Format/reinstall this weekend. Should I install my ATA Controller card last?

[MichaelD]

Subject line doesn't tell the whole story. I'll be formatting/reinstalling Win98SE this weekend. I installed it 7 months ago, and lately I've been getting unexplained registry errors. A fresh install should clean things up.

I don't think reinstalling the OS right on top of the other on is a good idea...that will prolly give me more registry errors! LOL!

I have an ATA100 controller card that I'll be using as an extra master channel for my backup HD. The card is new; I've never used it before.

I know that Vidcard/Via's/Vidcard driver go in first, in that order. But where does the ATA card fit in?

I also have a NIC and a soundcard. Soundcard will prolly be last. Where does the ATA card fit in? BTW, I also have onboard Raid, if that matters. Thanks.

 

[MichaelD]

^Opinions? Abuse?

 

[cavingjan]

Personally, I'd install it in the order of ATA controller, then NIC (so I can get all my drivers), then video, then sound. Test with a game or two to look for errors and then install your apps. If you burn your drivers to cd first, you can bump the nic to installing last if you like. The two biggest driver problem sourcse for me have been ATA controllers and video. But I have a cheap Linksys nic and an old SB64PCI card from a decade ago.

 

[MichaelD]

Thanks Cavingjan. NE1 else?

 

[sohcrates]

you usually want to get all your hardware installed properly first...then service packs, and finish with 4-in-1's (if you have a via chipset)

 

[Raincity]

I dissagree. Via 4/1 should be the first thing you install when windows boots up for the first time. Then reboot and install directX 8 if you have it saved some where. Install your nic drivers and setup your broadband connection and install all the Windows updates that you think you will need. Then install, video, sound and Ide controller rebooting in between each. Promise/ Maxtor controller cards tries to grab irq 5 and the SBLIVE SB16 emulator likes to grab irq 5 also causing a windows protection error on startup. Before you reboot the SB live setup go into the device manager and set the option on the SB16 emulator to share irq 7 with the lpt port. This should clear up any issues you may encounter setting up the Ultra card.

Rain

 

[MichaelD]

Thanks Raincity; appreciate the advice.

 

[cavingjan]

I forgot to look about the 4in1s for you. I honestly double install them. Once at the beginning before video cards but since some drivers like to change the AGP driver, I reinstall at the end if I sense a problem. When it doubt, reinstall the Via first. (Via needs to work on making their drivers a little more stubborn to replacement by video cards.

 

[sohcrates]

if we've seen anything here it's that everyone installs a little differently, but most of us work fine in the end. so i suppose you should just pick someone's process and stick with that!

 

[Mday]

are you going to boot from the card?

since you are running w98se, all you have to do is b0ot from a floppy, and install it on your HDD plugged into the card. after windows finishes installing, install the controller drivers since you will be in dos compatibility mode otherwise which is really bad for performance since you gotta install stuff.

if you are installing w2k on an HDD on that controller card, have the drivers ready when prompted for an 3rd party scsi drivers or whatnot.

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if you're not booting from the card, install as normal. anything on the card will still be in DOS compatibility mode, but it's not as urgent since you're not booting from it.

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the extra controller card and the onboard RAID will conflict with each other. disable the onboard RAID if you're not going to use it.

 

[MichaelD]

MDay,

Are you sure about the conflict? That would suck!!!!! The whole reason I purchased this card was to have an "extra" IDE channel for my backup HD! I use the onboard RAID for a RAID 0 array. Man, I'm gonna have to read the instruction sheet very carefully now!

On bootup, the mobo sees the vidcard, then boots up from the RAID array, since that is selected as the First Boot Device (ATA100 Raid) in the bios. Wouldn't the controller card just be seen as another PCI card?

I hope you are wrong! Sheeeeeeeet. I hope you are wrong. (no offense, of course!)

 

[MichaelD]

^ Can anyone backup or refute MDay's comment about the controller card conflicting w/onboard raid? I'm worried!

 

[Raincity]

You should not have any issues with the raid controller and the Ultra. Just make sure you set them up so both the raid and the ultra are not sharing resources and make sure that you have the raid controller set to boot first in the bios.

Rain

 

[MichaelD]

Whew. Thanks much Raincity. I am well aware of the potential for IRQ conflicts in my mobo. I've been very careful to ensure that my cards don't share IRQ's with each other. I'll look up the IRQ sharing list now. Thanks bud!!!!!!