XP install with SATA hdd

[el duderinolebowski]

maxtor sata hard drive, asus a7n8x deluxe v2.0...

Trying desparately to load windows XP to my new self build and failing miserably. I know there is a prob with XP seeing the SATA hard drives, so i downloaded the drivers from maxtor and put them on floppy.

On the maxtor site it advises that u have to install the hdd drivers during xp installation. When installing xp from floppys an option appears to "press f6 to install additional drivers" or "press f2 for ......." when i press f2 it goes to that function (whatever it is ) no problem, but it wont do anything when i press f6. XP then continues the install til the end when it says it cannot detect the drive and aborts the install.

So i seem to have no way of gettin the OS installed to my hard drive, any ideas.... someone? ne one? PLEASE!?!?!?!?

[Statica]

The F2 key is to run the Automated System Recovery. You need not press F2 at all.
Simply press F6 for supplying 3rd party device drivers.

Incidentally, you shouldnt be supplying Maxtor drivers; you should be supplying drivers for the serial ata device:
Check out http://www.asus.com/support/download...xe&Type=Latest for the drivers.
Silicon Image Serial ATA Drivers - http://www.asus.com/support/download...22.zip~zaqwedc
Copy the XP version of the drivers to a floppy drive and when asked supply those drivers.
Read the readme.txt in that file to read about how to create a driver disk

[el duderinolebowski]

thanks but unfortunately it wont do anything when i press f6
it just doesnt listen and continues with installation, iv even tried another keyboard and still no joy.

im now going to try using maxblast 3 to install the OS, il let u know how badly i fail soon

[Statica]

Incidentally, do you have one of those MS keyboards with an F lock?

When you press F6, the process will not stop .. it will keep going till the very end of the blue stage of install. After which it will ask u for a disk. My advice is to press F6 a few times when you see the prompt.

[Confused]

I thought you had to specify SCSI as first boot device when using SATA to load OS.
Chas

[Statica]

Confused:
No need for that, it will work fine with specifying CD as the device as well. However you do raise an important issue, is there a BIOS setting to enable/disable the SATA?

You could also "synthetically" slow down the setup process by using bootdisks instead by booting from a floppy rather than a CD. MS bootdisks for XP (SP1)http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...2-631504EF5E26

[Statica]

XP pro bootdisk - non SP1 : http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...DisplayLang=en
XP home bootdisk - non SP1 :
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...DisplayLang=en

Actually here's all the MS bootdisks for XP (home & pro):
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/r...DisplayLang=en

[el duderinolebowski]

im telling u F6 just DOES NOT RESPOND no matter what. its really irritating.

I am using the floppy boot disks to install
i couldnt see ne thing in bios to enable scsi or sata,
i tried to setup the hard drive using maxblast 3 but that failed after it was finished setting up it advised to restart and then install xp as i had done before....once again it went right to the end thenm said it couldnt find the hard drive

im really stumped, i have no idea how to get it to see the hard drive, and the F6 thing DEFINITELY doesnt work

[KHT]

XP then continues the install til the end when it says it cannot detect the drive and aborts the install.

When you hit F6 it appears that it doesn`t work and the install will continue until you get a screen that says it cannot find the drive. If I recall, at the bottom of that screen it tells you to hit the S key to install another device. Insert your floppy disk and hit S.

The driver files I used for the A7N8X SATA were on the NIVIDIA nForce2 CD supplied with the mobo. You need the Silicon Image driver for the sata controller, not any drivers from Maxtor.

They can be found on the NIVIDIA nForce2 CD in theDRIVERS\SATA directory. I copied the Si3112r.inf,Si3112r.mpd,Si3112r.sys, SIISUPP.vxd files to a floppy and this is what installed the driver and installation continued.

In the bios I set boot order as CD,floppy,scsi.

edit: to set the boot order on the A7N8X Deluxe, in bios under ADVANCED\ADVANCED BIOS FEATURES the boot devices are listed. Use the arrow keys to select the boot device and hit enter. The screen that pops up has a scroll of it`s own. SCSI is there but you might not have noticed the scroll bar.

[el duderinolebowski]

iv tried messin around a lot and installing xp the whole way through at leat 10 times now, i have yet to see "press s to specify....."
but il try changing the boot order in the bios,
at the moment its on floppy, cd, hdd
but il try changing to scsi and report back

[WSW]

Last month I installed XP Home Edition into a system with a new Western Digital 120G SATA hard drive and new ASUS P4P800 motherboard. The motherboard and XP recognized the SATA drive automatically. I installed the XP OS from CD, not floppy. The install process is the same as IDE hard drive. Why do you install XP from floppy?

[el duderinolebowski]

XP pro doesnt seem to boot from cd even if i mess with the boot device order.
Still failing miserably here, i still cant get where it says "press "s" to specify...." and pressing f6 still isnt doing anything at all
i am now considering anything at all, any more drastic ideas/suggestions??? i am fast losing my sanity

[KHT]

at the moment its on floppy, cd, hdd

*MAY* explain why you are having problems. The boot order is actually OK. Nothing in the floppy so it skips to the CD, finds a boot sector, starts the install, but then looks for an *IDE HDD* instead of a scsi.

This is copy\pasted directly from the read me file from the NIVIDIA nForce CD.

[ Press F6 for third party SCSI or driver installation at the beginning
of text mode installation. Press 's' when setup asks if you want to
specify an additional device, and insert the diskette labeled
'Silicon Image SiI 3112 SATALink Driver Installation Disk'.
Press 'Enter' and select
'Silicon Image SiI 3112 SATALink Serial ATA Controller'.]

I didn`t have a 'Silicon Image SiI 3112 SATALink Driver Installation Disk' so I copied the files from the above mentioned directory (a couple of posts back) on the CD supplied with my board.

In your boot order, substitute scsi for hdd and it should work.

[el duderinolebowski]

yeh i tried that too but again the press s doesnt appear and f6 again doesnt respond, it is really not goin to plan, iv posted this on a few other tech sites as well, and i just cant find a solution that doesnt involve the F6 or the "press s"

i have no idea wot to do next

here is the full pc spec incase theres anything you can see that could be messin this up

Mobo:A7N8X Deluxe SKT A NForce2 Chipset Motherboard VER: 2.0
Hdd: 120Gb Maxtor DiamondMax Plus9 SATA 8Mb cache 7200rpm
Cpu: AMD Athlon XP 2500+ *333 FSB* Barton (1.83GHz) + AMD Heat Sink Fan
Ram: Corsair XMS 512Mb DDR 333MHz PC2700 Cas 2 - with Heat Spreader
Gpu: ATI 9200 Radeon 128mb AGP tv/out dvi
DvdRw: Teac DV-W50E
Cd:Asustek 52x IDE Internal Retail
Fdd: Mistumi 1.44MB Internal 3.5"
OS:win xp pro

[KHT]

I don`t see anything that shoud be a problem. The A7N8X Deluxe most certainly has CD boot capabilities. You mentioned that you were going to try maxblast 3 to install a bunch of posts ago.

If I were in this situation, I would start from scratch. Boot to a DOS start up and run fdisk and delete any and all logical drives and partitions and re-install a primary partition. In other words, return the drive to a "virgin" status.

Make sure the CD is #1, floppy #2, scsi #3 in the bios. This worked for me and is still my boot order.

Insert the CD and it should boot. Follow the above instructions. Remember, this is not Intgrated Drive Electronics, IDE, the controller is not on the drive itself, you have to supply the installation CD with the driver so it knows where to look to install the OS on the disk.

[KHT]

I installed the XP OS from CD, not floppy. The install process is the same as IDE hard drive. Why do you install XP from floppy?

Just curious, was this a fresh install on a new drive without any previous Windows OS?

[el duderinolebowski]

I am the biggest fool in the history of foolishness
It was the ps/2 keyboard that wasnt working properly (for some reason)

i did try testing that theory before by using another keyboard...which was usb
however at that time i didnt enable the USB keyboard function in the BIOS

i just did exactly that and tried again with the usb keyboard
and guess wot appeared
"press "s" to add additional drives"
(so i danced a merry jig for a while)

so i now have managed to get xp installed, woo hoo

Sorry bout the stupidity guys, all your advice was definitely appreciated, and any insults are welcome, im sure i deserve them all

Thanks

[KHT]

No problem. Wish I had a dollar for everytime I just can`t seem to find that one mouse click that will get everything working.

[Banelore "PCversion"]

Found this post in a search for those SATA drivers. My problem is that I don't know exactly which folder, folders, or files to copy to a floppy. My setup is pretty darned close to el dude's and am able to get to the F6 after a few Windows file loads. Would like it if you explained how to in laidback laymans terms.

Now, I tried copying Disk1 folder to one floppy, then Disk2 folder to a second floppy. I inserted the first floppy after the setup asked for the third party disk, but then told me it could not find the TxtSetup.oem file. I got the same after I made two more disks with just the files from both of them folders, Disk1 and Disk2.

I find there are no simple, and I do mean simple, instructions to put the correct "stuff" to floppy. Help please, and I might give you a rubber cornflake. :/ Lame attempt at humor, I'll stick to driving big rigs.

[Blakhart]

What are the settings for the ide channels and sata? Have you tried every combination of them, such as sata remapped as ide, if able? What about disabling the ide channel(s) you don't use? Do you have ata cdrom or is it sata? Is it on a sata adapter?
And I thought scsi was bad...

[Statica]

What mobo is it? We could try to get you a customized solution for the exact drivers you require.
The generic answer would be a floppy that has
A:\txtsetup.oem
A:\WinXP\drivers...

Originally posted by Banelore "PCversion" Found this post in a search for those SATA drivers. My problem is that I don't know exactly which folder, folders, or files to copy to a floppy. My setup is pretty darned close to el dude's and am able to get to the F6 after a few Windows file loads. Would like it if you explained how to in laidback laymans terms. Now, I tried copying Disk1 folder to one floppy, then Disk2 folder to a second floppy. I inserted the first floppy after the setup asked for the third party disk, but then told me it could not find the TxtSetup.oem file. I got the same after I made two more disks with just the files from both of them folders, Disk1 and Disk2. I find there are no simple, and I do mean simple, instructions to put the correct "stuff" to floppy. Help please, and I might give you a rubber cornflake. :/ Lame attempt at humor, I'll stick to driving big rigs.

[KHT]

For the A7N8X mobo, I copied the SATA drivers to floppy from the CD supplied with the mobo.

Explore the CD and the files can be found in X:\drivers\SATA. (substitute the CD Rom drive letter for X:\ of course) I copied Si112r, Si3112r.mpd, Si3112r.sys, SIISUP.vxd, and Txtsetup.oem to a floppy.

[Blakhart]

I tried a sata maxtor install with an oem xphome that was released before anyone in the public could get it, and a later (as in this year) xphome/sp1. Both will install completely.

Tried a xphome/sp1a bought new today and it installs till it detects the drive after copying files. Then it blue screens. Tried every way to vary the sata channel and pata ide too, no go.
All copies are legit.