]

You have to take the Sata drivers off your motherboard driver disk and copy them to the root folder on a floppy. Press F6 when told and select floppy. Your motherboard manual should explain the process.

[TechGaloot]

Originally Posted by amdalex You have to take the Sata drivers off your motherboard driver disk and copy them to the root folder on a floppy. Press F6 when told and select floppy. Your motherboard manual should explain the process.

Thanks. I found a floppy drive and installed it in the new machine and it works. So I did the above and the install then has me create and format a new partition on the drive. When I do, it takes about 25-30 minutes to format, then says it has to reboot. When it reboots, it wants to repeat the whole process again. I have formatted 3 times now and wants to do it again. What the....???? It acts like it can't see the formatted partition after the reboot. I'm trying to not get frustrated, but this is really trying my patience.

[WJWheels]

How old is your w2k disk? To install to a sata drive it must include Service Pack 4. I had the same problem a couple of weeks ago. If that's your case, you might find something in my old thread here: http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=192403

Look about half way down the thread, where I or GLC start talking about slip-streaming.

Good luck.

[TechGaloot]

Thanks Wheels. My CD has service pack 4. For some unknown reason, it seemed to work on the 5th try. The one thing I did different was I gave up trying to specify a 10gig partition for the OS. I just selected the 1st unformatted partition that it showed on the list, which was 83,598 mb (it's a 160gb drive). Everything went fine after that.

My wife wanted 4 partitions setup. Three for windows, and one left unformatted for Linux (which she will install). I'll let her worry about how she is going to use the remaining space.

[WJWheels]

Glad you got it worked out. I just installed Linux Mint 4.0 a couple weeks ago. It'll take whatever space is wanted (previously formatted or not) when it's installed.