NT4, Win2K won't recognize my hard drive.. 98 will

[smp]

Whenever I run the setup for NT or Win2K I get this "Setup failed to locate a hard disk drive or a mass storage .... please check all cables .. etc.. " .. I'm running a asus a7v mobo, diamondmax ata 100 30 gig drive, I don't understand.. I installed 98 just fine.. but when it comes to the real os's.. I can't get past that.. I got this ata 100 driver from maxtor's web site.. it said to unpack it with the -d switch in dos.. so I did.. ata100 -d and it unpacked.. (I don't know what a d switch is .. ) and it seemed to work.. so when I went to specify (f6) additional drives in the setup.. it reads the floppy as a maxtor ata 100 nt driver.. but then when I run it.. it says the .sys file is missing or corrupt.. then I'm back to the same old sh_t.. someone please help me.. I know htere are ppl out there that managed to install NT or Win2K on the same mobo/hdd combo that I'm using.. thanks.

 

[Panther505]

Try hitting F6 at the Black screen that says "Setup is now scanning your hardware" or something like that. This is prior to the Blue Set up screen. Hopefully this will help you set the OS

 

[smp]

yeah.. doesn't that just give me the option to enter devices not specified.. I tried that.. I had the disk with the driver for the hard drive.. it didn't work.. of course, this was a disk I made, from a download off of Maxtor's site.. it didn't help though.. anyone know about the -d switch in dos??? I don't have a full version of dos, I have windows command prompt or whatever.. but it's not full dos.. do I need full dos to do this -d switch thing?

 

[Panther505]

I think that you are installing the inf /sys for the drive. I may be wrong but I am talking about the sys/info for the ata 100 controller on the MB. IF you only have a drive attached to the ata100 and don't give the OS a driver to use the ATA100 then the OS cannot see the controller no less the drive. I would dwnld the ATA100 driver for w2k from the Abit site(file name is W2K103b.exe) and run the exe- it extracts a readme, an inf and a sys file. put these on a disk and follow my instructions in the previous post.

this is the Abitlink go to the download and then drivers and you can't miss it

 

[iamthebear]

Is your drive setup as FAT32? If so, NT will never see it. You'll have to convert it to FAT16 first (Provided its NT4)

 

[smp]

Thanks for the replies.. still though.. Abit??? I got a asus mobo.. a7v.. anyways.. The partition that I have ready for NT / win2k (whichever decides to work first) is NTFS.. so I don't see that being a problem.. oh well.. thanks though.

 

[smp]

And I have kept it to within the first cylinder.. 1024 or whatever..

 

[Panther505]

Abit- that must of come from the fact that I had and Abit board irritating me to no end last night. I just looked on the Asus site and since that controller is not onboard it is a Promise controller- is that right?? If so then you need to install the promise ata 100 driver as I specified in my first post. Another option with W2K would be to install it on the OB controller allow it to install all drivers and then as long as you then make the ATA 100 controller the first boot device in the BIOS move it to the ATA 100. I have done that several times as it helps to ensure that you need to install only what comes with the OS. THen you can sort out the drivers later

 

[Dulanic]

Update your BIOS to 1005A.... you are probably using 1003... it had a bug where it didnt see some HDs on the ATA100 controller. Also download the latest Build 33 Promise drivers and toss them on a disk.... copy all the Win2K drivers directly to root dir on the floppy. Use that when installing and pressing F6.

 

[smp]

Thanks.. I'll be sure to try that.. Nice one.. I scored a sweet IBM black keybord today for ten bucks.. nice one.. (CAN).. new too.. tangents.. sorry.