SATA drive + WIN XP Home

[GR22]

I just put together a rebuild using a DFI lan party UT nF3, AMD 3400+, WD SATA 250 GB drive, ect.
The board sees the SATA HD, I can see it in BIOS and it's reporting the correct size.
When I reboot with my WIN XP Home CD, Windows doesn't seem to be seeing the drive.

I've read the other posts about loading drives, but I'm confused. If the BIOS is seeing it, why isn't Windows? This is an old WIN CD, no SP2 on the disk.

The Windows installer is showing a 131,069 MB disk as;
"Disk 0 at id 0 on bus 0 on atapi [MBR]

If the board is seeing the drive, I'm not sure what drivers to load?

 

[redhatlinux]

Quick and dirty reply .... get sp2...

 

[GR22]

From what I've read, it seems I have to either load SATA drivers at WIN installation or use SP2. Looking at the mobo CD, there isn's a folder labeled SATA drivers. There is one labeled system drivers, is that it?

As I don't have SP2 on the instllation CD, the other option seems to be to slipstream? Is that possible on a fresh install? I do have access to another computer to burn a CD.

 

[FlyingPenguin]

You need to put the SATA driver files (just the actual driver files, they will fit) on a floppy. Boot from the XP CD, press F6 when prompted to "Press F6 to load SCSI or other controller drivers". Wait while it loads some files, and then it will prompt you for the floppy.

Trust me there are drivers on the driver CD. There have to be. Sometime you have to copy the files to a floppy yourself, and sometimes they give you a utility that creates the floppy for you.

You can also download them from the mobo manufacturer's web site.

 

[boomerang]

If I'm looking at the right board, you have two sets of SATA ports. One set supported by the Nvidia chip and the other by a Marvel chip.

Make sure you have the drivers for the chip that will be controlling your drive. I'm thinking the Nvidia chip won't need drivers at all. Your SATA drive should be natively supported.

Don't know how good DFI manuals are. It may be covered in there.

You're better off with the Nvida controller.

 

[GR22]

I undestand that I need to F6 and load the SATA drivers during the WIN install. I'm having trouble finding the drivers. There's nothing on the mobo CD that says SATA. Is there a way to know which drivers on the CD I need?

BTW, my drive is on the #1 positionn not sure if that's the NVidia one.

 

[boomerang]

Just to be certain, you intend to do a fresh XP install on this drive, correct?

Try the #3 or #4 SATA ports. I have looked through your manual and I do not see anything real descriptive in there unfortunately, but I believe #3 or #4 are controlled by the Nvidia chip. There should be no drivers required.

Try the install off one of those ports and see what happens.

You should have received a SATA RAID driver floppy (or similar wording). That is the disk you need. Don't let the RAID nomenclature throw you, it should contain the drivers you need.

Hook it up to 3 or 4, do the drivers at the F6 prompt (I don't feel you need them, but it will do no harm) and report back on how you made out.

 

[DerwenArtos12]

if i'm not mistaken the nvidia controlled sata ports are the ones between the cpu socket and the agp slot and should not need any drivers to install even with a SP1 cd though i can not be 100% sure.

 

[GR22]

Thanks fir the tips.
Yes, I'm doing a fresh install on the SATA drive. My thought was to get this up and running, and only then connect my old drive to recover data.

I have the SATA drive on the #1 position. The ones near the AGP slot are the #'s 3 & 4.

I have to go out for a few hours. When I get back I'll switch to the #3 position. Also, I did see a Raid floppy and, you're right, the name did throw me. Just for kicks, I'll try only moving the position 1st. If that doesn't work, then I'll try the floppy and report back.

 

[n7]

You will need to hit F6 upon starting the XP install to add the SATA drivers.

 

[boomerang]

Originally posted by: GR22
Thanks fir the tips.
Yes, I'm doing a fresh install on the SATA drive. My thought was to get this up and running, and only then connect my old drive to recover data.

I have the SATA drive on the #1 position. The ones near the AGP slot are the #'s 3 & 4.

I have to go out for a few hours. When I get back I'll switch to the #3 position. Also, I did see a Raid floppy and, you're right, the name did throw me. Just for kicks, I'll try only moving the position 1st. If that doesn't work, then I'll try the floppy and report back.

That's exactly how I'd approach it. Just reread my previous post. I left out a key word, "no". It's in bold, italics and underlined now. But you figured out my mistake anyway.

 

[GR22]

OK, I found the floppy and loaded drivers after F6 on install from both connection locations on the mobo. Two drivers loaded (only 2 showing); "NVidia NForce Storage Controller (required)" and a Raid driver. Windows still isn't seeing the drive. Also tried directly without loading the drivers, but from the alternate connection location.

I've had this WIN XP Home CD a long time. It says version 2002 on the CD. Is it too old? I don't remember when SP1 came out?

 

[boomerang]

So, you did not load drivers from either ports 3 or 4, is that correct? If not, I would try that.

I have the Service Packs slipstreamed into XP so I am not certain that you need SP1 for this or not. If the disk contained SP1, it would say so on it.

 

[21stHermit]

WD 250GB SATA Defective

Originally posted by: GR22
WD SATA 250 GB drive

I believe the WD 250GB SATA is Defective, I spent all day yesterday trying to format my new WD 250GB SATA and got nowhere. The following are all the routes I tried. When I installed the MB and A64 in January, I used a Hitachi 250GB SATA, used the F6 and XP CD, no problem.

Tried Data Lifeguard v11 for Windows (program running, nothing visible)
Tried Data Lifeguard v11 for DOS (hung asking for 2nd disk in B: )
Tried WindowsXP CD with the F6, VIA RAID Driver (hung) This is how I formatted my existing 250GB SATA HD.
Tried Windows Disk Management (no HD, but Device Manager did show the WD HD)
I swapped SATA and power cables, Channels 0 & 1.

I tried both the VIA SATA controller on the MB and a PCI SATA controller, neither would work to format the HD.

 

[imported_Stew]

I think you may have to have the drive specifically enabled, and SATA support enabled in the BIOS. I have a DFI NF2 board, and in the BIOS when I switched to Optimized Defaults, Windows suddenly recognized my RAID and SATA controllers. That may have something to do with it.

 

[GR22]

OK, I borrowed a SP2 upgrade CD. When it asked for the origional CD, I inserted my WIN XP Home CD.

It now shows:
"238473 MB Disk 0 at Id 0 on bus 0 on atapi [MBR]"
"Unpartitioned space 238473 MB"

I'm concerned about the "0" 's above. Does this look right?

 

[boomerang]

Yes, you're good.

 

[GR22]

Thanks for the help.....