Installing Windows XP Home on a new system

[rivethead]

I'm installing Windows XP Home on a brand new system. My system: AMD 64 3000+ s939, Chaintech VNF4 Ultra, Seagate 160GB SATA HD, Benq 1620 Pro DVD, floppy, Leatek GeForce 6600.

I started to install Window XP Home last night at 8:45pm. I chose to reformat the entire HD (I had unsuccessfully tried to install Windows 98 using restoration discs previously) and set no partitions (wait before you yell at me).

An hour later, I got a message saying 152GB were formated NTFS and 8 GB were unpartioned. Any ideas why 8GB would be set aside as unpartioned? Is this indications of a bad drive? I hope not, it's brand new.

So I'm rumbling along trying to instal Windows XP and I'm booting and rebooting as the on screen instructions say. I'm cursing Microsoft the whole time for making this be such a pain in the a$$ - is this normal ?

So then finally at 10:30 (almost two hours later) I get a Windows XP Home screen and then a nice screen telling me the advantages of Windows XP Home and that I have 39 minutes remaining to complete installation. WTF? I gave up and shut the power down and went to bed.

Granted I was probably too tired to start the process, but typically how long should a Windows XP instal take?

I got curious about partitions this morning and after doing some research, I've realized I've made a big mistake in not creating any partitions.

When I start up my new system tonight, I'm assuming it'll continue to finish the Windows XP install. However, I want to start over so I can create some partitions. Is this possible? If so, how do I do it?

One last question....I also discovered that there is an updated bios for my mobo...should I flash the bios first before installing windows? I can't seem to find a good answer on this.

Ok. My sincere apologies for all these noob issues. I feel like I've really flooded the OS forum with my noob questions lately, but I've learned a lot from many helpful AT members. Thanks in advance for continuing to bear with me!

 

[Smilin]

Yes, flash your BIOS before you begin. Always do this. Be sure any mass storage controllers (SATA/SCSI) that have bios are also up to date.

Slipstream your installation media with SP2 (or at MINIMUM sp1)

To start over, simply boot with your XP CD and start setup.

If you are using anything other than simple IDE/pATA you may need to provide a driver by pressing F6 when setup starts and then supplying a floppy w/driver a bit later in the process. If there are updated drivers available use them even if Windows has it's own.
(edit: you WILL have to do this. Be sure to download the latest drivers for your SATA controller)

There is no need to pre-format or pre-partition the drive.

During text mode setup (blue screen/white text) you'll be given the option to partition/format. Delete all existing partitions, create one new big one using all drive space. This will leave 8 MEGAbytes, not GIGAbytes unallocated - this is normal and is used to set aside space for an LDM database should you choose to use dynamic drives at some point.

Format using NTFS

There are several causes for a hang at the 39 minutes remaining. Most have root causes in old drivers/services during and XP upgrade and don't apply to you. You'll eliminate about all of the remaining causes by following the steps above. If you still get a hang at 39 minutes remaining at least do a shift-F10 while it's 'hung' to see if you're actually locked up or not.

If you are still hung at 39 remaining, give MS a call.

 

[bsobel]

An hour later, I got a message saying 152GB were formated NTFS and 8 GB were unpartioned. Any ideas why 8GB would be set aside as unpartioned? Is this indications of a bad drive? I hope not, it's brand new.

You sure that isn't 8 megabytes, not gigabytes? 8 meg is reserved for dynamic disk conversion.

Bill

 

[rivethead]

Like I said, I was probably too tired to perform this last night.....It probably was 8MB, not GB.

It sounds like you're saying that everything really was proceeding as normal and that an instal really does take that long....I'll have to prepare for that.

I've read conflicting things on whether or not I need to install SATA drives on this mobo during Windows installation. Some in the mobo forums say this mobo will natively recongize and control one SATA drive. But just to be safe, I pressed F6 and attempted to load the drivers from a floppy exactly as outlined in the Chaintech manual. But I'm not sure it worked. It did something, but then the text mode set up gave me a message that "nvraid.sys file not found". I've got an email into Chaintech as to whether or not that's suppose to happen and what it means.

BTW, the install did not hang at the 39 minute mark, it was installing just fine. I just got tired and turned the power off (also, the radar was showing a big T-storm coming our way and I could start to hear some rumblings - I didn't think it would be a good idea to instal during a T-storm!).

I'm installing XP Home with SP1a. I was planning on burning SP2 to a disc with my old computer and then installing SP2 from CD (and also my AV software). All of this will be done before I hook the new system up to the internet. I looked into slipstreaming, but it just didn't appear worthwile to me for one computer. Do you have a different opinion on this?

Thanks!

 

[Smilin]

If you already have SP1a media that will be fine. Put sp2 on after the fact then slipstream your i386 files with sp2 if you keep them on your hard drive.

Definately use the F6 drivers. Not sure what tard told you not to.

nvraid.sys is likely the raid driver for your SATA controller (which sounds like it supports raid as well). If you're not using raid this isn't a big issue. If it were an issue you would know it in the form of a Stop 0x0000007B Most likely cause is the file actually missing or the files were extracted funny to the floppy and the .inf file has some bad path info now. Again, probably not an issue at all.

If you don't see that 39 minutes drop after a few minutes there is a problem. As the years go on, the time remaining counter becomes less and less accurate. On a modern system <15 min is likely.

 

[MrChad]

Originally posted by: Smilin
If you already have SP1a media that will be fine. Put sp2 on after the fact then slipstream your i386 files with sp2 if you keep them on your hard drive.

Definately use the F6 drivers. Not sure what tard told you not to.

nvraid.sys is likely the raid driver for your SATA controller (which sounds like it supports raid as well). If you're not using raid this isn't a big issue. If it were an issue you would know it in the form of a Stop 0x0000007B Most likely cause is the file actually missing or the files were extracted funny to the floppy and the .inf file has some bad path info now. Again, probably not an issue at all.

If you don't see that 39 minutes drop after a few minutes there is a problem. As the years go on, the time remaining counter becomes less and less accurate. On a modern system <15 min is likely.

If the board is nForce4, I don't believe he needs to supply third-party SATA drivers (unless he's using the SATA RAID controller). The generic IDE driver will detect and communicate with the nForce4 controller.

 

[rivethead]

Yes, the Chaintech mobo is an NForce4 ultra chipset. I'm only using one drive, so no RAID configuration.

And what you've stated is also what I've read: the IDE drive will natively detect and communicate with the SATA drive.

But what I can't figure out is why the Chaintech manual would say to install the drivers (unless they just assume that no harm can come from it and that most people using their board will have multiple drives on a RAID array).

Thanks!

I think, just to be safe, I'm going to completely start over. First, I'm going to flash the bios to the latest version using a floppy. Then I'm going to completely re-start the install and completely re-format the drive, setting up multiple partitions before the instal. Then proceed with the install and attempt to install the SATA drivers again using the F6 procedure. And then hold my breath.....and curse Microsoft the entire time.

 

[Smilin]

You have a lot of bitterness towards Microsoft for someone who doesn't follow their instructions

Good Luck!