do i need to buy a floppy?

[stevecrazy]

new system
asus a7n8x-deluxe
2 hard drives on raid0
i did this setup ok
save exit
"post" loads windowsXP pro in buffer
then when i say yes to enter, it can't detect a hard drive
i didn't install a floppy either - thought i could use an external USB floppy but can't find it either
i'm tired and lost

 

[Fuzznuts]

yes you will need a floppy and to reinstall for xp to install your new raid drivers. the cost of a floppy is sooo small its simply not worth mucking about with other things.

 

[stevecrazy]

thank you, i guess by mucking around, the external USB floppy is a waste of time. I'll go buy n install floppy tomorrow

i have never installed windows before, so sure could use a step, by step

can you direct me to a friendly site that i could get format c:/s/u...blah blah whatever all the dos commands i may need

i was lied to and told this wasn't needed anymore, jus put the peices together and pop in a disk

any help you can extend me is appreciated

steve

 

[Abzstrak]

i have never installed windows before, so sure could use a step, by step

can you direct me to a friendly site that i could get format c:/s/u...blah blah whatever all the dos commands i may need

no need to format or anything, just boot off the XP cd and follow the instructions, then get into windows and load the updates and your drivers...

 

[LuckyTaxi]

bought a new system and said i wouldn't need the floppy drive.
weeks later i figured i needed one just in case bsd fsck up and i had to do
fdisk /mbr

 

[Fuzznuts]

Originally posted by: Abzstrak
no need to format or anything, just boot off the XP cd and follow the instructions, then get into windows and load the updates and your drivers...

he has a raid array he will need a floppy to install the drivers for it or xp setup will not see the raid drives. xp does come with hpt37x driver is believe but for the cost involved it peanuts what like £3 or $6. working around making an OEM dir and reburing the cd on another systems isnt worth it.

i didnt say it couldnt be done all i said was it ain worth the agg.

 

[Fuzznuts]

Originally posted by: stevecrazy
thank you, i guess by mucking around, the external USB floppy is a waste of time. I'll go buy n install floppy tomorrow

i have never installed windows before, so sure could use a step, by step

can you direct me to a friendly site that i could get format c:/s/u...blah blah whatever all the dos commands i may need

i was lied to and told this wasn't needed anymore, jus put the peices together and pop in a disk

any help you can extend me is appreciated

steve

to install xp all you will need to do is set your pc to boot off the cdrom first then when it starts the xp set up a title pops up on thebootm of the screen syaing " Press F6 to install third party or scsi driver" at this point press F6 when asked pop the floppy disk ( in your new floppy drive ) that came with your raid controller or motherboard and choose the correct driver fo xp. let xp continue on its merry way.

you shouldnt really need much more of a guid than that. format is lost a command the xp installer has a disk partioning tool init that is very easy to use. once that is all out of the way and xp reboots for the first time be sure to enter you bios and set your boot order to boot from CDROM to SCSI or RAID first.

Hope this helps

 

[Abzstrak]

I shoulda quoted, I was responding to his asking for a link that walks you through the DOS commands of formatting and stuff before installing XP

 

[Macaw]

Definately install a floppy if you are going for that retro look. You also might want to hang a tape reader off your PC as well. And a 300 baud coupling modem! You never know when you might need to call up that mainframe and it requires a Hayes 300 Baud coupling modem. One last tip: Always get motherboards with ISA slots. You might need to stick some legacy cards in your PC.

 

[EeyoreX]

Definately install a floppy if you are going for that retro look. You also might want to hang a tape reader off your PC as well. And a 300 baud coupling modem! You never know when you might need to call up that mainframe and it requires a Hayes 300 Baud coupling modem. One last tip: Always get motherboards with ISA slots. You might need to stick some legacy cards in your PC.

Despite it's age, the floppy is still a viable and usefull item to have. Until current/future hardware is devoped and prefected to allow simple booting the way the floppy does, the floppy will continue to hang around and be usefull. Also, in the interest of being helpful instead of inflamitiry, perhaps instead of ranting about old hardware you could help the original poster with his problem. Since you seem to be anti-floppy, surely you have a way he can easily perform the task? Personally, I say get a cheap (they all are) floppy drive. If it upsets your delicate sense of aesthetics you can screw it in farther back and hide it behind a floppy bay cover, take it out all together and plug it in only when needed. Or skip it all together and pass on the RAID array and easy safe(r) BIOS updates.

\Dan

 

[Macaw]

Originally posted by: EeyoreX

Despite it's age, the floppy is still a viable and usefull item to have. Until current/future hardware is devoped and prefected to allow simple booting the way the floppy does, the floppy will continue to hang around and be usefull. Also, in the interest of being helpful instead of inflamitiry, perhaps instead of ranting about old hardware you could help the original poster with his problem. Since you seem to be anti-floppy, surely you have a way he can easily perform the task? Personally, I say get a cheap (they all are) floppy drive. If it upsets your delicate sense of aesthetics you can screw it in farther back and hide it behind a floppy bay cover, take it out all together and plug it in only when needed. Or skip it all together and pass on the RAID array and easy safe(r) BIOS updates.

\Dan

:heart::moon::Q

... or just boot to his CDROM drive with his Windows XP disk in the drive.

 

[Macaw]

Ok nevermind. I see he's doing a RAID 0 which requires a non-standard driver. I'll shut my pie hole now.

 

[jonmullen]

I wish it would die, but the floppy still has legit uses.

 

[DSE]

Originally posted by: stevecrazy
thank you, i guess by mucking around, the external USB floppy is a waste of time. I'll go buy n install floppy tomorrow

i have never installed windows before, so sure could use a step, by step

can you direct me to a friendly site that i could get format c:/s/u...blah blah whatever all the dos commands i may need

i was lied to and told this wasn't needed anymore, jus put the peices together and pop in a disk

any help you can extend me is appreciated

steve

Another way to much around would be to install a single drive on the non-RAID IDE controller to install XP to, then once WXP is installed and you can install the drivers for the chipset/RAID controller, then install your stripe drives to mirror to. Would take you the extra time of mirroring the drive and the need for an extra hdd. You weigh the costs.