Lost in space drive!

[mongo72]

OK. I know I am missing something on this one. I have been away from tech for a while and this one is just getting past me and I can not for the life of me figure out why.

OK I had a drive crash on my XPS 3 Dell. I grabbed an old drive just to throw in and get the OS up and running so I could salvage what I could off of the old drive. I drop in PM 8.0 and blow the partition of the old drive because I really did not care what was there and stuck it in the PC. Checked the BIOS to make sure the drive changed over to the replacement drive and all was fine. Put the XP disk in to start the install and after I F8 and agree to the terms I get the next screen that tells me that the existing partitions and unpartitioned space is Unknown Disk (There is no disk in this drive.) ENTER=Install get me a blue screen crash that seems to point to a memory error, D=Delete Partition does not do anything, and F3=Quit crashes in the same manner as ENTER.

Now in the mean time I have tried everyway from Sunday to partition or not partition this drive.... I have stuck in a new drive and run it through the same exercises with no success. No matter what I do I get this same issue of Unknown Drive (There is no disk in this drive.) and some form of crash after I choose a working option.

Now what is odd is one of the times I forgot to unplug my external USB drive that I keep music and things on and the install knew it was there and wanted to install to it.

I have tried all 4 of my SATA ports on the board with no success. I have updated the BIOS on the box. I have taken it to dinner and a movie. Nothing. Any thoughts out there? This already bald guy is pulling what little hair he has out!

Thanks!

 

[Slugbait]

None of those "unknown disks" is the hard drive. The "existing partitions" are for your card reader...not a problem when trying to install Vista, but they are a PITA when trying to install XP cuz the hard drive will be F:\ or whatever, and you have to fix the drive assignments in Disk Management after Windows loads.

The hard drive is MIA cuz there are no SATA drivers.

1) Unplug the card reader
2) Boot with the XP disc
3) Hit F6 at the beginning of text mode: the instruction to hit F6 at the bottom of your screen will be one of the very first things you see, and you have to hit it right away...there is about a three-second window of opportunity, so if you miss it, reboot and try again
4) Pop in the floppy disc with your SATA drivers when prompted

Have fun

 

[heymrdj]

I think you can also use an XP SP2+ disk and it will contain generic XP drivers..but don't hold me to that.

And by that I mean an XP disk where the installer already has SP2 or 3 integrated, not just using an SP2 or 3 disc.

 

[mongo72]

I will try that even though the install I have of XP has SP2 on it and I am pretty sure I saw the SATA driver install go by on the bottom of the screen, but don't quote me I had my laptop up in front of my monitor.

I did not mention it because I am ashamed that I even had a copy of it in my hand to try, but I did try it with Vista as well and it did not see the drives.

But hey I am up for anything. I am going onto Dell now to download the SATA drives and try it again whe I get home tonight.

Thanks for the help so far... any other thoughts feel free to pass them along!!!

 

[Slugbait]

Generic SATA drivers cover a subset of controllers. If you are part of the majority, you will need a floppy disc. If you are part of the minority, you can install the generic SATA drivers...they are generally regarded as crap.

If your controller and hard drive are AHCI-capable, and the BIOS is set to AHCI, you will use a floppy disc regardless of which controller you have. You could set the controller to IDE emulation in the BIOS and maybe get away with it, but installing the AHCI drivers after the Windows install is hit-n-miss...works for some, doesn't work for others. Using IDE emulation comes with a penalty: low performance. That's not why you bought an XPS.

I'm pretty sure the XPS series are all AHCI-capable, and are all AHCI-enabled...so, floppy disc is required for XP.

The majority of controllers should be able to be seen by Vista's installer. You may have a controller that can't be seen by the generic drivers. But c'mon, people who want performance shouldn't use the generic drivers anyway.

One possibility is that you have two controllers. My Bad Axe II has both Intel and Marvel controllers...I disabled the Marvel controller to significantly decrease boot time, and simply plug into the Intel SATA ports. You sure you're plugged in correctly?

Another option is to use nLite and create a slipstream installation disc with the AHCI drivers...this will eliminate the need for a floppy drive. It takes about an hour to build it...unless you've never done this before, in which case it will take several hours while you try to figure out what you're supposed to do, and then try to figure out what you did wrong when the first disc doesn't work correctly.

 

[mongo72]

It is AHCI now that you mention it and I did find and Intel driver for my SATA on the Dell site for my PC. I have created a driver disk from that and will try and F6 during the install to use these drivers. I think you hit the nail on the head and I will give this a try tonight.

Thanks for the input!

 

[mongo72]

That was it! Thank you for your help on this!