Tom's Hardware > Forum > Storage > General Storage > Can't get XP setup install to SATA drive!
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horrgakx   09-12-2007 at 01:57:49 PM

Hi chaps. This is a long standing issue for me which is unresolved and I’m now at the begging stage. It bugging me that much I’m even willing to pay someone to do this for me. I wasn’t sure where to post this as I’m not sure exactly where the problem lies, but as I can’t get a SATA drive installed I’ve put it in this section :)

In a nutshell; I can’t get the WinXP setup program to detect the SATA drive. Error message it gives when trying to boot the GUI section of the XP install is “Cannot load operating system”.

Better description; I boot off the WinXP CD and start the installation process (white text on a blue screen). The setup program is able to format the drive successfully and copy over some setup files ok so I know that the BIOS sees the drive and the initial setup writes okay.

Now, the problem occurs when it resets the PC and tries to continue to the second stage (GUI). After the POST completes it reports “Cannot load operating system”.

What I’ve done already;
I downloaded the Text and PNP mode nVidea nForce 4 SATA drivers and included them in an nLite configuration. This still didn’t fix the issue. (screenshot of this is at the bottom)

Please help!
Everyone tells me this “should” work, but it doesn’t. Can anyone help me please?


System config;
WinXP (installing from a pre-SP install disc)
ASUS A8N-SLi
SATA drive
Video card X700 (but upgrading to 8800GTS at the moment)
2Gb RAM


nLite driver screen showing the SATA drivers;
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v647/horrgakx/Misc/sata_error.jpg


Thanks!

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michiganteddybear   09-12-2007 at 02:51:18 PM
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try using a disk with sp2 on it. Also, make sure the BIOS is set for the SATA to be used in IDE mode, you can always load the native drivers once into windows, then enable native mode (if the mobo supports it).

the method your using should work, but when you run into problems using custom built disk, you must revert BACK to the basics to make sure all the other stuff is right 1st.

Where I work, we use custom, fully automated xp disks all day long (put em in, select which partition, and whether or not to format it if its already formatted). Our current disks have all but around 12 of the updates slipstreamed in (we are do to remake them), and as I said, it only asks us about which partition on install. No pressing enter to continue to setup (the 1st interaction), no product key, no user/computer name, nothin.. we are even installing a couple of our preloaded apps straight from the xp cd at the end of the load.

Reply to michiganteddybear
horrgakx   09-12-2007 at 03:18:17 PM
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Thanks for the reply. I don't have a newer XP install disc unfortunately.

I'll check the BIOS but I can't remember seeing anywhere to select what mode the drive is in... I thought if it was a SATA interface then it was SATA... if it was IDE it was IDE....?

Reply to horrgakx
horrgakx   09-12-2007 at 03:18:17 PM
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Double post sorry - system tells me "you can't edit this message" when I try to delete it.


Message edited by horrgakx on 09-12-2007 at 03:21:22 PM
Reply to horrgakx
juvealert   09-12-2007 at 04:16:16 PM
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hey man

if your slipstream sata drivers are do not work do the following step

1.check ur bios setttings are correct
2.find the sata drivers provided with the motherboard. you may also download them from the asus website
3.extract them onto a floppy disk
4.boot xp setup and while booting start hiting the "F6" button
5.then select the drivers that are listed for xp
6.then continue to install xp

well its better that u use xp with service pack 2

u may download win xp service pack from
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads [...] laylang=en


more info how to install sata drivers
http://nvidia.custhelp.com/cgi-bin [...] _topview=1
Skip the "Configuring the NVIDIA RAID BIOS" section if ur not using raided hard disks

hope that helps

Reply to juvealert
onestar   09-12-2007 at 05:22:44 PM
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On the ASUS board you must tell the BIOS your boot device order. I do not believe that it will automatically default to SATA just because you unplugged you PATA drive. The windows installer may be a bit more "intelligent" than the BIOS and sees the drive and trys to install to it, but on the reboot the BIOS takes over and ...it does not see your hard drive. One other thing of note, make sure the jumper is set correctly to your particular motherboard, for I suspect some of the older A8N still were set to 1.5 gb/s instead of th more prevalent 3.0 gb/s SATA drives being sold today. In your case though, the windows installer sees your drive so the jumper is probably ok.

Reply to onestar
horrgakx   09-12-2007 at 10:32:28 PM
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Thanks for the replies guys. I'll answer below;

> check ur bios setttings are correct

As far as I can see nothing is wrong...

> 2.find the sata drivers provided with the motherboard.
> you may also download them from the asus website

Yep, thats how I got the drivers onto the slipstream config, I downloaded them from the ASUS website.

> 3.extract them onto a floppy disk

Oops - don't have a FDD....

> well its better that u use xp with service pack 2

You mean an XPSP2 install CD instead of an XP CD? As I say, I only have a pre-service pack CD (I normally later install SP2 when its up & running).

> On the ASUS board you must tell the BIOS your boot device order.

Yep that is done as matter of course. Only one hard drive in there anyway.

> jumper is set correctly to your particular motherboard, for I
> suspect some of the older A8N still were set to 1.5 gb/s

I checked that, definately set to AUTO and tried 3Gb manually. Think it picked it up as a 3Gb device anyway.

Still stuck. Would it help for me to get a WinXPSP2 install CD? How would that differ when it was installing?

Reply to horrgakx
onestar   09-16-2007 at 12:11:42 PM
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If all the directions were followed...it would boot.
Since it did not...you did not.

Reply to onestar
horrgakx   09-16-2007 at 12:32:04 PM
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Ok, thanks for the replies. I'm willing to pay someone at this stage, I just can't get it going. If any of you guys are in Cumbria then let me know, otherwise I'll take it to a shop.

