SATA Driver and XP Pro installation

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

I have tried to avoid asking this, as I suspect that it is a dumb question,
but I have looked high and low without finding the exact answer. I am
probably fussing over nothing but if someone could advise that would be
great.

I am getting a new PC with the following spec, on which I will be installing
XP Pro (SP2):

Gigabyte K8N-S Socket 754 (Athlon64) nForce3 250
120Gb Maxtor DiamondMax DM Plus 9 S-ATA 7200rpm 8Mb Cache

The question is this: I will only be using the one HDD (the SATA), so will
NOT be utilising RAID. Do I have to do the 'F6' thing at the start of the XP
Pro installation? If so, I cannot seem to find any appropriate drivers -
there seem to be none on any of the websites for the products above
(Gigabyte/Nvidia/Maxtor). I suspect I am not looking in the right place or
not recognised something correctly. For instance, other Gigabyte boards do
have specifically mentioned SATA Drivers mentioned and available for
download (i.e the PRO version of my board has something called ITE RAID
drivers and SiliconSATA RAID), but not mine.

I anyone could point me in the right direction I really would be thankful -
even if it only some other group to try and get the info from. I am a bit
lost on this one!

Simon

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

As far as XP is concerned, SATA is in the same category as SCSI and RAID.
You need to do the F6 thing. The drivers come from the vendor you sold you
the SATA contoller. Since that is part of the motherboard, it is Gigabyte.
The controllers might not be called just plain SATA. They could be called
RAID. The ones called "SiliconSATA RAID" are probably the ones you want.

However, before attempting to install XP, you will probably need to create a
RAID array. I know that you do not want RAID, but you may have no choice.
I did not on my ASUS motherboard. However, one of the custom RAID options
on the ASUS motherboard is to make a RAID array containing just one disk,
which is really not RAID at all. Still, I had to do this before even the
Seagate disk prepartion routines would see the disk. This was not explained
well in ASUS manual and I had to stumble around a bit to get things right.

Suggestion, forget XP for a few moments. Get the Maxtor disk prepartion
utilites (called MaxBlast, I think). Try running these from a floppy (or
bootable CD) that probably came with the disk, or can be downloaded from
their webiste. If thes utilites can see the disk, then perhaps the array of
one has already been made for you. If not, play with the RAID setup until
the Maxtor utilites can see the disk. You should see some message about
RAID setup in the middle of the BIOS checks, after RAM, but before findind
disks. You might also see a message about no IDE hard drives, which is OK,
since you do not have any of those. Then, use the same utilites to
partition and format the disk. Yes, XP can do this, but you might find the
Maxtor utilities friendlier. I strongly suggest at least two partititions,
maybe more. Later, try to keep personal data off the boot partition. That
will increase your options ot repair/restore XP, with chaning any data loss.

Trick: If you temporaily format a partition as FAT32, then you can access
it from a DOS boot floppy, such as are available at www.bootdisk.com. Try
somehting simple, like changing the C:, then DIR > dummy.txt. Then DIR
again to see that you have a file called dummy.txt on C: This is great way
to verify that the disks are connected, the RAID array is set, etc. XP
should offer to reformat as NTFS, which is preferred for XP, although the
Maxtor utilites might be able to do that to.

When you o finally install XP, the drivers must be on a floppy, not on a CD.
Hit F6, insert the floppy, press S when requested. Next, select the driver
(in case the floppy contains multiple drivers; mine had eparate drivers for
NT, 2000, and XP). Then, when prompted, press enter to end the driver
installation.

"Simon McDonald" <simon@mcdonaldz11.fsnet.co.uk> wrote in message
news:ulgSRctBFHA.3644@TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl...
>I have tried to avoid asking this, as I suspect that it is a dumb question,
>but I have looked high and low without finding the exact answer. I am
>probably fussing over nothing but if someone could advise that would be
>great.
>
> I am getting a new PC with the following spec, on which I will be
> installing XP Pro (SP2):
>
> Gigabyte K8N-S Socket 754 (Athlon64) nForce3 250
> 120Gb Maxtor DiamondMax DM Plus 9 S-ATA 7200rpm 8Mb Cache
>
> The question is this: I will only be using the one HDD (the SATA), so will
> NOT be utilising RAID. Do I have to do the 'F6' thing at the start of the
> XP Pro installation? If so, I cannot seem to find any appropriate
> drivers - there seem to be none on any of the websites for the products
> above (Gigabyte/Nvidia/Maxtor). I suspect I am not looking in the right
> place or not recognised something correctly. For instance, other Gigabyte
> boards do have specifically mentioned SATA Drivers mentioned and available
> for download (i.e the PRO version of my board has something called ITE
> RAID drivers and SiliconSATA RAID), but not mine.
>
> I anyone could point me in the right direction I really would be
> thankful - even if it only some other group to try and get the info from.
> I am a bit lost on this one!
>
> Simon
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

