SATA II windows XP installation problem

[snyderm]

I am having a problem with my new computer I just built. I cannot get win xp pro to install because my Sata II 80GB western digital drive is not detected by windows XP pro during the installation. The XP installation screen gives me the message "No hard drives installed".

The hard drive is installed properly. The bios for my motherboard shows my hard drive correctly. I can in fact get this drive to work if I select "IDE mode" for my drive instead of "AHCI". I don't want to do this though, mainly because if I then put in a second drive in the same manner it does not work properly. So I have left my second drive unplugged and want to focus on my original problem.

Unfortunetly, both my motherboard and hard drive appear to be OEM versions, so I cannot get support from intel (motherboard DG33FB) or western digial.

Has anyone seen a problem like this one before? Any help would be appreciated.

 

[skip010]

Try installing Intel Matrix Storage Manager during installation of XP (will ask you if you want to intall RAID/ AHCI drivers - yes). It will take you through a couple of different screens and finally install the drivers you need. Try here to get the drivers :
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Product_Filter.aspx?ProductID=2101

(You'll need to put the drivers on a floppy or CD to use during installation)

 

[Paperdoc]

A genuine M$ Catch-22 has got ya. The problem is that the XP Pro install disk does not have the right drivers for an AHCI drive. So it tries assuming an IDE system and can't find one. There may be two solutions:

1. MAYBE you can find an AHCI driver for your mobo's controller. Check their website. If you can download such a driver, put it on a floppy disk (assuming you have a drive.) Now, very early in the install procedure for XP Pro you will see briefly a prompt that says you should press the "F6" key if you have special drivers to load. Do that, and the process may not appear to react, but a bit later it will come up with a screen asking whether you want to install drivers from the floppy drive. You hit "S" to say yes, and it will look at your disk and show you the drivers available. You MIGHT need to do this more than once - it will only install one driver at a time, then come back to ask if there are more. Eventually you have no more and you just hit "Enter" to continue. XP Pro will load and use those drivers to access the HDD, then remember where they are and come back later to load them onto the HDD itself as part of the permanent installation.

2. Forget all that, and just set your HDD drive to IDE mode in the BIOS, then load XP Pro normally. When it's all done, search Microsoft's Knowledge Base (or maybe here in the forums) for the procedure that allows you to change the HDD interface system from IDE to AHCI on an already-installed-and-running Windows XP system. I don't remember the details, but I'm sure I have seen it and it can be done.

 

[cptdread]

Yes, I had a similar issue with my old (dual) 80gig Maxtors. I got lucky and found a new 320gig Maxtor for $49 sale and switched it to AHCI and it ran much faster. I have same motherboard. I am looking at an alternate Motherboard to see if it related to chipset or just intel.

 

[snyderm]

So close... But I don't think it will help. I need the Sata chipset driver for ICH9DH. The closest thing in this package is the ICH9R. Maybe I will try it anyway, I am rather desperate.

 

[snyderm]

I solved my problem and I thought I would post it here just in case there are others who might have the same problem.

As others have stated windows XP does not have a driver to support a SATA drive in AHCI mode. If your bios has the Hardrive installed in AHCI mode, Windows XP will not recognize your drive, and refuse to install.

Its funny, but Motherboard manufacturers obviously know of this problem, but finding any reference to it directly on their website is next to impossible. I could only find vague references to it on Intel's site. This information is readily available on different user forums, but apparently the manufaturer, whose business is to sell motherboards, doesn't think it is important enough to actually post.

For a board with an Intel chipset 9XXXX (which is basically all new motherboards) do indeed have an AHCI driver you can download and install onto XP during installation with very little fuss. The problem is actually getting the drivers from Intel.

The driver is on the intel storage manager program, which should have been obvious. The reason it isn't is that intel has failed to update their website in the past year to state that the driver for all 9XXXX chipsets is actually in the program. Under chipset compatibility, none of their newer chipsets are listed. Also obscuring the process is that the driver is available in the form of a program, instead of a driver, or group of files that act as a driver. You must download the release notes for the program and sort through the 100's of pages for the section that states that under a command line prompt you can use flags -a -a -D to run the program to extract files into a folder. You can then copy those files onto a floppy drive and use during an XP installation as your Sata Driver.

Now why couldn't they have just posted a brief section on their website that says "to use a SATA drive in AHCI mode for any 9XXXX chipset, download these files and put them on a floppy, then run your motherboard update CD after installation as usual". Why all the obscurity? Do these people get paid to make things tough for the customer?

Sorry for the rant, but well... you understand.

 

[jonathan555]

PLEASE HELP ME

I HAVE EXACTLY THE SAME PROBLEM, BUT ACTUALLY I'VE ALREADY INSTALLED XP ON MY PC.

IF I UNDERSTAND CORRECTLY, I NEED TO DOWNLOAD THE FILE FROM INTEL'S WEBSITE (IATA78.EXE) AND PUT THEM ON A FLOPPY, AND THEN PRESS F6 DURING THE INSTALATION OF XP. RIGHT?

IF NOT, PLEASE HELP ME!!!

I ALSO HAVE THE SAME POBLEM ON A G1S LAPTOP FROM ASUS, USING ICH8 SOUTHBRIDGE CHIPSET....

BEST REGARDS.

JONATHAN

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey