asus p5b bios help .please

[dbk2006]

hi guys im new to this forum
i need a little help
im having trouble trying to install windows xp on my new setup.
iv installed windows 64 no problems.
but i need windows xp.
i select boot from cd from he bios . the disk spins and starts to read the i get the message aborting installation drives not found.
the same thing happens when i try the same thing with windows 98 and me start up disks.
my cdrom an dvd drive arent listed in the bios .
when i booted from my windows 64 disk it installed no problems and the drives work 100% perfect.
i have the latest bios from asus website .
nothing i do seems to work
iv tried all sorts of bootdisks
and i always get the same error .drives not found aborting installation
some one help me
thanx in advance

 

[ColemontHD]

Well, first off, give us a list of components used. Second, make sure all drives are connected properly - master, ide cables, power. From there, make sure IDE channels are enabled in bios. Make sure the HD is formatted correctly.

 

[dbk2006]

asus p5b motherboard. not the delux version
Corsair 1GB DDR2 XMS2-6400C5 TwinX (2x512MB)
Intel Core 2 DUO E6400
tagan 600 watt psu
2 x 80 gb Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10
sony dvd/rw cdrom drive
philips litescribe dvd/rw cdrom drive
ati radeon x1900 xtx 512mb

its all brand new

 

[dbk2006]

come on pepole i need haelp here

 

[Boyo]

I'm confused. Are you installing 2 OS systems on your rig, or are you just trying to run WinXP?

 

[Fishy007]

Ok. I didn't read your post carefully as it gave me a headache. However, the gist of it seems to be that you can install XP64, but not XP Pro or 98. And when you try to install Xp Pro or 98, you get a 'drives not found' error.

Firstly, are your hard drives SATA or IDE? If they're SATA, in the BIOS are they set as ACHI or IDE?
If they are set as ACHI or even RAID, you will need special drivers in order to load XP-32bit. You load these by tapping the f6 key when prompted during the Windows XP Pro Setup process. If your drives are set as IDE then you do not need special drivers.

 

[dbk2006]

OK
my 2 hard drives are sata
the optical drives are set as ide
and yes when i try to install windows xp i get the drives not found aborting installation
why is it i was able to install xp 64 no probs?

 

[Fishy007]

What are the SATA drives set as? AHCI? RAID? IDE?

 

[dbk2006]

there set as ide drives.
im not very good with this bios buisness

 

[Fishy007]

Are you SURE they're set as IDE? The problem you're having sounds like a typical case of missing SATA drivers.
I'm not on my p5b computer at the moment, but from what I remember, go into into the bios and on the main page you'll see a setting for the hard drives. I believe there are 2 menu choices there. Somewhere in one of those menu choices there you'll see a setting that says 'Configure SATA as' and your choices will be "IDE, AHCI, RAID".
That's the setting you need to confirm.

 

[dbk2006]

so the sata drives need to be configured as ide?

 

[Boyo]

If they are SATA drives, don't set the BIOS to IDE.

 

[Howard]

<- foot-in-mouth disease

 

[Fishy007]

Originally posted by: dbk2006
so the sata drives need to be configured as ide?

Not necessarily:
IDE: highly compatible, don't need a driver to install Windows. However, it's slower than the other option and doesn't use all the capabilities of the drive

AHCI: uses all the fancy SATA options and is faster than IDE mode. However you WILL need a special driver to install Windows.

I'm just trying to figure out what you have it set as so I can tell you what to do.

 

[corkyg]

Here we go again sowing mass confusion. When BIOS refers to "IDE" they are referring to PARALLEL IDE, i.e., PATA. Serial ATA drives are also IDE by definition. They too have integrated drive electronics on board the drive. So, let's eliminate the confusion and use PATA and SATA for those two IDE drive types.

 

[dbk2006]

your a top bloke i really aprechiate your help

 

[dbk2006]

ok iv just looked in the bios and this is what it says

ide configutation
sata configuration (enchanced)
config sata as ( ide )

 

[Fishy007]

Hmm.....going by that, you shouldn't have any problems installing Windows XP without drivers. However, since you are having problems, try this method. If it works, the AHCI mode will be better anyway.

1) Go to intel's site and download the driver set here: http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scripts...dID=11310&strOSs=44&OSFullName=Windows*%20XP%20Professional&lang=eng
2) run the exe and let it extract the files to a blank floppy disk.
3) go back into the BIOS and set that 'config sata' part to AHCI and reboot.
4) Start the Windows XP Pro installation from a CD.
5) as SOON as you see the blue screen part of the installation appear, look at the very bottom and you will soon see a message that says 'press F6 to load drivers'. Tap F6 a few times
6) the installation will proceed but eventually you will be prompted to insert the driver disk. Insert the floppy that you just made and choose the ICH8R AHCI driver (not RAID).
7) let the installation proceed and hopefully it will see the HDs now.


Edit: Link is messed up in the post. Try this one: http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scripts...&DwnldId=11310&ProductID=2529&lang=eng

 

[dbk2006]

i cant get too the blue screen.
the windows xp disk boots .

i select install from cd
then it starts to load and about 10 seconds latter
it say ABORTING INSTALLATION DRIVES NOT FOUND

no valid cdrom drivers selected

 

[Fishy007]

Originally posted by: dbk2006
no valid cdrom drivers selected

That little gem of information would have saved a bunch of time.
What brand is your CD drive? Try a different drive.

For some reason, Windows is not loading the drivers for your cd drive. And that's a bit odd since Windows has had decent generic drivers since Windows 95.

 

[dbk2006]

its a sony model iv looked for drivers for it and there isnt any. its worked in other builds iv had .why does windows xp 64 load the drivers?

 

[dbk2006]

could i boot it from a usb cdrom drive?

 

[Fishy007]

I don't know if it'll work from a USB drive. Theoretically it SHOULD, but I can't say for sure.
I used to own a Sony 24x cd writer that gave me problems in a similar fashion. The XP drivers would fail to recognize it. I eventually just went out and bought an LG DVD writer ($36 Canadian) and that's been working fine ever since.

 

[dbk2006]

i have a philips litescribe drive also
this board is a nightmare. should have stuck with dfi boards

 

[dbk2006]

so maybee a new drive will fix the problem?