With the maxtor SATA drive you'll probably need to run maxblaster from the
floppy first,then do a low-level format,otherwise xp wont recognize the
drive.
Then boot to xp cd,select,install xp.If its not recognized then run the F6
option.
The F6 option isnt needed with one drive in xp,as it'll use windows native
drivers
anyway,even if F6 is installed,for detais to all
this,try:http://support.intel.com/
support/motherboards/desktop/sb/CS-010695.htm

"Simon McDonald" wrote:

> I have tried to avoid asking this, as I suspect that it is a dumb question,
> but I have looked high and low without finding the exact answer. I am
> probably fussing over nothing but if someone could advise that would be
> great.
>
> I am getting a new PC with the following spec, on which I will be installing
> XP Pro (SP2):
>
> Gigabyte K8N-S Socket 754 (Athlon64) nForce3 250
> 120Gb Maxtor DiamondMax DM Plus 9 S-ATA 7200rpm 8Mb Cache
>
> The question is this: I will only be using the one HDD (the SATA), so will
> NOT be utilising RAID. Do I have to do the 'F6' thing at the start of the XP
> Pro installation? If so, I cannot seem to find any appropriate drivers -
> there seem to be none on any of the websites for the products above
> (Gigabyte/Nvidia/Maxtor). I suspect I am not looking in the right place or
> not recognised something correctly. For instance, other Gigabyte boards do
> have specifically mentioned SATA Drivers mentioned and available for
> download (i.e the PRO version of my board has something called ITE RAID
> drivers and SiliconSATA RAID), but not mine.
>
> I anyone could point me in the right direction I really would be thankful -
> even if it only some other group to try and get the info from. I am a bit
> lost on this one!
>
> Simon
>
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

Cheers Bob - A helpful, informative reply. I'll look into the things you've
mentioned, particularly the 'single disk RAID'. The MaxBlast checks (you're
right here) sounds like a good 'confirming' test before going ahead with the
full XP install.

I'll also try and confirm that the "SiliconSATA RAID" are the ones for me -
but if anyone else can confirm sooner, that would be good.

Thanks again,

Simon


"Bob Harris" <rharris270[SPAM]@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:Os7ix0tBFHA.1396@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
> As far as XP is concerned, SATA is in the same category as SCSI and RAID.
> You need to do the F6 thing. The drivers come from the vendor you sold
> you the SATA contoller. Since that is part of the motherboard, it is
> Gigabyte. The controllers might not be called just plain SATA. They could
> be called RAID. The ones called "SiliconSATA RAID" are probably the ones
> you want.
>
> However, before attempting to install XP, you will probably need to create
> a RAID array. I know that you do not want RAID, but you may have no
> choice. I did not on my ASUS motherboard. However, one of the custom RAID
> options on the ASUS motherboard is to make a RAID array containing just
> one disk, which is really not RAID at all. Still, I had to do this before
> even the Seagate disk prepartion routines would see the disk. This was
> not explained well in ASUS manual and I had to stumble around a bit to get
> things right.
>
> Suggestion, forget XP for a few moments. Get the Maxtor disk prepartion
> utilites (called MaxBlast, I think). Try running these from a floppy (or
> bootable CD) that probably came with the disk, or can be downloaded from
> their webiste. If thes utilites can see the disk, then perhaps the array
> of one has already been made for you. If not, play with the RAID setup
> until the Maxtor utilites can see the disk. You should see some message
> about RAID setup in the middle of the BIOS checks, after RAM, but before
> findind disks. You might also see a message about no IDE hard drives,
> which is OK, since you do not have any of those. Then, use the same
> utilites to partition and format the disk. Yes, XP can do this, but you
> might find the Maxtor utilities friendlier. I strongly suggest at least
> two partititions, maybe more. Later, try to keep personal data off the
> boot partition. That will increase your options ot repair/restore XP,
> with chaning any data loss.
>
> Trick: If you temporaily format a partition as FAT32, then you can access
> it from a DOS boot floppy, such as are available at www.bootdisk.com. Try
> somehting simple, like changing the C:, then DIR > dummy.txt. Then DIR
> again to see that you have a file called dummy.txt on C: This is great
> way to verify that the disks are connected, the RAID array is set, etc.
> XP should offer to reformat as NTFS, which is preferred for XP, although
> the Maxtor utilites might be able to do that to.
>
> When you o finally install XP, the drivers must be on a floppy, not on a
> CD. Hit F6, insert the floppy, press S when requested. Next, select the
> driver (in case the floppy contains multiple drivers; mine had eparate
> drivers for NT, 2000, and XP). Then, when prompted, press enter to end
> the driver installation.
>
> "Simon McDonald" <simon@mcdonaldz11.fsnet.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:ulgSRctBFHA.3644@TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl...
>>I have tried to avoid asking this, as I suspect that it is a dumb
>>question, but I have looked high and low without finding the exact answer.
>>I am probably fussing over nothing but if someone could advise that would
>>be great.
>>
>> I am getting a new PC with the following spec, on which I will be
>> installing XP Pro (SP2):
>>
>> Gigabyte K8N-S Socket 754 (Athlon64) nForce3 250
>> 120Gb Maxtor DiamondMax DM Plus 9 S-ATA 7200rpm 8Mb Cache
>>
>> The question is this: I will only be using the one HDD (the SATA), so
>> will NOT be utilising RAID. Do I have to do the 'F6' thing at the start
>> of the XP Pro installation? If so, I cannot seem to find any appropriate
>> drivers - there seem to be none on any of the websites for the products
>> above (Gigabyte/Nvidia/Maxtor). I suspect I am not looking in the right
>> place or not recognised something correctly. For instance, other Gigabyte
>> boards do have specifically mentioned SATA Drivers mentioned and
>> available for download (i.e the PRO version of my board has something
>> called ITE RAID drivers and SiliconSATA RAID), but not mine.
>>
>> I anyone could point me in the right direction I really would be
>> thankful - even if it only some other group to try and get the info from.
>> I am a bit lost on this one!
>>
>> Simon
>>
>>
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

Andrew,
Thanks for the reply. If I don't use the F6 option, and windows does use its
'native' Drivers, do I loose some of the SATA benefits (speed and
integrity). Again, I am in the dark here, but I am getting the impression
that the F6 option allows you to introduce the SATA drivers (or is that just
for RAID/SCSI!?), allowing you to take full advantage of SATA speeds etc.

I have to agree with Bob - the docs you get are less than informative. Mine
walk me nicely through an NVIDA RAID configuration utility, but than blindly
says 'install drivers at installation time' and the only link is to the
Gigabyte Home page!

On re-re-reading the docs I think I have the choice of two RAID types:
NVIDIA RAID or Silicon Image - I think the NVIDIA RAID comes 'onboard' the
nForce chip. Silicon Image - have not got a clue! Regardless of which, there
is no indication of where to download the latest drivers from.

Thanks for you help, if you come across anything else let me know.

Simon

P.S. The CPU is AMD Atholon 64 3440+


"Andrew E." <eckrichco@msn.com> wrote in message
news:6D763770-4FA2-4614-B48C-CD1E961A5BBA@microsoft.com...
> With the maxtor SATA drive you'll probably need to run maxblaster from the
> floppy first,then do a low-level format,otherwise xp wont recognize the
> drive.
> Then boot to xp cd,select,install xp.If its not recognized then run the F6
> option.
> The F6 option isnt needed with one drive in xp,as it'll use windows native
> drivers
> anyway,even if F6 is installed,for detais to all
> this,try:http://support.intel.com/
> support/motherboards/desktop/sb/CS-010695.htm
>
> "Simon McDonald" wrote:
>
>> I have tried to avoid asking this, as I suspect that it is a dumb
>> question,
>> but I have looked high and low without finding the exact answer. I am
>> probably fussing over nothing but if someone could advise that would be
>> great.
>>
>> I am getting a new PC with the following spec, on which I will be
>> installing
>> XP Pro (SP2):
>>
>> Gigabyte K8N-S Socket 754 (Athlon64) nForce3 250
>> 120Gb Maxtor DiamondMax DM Plus 9 S-ATA 7200rpm 8Mb Cache
>>
>> The question is this: I will only be using the one HDD (the SATA), so
>> will
>> NOT be utilising RAID. Do I have to do the 'F6' thing at the start of the
>> XP
>> Pro installation? If so, I cannot seem to find any appropriate drivers -
>> there seem to be none on any of the websites for the products above
>> (Gigabyte/Nvidia/Maxtor). I suspect I am not looking in the right place
>> or
>> not recognised something correctly. For instance, other Gigabyte boards
>> do
>> have specifically mentioned SATA Drivers mentioned and available for
>> download (i.e the PRO version of my board has something called ITE RAID
>> drivers and SiliconSATA RAID), but not mine.
>>
>> I anyone could point me in the right direction I really would be
>> thankful -
>> even if it only some other group to try and get the info from. I am a bit
>> lost on this one!
>>
>> Simon
>>
>>
>>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