Message quoted 1 times
Reply to horrgakx
pat   09-16-2007 at 03:13:08 PM
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The nvidia chipset don't need drivers for SATA. As long as RAID is disabled in BIOS, and you are sure that you don't have the drive plugged to an onboard SATA controller (like Promise or Sil), then you the drive will work just as PATA drive, because this is the same controller (nvidia) that drive both the optical device and the SATA HDD. only the INTERFACE is different between both drive.

I've assembled computer with that board, as well as many other with the nvidia chipset and none of them have needed drivers.

Reply to pat
mahoumatic   09-16-2007 at 03:49:22 PM
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horrgakx wrote :

Ok, thanks for the replies. I'm willing to pay someone at this stage, I just can't get it going. If any of you guys are in Cumbria then let me know, otherwise I'll take it to a shop.

 

I would suggest you to bring along a CD of Windows XP with SP2, which can be built by first slimstreaming SP1 to your current Pre-SP Windows XP disc, then slimstreaming SP2 into the image build by the previous step, all to be done by nLite...it is to reduce trouble because Pre-SP Windows XP lacks support of many current hardware, which you think it should support...

 

Message quoted 2 times
Message edited by mahoumatic on 09-16-2007 at 03:51:33 PM
Reply to mahoumatic
killerb255   09-16-2007 at 05:12:02 PM
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mahoumatic wrote :

I would suggest you to bring along a CD of Windows XP with SP2, which can be built by first slimstreaming SP1 to your current Pre-SP Windows XP disc, then slimstreaming SP2 into the image build by the previous step, all to be done by nLite...it is to reduce trouble because Pre-SP Windows XP lacks support of many current hardware, which you think it should support...



You don't even need to slipstream SP1. Slipstream SP2 only.

Copy all the files on your current Windows XP CD to some directory on your hard drive. From there, you can slipstream SP2 into those files and use something like nLite to burn the new files to a new disc.

Reply to killerb255
pat   09-16-2007 at 07:06:52 PM
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mahoumatic wrote :

I would suggest you to bring along a CD of Windows XP with SP2, which can be built by first slimstreaming SP1 to your current Pre-SP Windows XP disc, then slimstreaming SP2 into the image build by the previous step, all to be done by nLite...it is to reduce trouble because Pre-SP Windows XP lacks support of many current hardware, which you think it should support...




First, the hardware support for nvidia controller is present in the original XP disk... because the original XP disk can see any cdrom device or PATA hdd connected to it. The only thing that is not, is the ability to see correctly drive with more than 136 GB of space.. SP1 corrected this.

You have to understand that SATA is only a road between an IDE controller and an IDE drive. A rode that allow more bandwidth that the older PATA road. SO, the same controller is used, but some of its road are marked as parallel while others are maked as serial. So, the ATA commamd set is the same for PATA and SATA. SATAII is an other story, as it bring enhanced command set, as well as more (wasted) bandwidth. That's why, current SATAII HDD won't work correctly on older SATA controller that don't have the enhanced set. For this reason, SATAII HDD has a jumper to enable SATA150 compatibility to work on older controller. RAID is another thing. It has a different way of using the controller, so it has its own BIOS. When enabled in the main BIOS, and dependently of how it is configured, it borrows the necessary controller connector, making them unavailable to the main BIOS, thus, unavailable to installation software without the necessary drivers. SATAII controller are working the same. Special drivers has to be used to install the OS on SATAII. Normally, at the first stage of installation, the XP (or any other OS) use the basic ATA command set to ask the controller about drive available for install. This basic command set is compatible with any controller that don't use any RAID or enhanced command set. When RAID or SATAII is used, the controller don't respond to normal query from the main BIOS, so the BIOS don't list it as available to normal command, but as add-on or onboard (often listed as SCSI for compatibility reason, even if they are actually not SCSI) that can be accessed with extended command set provided with drivers.

So, to make it simple, if nothing fancy for the controller is enabled in BIOS (RAID) and the drive are connected to the nvidia controller (the manual has info about that), then your hardware will be seen just like your optical device is seen and used with normal command set.

Reply to pat
onestar   09-16-2007 at 07:37:25 PM
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One more try....
If the SATA formatted, and XP copied files then everything required for the next phase of the windows install is in place. The windows installer recognized the SATA drive right? Not some other drive installed on your system? If so...it seems fairly evident to me that one of the following is causing the problem:
1: The BIOS does not list the drive as the first bootable device
2: The drive is not jumpered correctly
3: You have an unbootable floppy inserted (I have truly seen this)
4: The SATA cables are not making constant connection
5: You have some other drive installed interfering with bootup

Reply to onestar
techgeek   09-16-2007 at 07:53:58 PM
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Not sure if your motherboard supports NCQ or settings in your BIOS, but I'll give the advice anyway. If your SATA controller is set for AHCI, you need F6 drivers before Windows XP installer will see the drive. If this is the case just switch it off of AHCI. Since I don't know your board specifically, I am just making a general suggestion. My internet connection at work (Yemen) is too slow to drop by ASUS' site and download your motherboard manual. I do know that if that is set, Windows installer won't see the drive without the AHCI/RAID driver.

------------------------------ Don't go away mad, just go away!
 Reply to techgeek
horrgakx   11-13-2007 at 10:23:00 PM
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I think the mobo can take the full SATA300...?
Also the cable is fine, I can use the drive no problem once WinXP has booted (from an IDE drive).

Still not resolved. Have had the hard drive for 7 months and I can't use it :( :( :(

Reply to horrgakx
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