You need to install SATA drivers and you need to hit F6 in order to do so;
XP will not recognize the SATA drive and does not have any drivres for SATA
drives that it can install during the XP installation routine. I have
installed XP on a number of systems with SATA drives now and have not once
been able to install XP without hitting F6; how do I know - because I often
leave the installation to do its own thing and then come back to find it
stalling as didn't install the SATA drivers etc.

Another point is that the drivers often need to be in a particular set up on
the floppy; i.e.e some drives in the root directory of the floppy and some
in a folder named as directed by the readme.txt file that accompanies them.
I downloaded my SATA drives from the drive manufacturers website.

Andy


"Simon McDonald" <simon@mcdonaldz11.fsnet.co.uk> wrote in message
news:ujpW9pvBFHA.1452@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...
> Andrew,
> Thanks for the reply. If I don't use the F6 option, and windows does use
> its 'native' Drivers, do I loose some of the SATA benefits (speed and
> integrity). Again, I am in the dark here, but I am getting the impression
> that the F6 option allows you to introduce the SATA drivers (or is that
> just for RAID/SCSI!?), allowing you to take full advantage of SATA speeds
> etc.
>
> I have to agree with Bob - the docs you get are less than informative.
> Mine walk me nicely through an NVIDA RAID configuration utility, but than
> blindly says 'install drivers at installation time' and the only link is
> to the Gigabyte Home page!
>
> On re-re-reading the docs I think I have the choice of two RAID types:
> NVIDIA RAID or Silicon Image - I think the NVIDIA RAID comes 'onboard' the
> nForce chip. Silicon Image - have not got a clue! Regardless of which,
> there is no indication of where to download the latest drivers from.
>
> Thanks for you help, if you come across anything else let me know.
>
> Simon
>
> P.S. The CPU is AMD Atholon 64 3440+
>
>
> "Andrew E." <eckrichco@msn.com> wrote in message
> news:6D763770-4FA2-4614-B48C-CD1E961A5BBA@microsoft.com...
>> With the maxtor SATA drive you'll probably need to run maxblaster from
>> the
>> floppy first,then do a low-level format,otherwise xp wont recognize the
>> drive.
>> Then boot to xp cd,select,install xp.If its not recognized then run the
>> F6
>> option.
>> The F6 option isnt needed with one drive in xp,as it'll use windows
>> native
>> drivers
>> anyway,even if F6 is installed,for detais to all
>> this,try:http://support.intel.com/
>> support/motherboards/desktop/sb/CS-010695.htm
>>
>> "Simon McDonald" wrote:
>>
>>> I have tried to avoid asking this, as I suspect that it is a dumb
>>> question,
>>> but I have looked high and low without finding the exact answer. I am
>>> probably fussing over nothing but if someone could advise that would be
>>> great.
>>>
>>> I am getting a new PC with the following spec, on which I will be
>>> installing
>>> XP Pro (SP2):
>>>
>>> Gigabyte K8N-S Socket 754 (Athlon64) nForce3 250
>>> 120Gb Maxtor DiamondMax DM Plus 9 S-ATA 7200rpm 8Mb Cache
>>>
>>> The question is this: I will only be using the one HDD (the SATA), so
>>> will
>>> NOT be utilising RAID. Do I have to do the 'F6' thing at the start of
>>> the XP
>>> Pro installation? If so, I cannot seem to find any appropriate drivers -
>>> there seem to be none on any of the websites for the products above
>>> (Gigabyte/Nvidia/Maxtor). I suspect I am not looking in the right place
>>> or
>>> not recognised something correctly. For instance, other Gigabyte boards
>>> do
>>> have specifically mentioned SATA Drivers mentioned and available for
>>> download (i.e the PRO version of my board has something called ITE RAID
>>> drivers and SiliconSATA RAID), but not mine.
>>>
>>> I anyone could point me in the right direction I really would be
>>> thankful -
>>> even if it only some other group to try and get the info from. I am a
>>> bit
>>> lost on this one!
>>>
>>> Simon
>>>
>>>
>>>
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

Simon McDonald wrote:

> I have tried to avoid asking this, as I suspect that it is a dumb question,
> but I have looked high and low without finding the exact answer. I am
> probably fussing over nothing but if someone could advise that would be
> great.
>
> I am getting a new PC with the following spec, on which I will be installing
> XP Pro (SP2):
>
> Gigabyte K8N-S Socket 754 (Athlon64) nForce3 250
> 120Gb Maxtor DiamondMax DM Plus 9 S-ATA 7200rpm 8Mb Cache
>
> The question is this: I will only be using the one HDD (the SATA), so will
> NOT be utilising RAID. Do I have to do the 'F6' thing at the start of the XP
> Pro installation? If so, I cannot seem to find any appropriate drivers -
> there seem to be none on any of the websites for the products above
> (Gigabyte/Nvidia/Maxtor). I suspect I am not looking in the right place or
> not recognised something correctly. For instance, other Gigabyte boards do
> have specifically mentioned SATA Drivers mentioned and available for
> download (i.e the PRO version of my board has something called ITE RAID
> drivers and SiliconSATA RAID), but not mine.
>
> I anyone could point me in the right direction I really would be thankful -
> even if it only some other group to try and get the info from. I am a bit
> lost on this one!

My recent install is using an Intel D915GEV mobo. I have a WD 250 GB SATA
drive. There is no on board raid, so perhaps that is why I didn't have to do
the 'F6' thing.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

"Simon McDonald" <simon@mcdonaldz11.fsnet.co.uk> wrote in message
news:ulgSRctBFHA.3644@TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl...
>I have tried to avoid asking this, as I suspect that it is a dumb question,
>but I have looked high and low without finding the exact answer. I am
>probably fussing over nothing but if someone could advise that would be
>great.
>
> I am getting a new PC with the following spec, on which I will be
> installing XP Pro (SP2):
>
> Gigabyte K8N-S Socket 754 (Athlon64) nForce3 250
> 120Gb Maxtor DiamondMax DM Plus 9 S-ATA 7200rpm 8Mb Cache
>
> The question is this: I will only be using the one HDD (the SATA), so will
> NOT be utilising RAID. Do I have to do the 'F6' thing at the start of the
> XP Pro installation? If so, I cannot seem to find any appropriate
> drivers - there seem to be none on any of the websites for the products
> above (Gigabyte/Nvidia/Maxtor). I suspect I am not looking in the right
> place or not recognised something correctly. For instance, other Gigabyte
> boards do have specifically mentioned SATA Drivers mentioned and available
> for download (i.e the PRO version of my board has something called ITE
> RAID drivers and SiliconSATA RAID), but not mine.
>
> I anyone could point me in the right direction I really would be
> thankful - even if it only some other group to try and get the info from.
> I am a bit lost on this one!
>
> Simon
>
I have a Gigabyte GA-8IPE1000Pro-G motherboard with two SATA Maxtor HDDs. I
did not need to load any specific drivers (F6 thing as you put it) and WINXP
Pro has no difficulty in recognizing the drives. I suspect all modern
Gigabyte drives have embedded drivers for SATA and no additional drivers are
required.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

Simon McDonald wrote:
> I have tried to avoid asking this, as I suspect that it is a dumb
question,
> but I have looked high and low without finding the exact answer. I am

> probably fussing over nothing but if someone could advise that would
be
> great.
>
> I am getting a new PC with the following spec, on which I will be
installing
> XP Pro (SP2):
>
> Gigabyte K8N-S Socket 754 (Athlon64) nForce3 250
> 120Gb Maxtor DiamondMax DM Plus 9 S-ATA 7200rpm 8Mb Cache
>
> The question is this: I will only be using the one HDD (the SATA), so
will
> NOT be utilising RAID. Do I have to do the 'F6' thing at the start of
the XP
> Pro installation? If so, I cannot seem to find any appropriate
drivers -
> there seem to be none on any of the websites for the products above
> (Gigabyte/Nvidia/Maxtor). I suspect I am not looking in the right
place or
> not recognised something correctly. For instance, other Gigabyte
boards do
> have specifically mentioned SATA Drivers mentioned and available for
> download (i.e the PRO version of my board has something called ITE
RAID
> drivers and SiliconSATA RAID), but not mine.
>
> I anyone could point me in the right direction I really would be
thankful -
> even if it only some other group to try and get the info from. I am a
bit
> lost on this one!
>
> Simon


Simon,

I do believe that your motherboard's SATA controllers are designed for
RAID. You must go into the RAID setup and set the drive up as striped
or something. Then, when you install XP, you will have to press F6 to
install RAID driver. The only other option is if you purchase a SATA
controller. This way you won't have to set up RAID, but you will still
have to press F6 to install driver for the controller.

Pat