Please Help!Going Bald!Cannot install XP onto SCSI HD...

[jmatej]

I have a new mobo Gigabyte GA7AVP with a leadtek Geforce ti4200 128MB and one stick of 512MB Kingston RAM DDR400, xp2100.
Cheetah 36MB LV scsi hardrive Tekram 390u2w dual channel controller and Yamaha SCSI CD ROM.
Every time I try to install XP Pro (OEM) it stops shortly after I accept EUA with the comment that "setup cannot access the hardrive". It shows the hard drive but does not give me the option to access it and continue with setup.
I have tried copying the I386 files to the hardrive and running winnt.exe but the setup hangs just before the EUA. I have disabled all the BIOS references to unused controllers/ports etc. I am running everything in a stripped down fashion. I have tried loading the Tekram controller drivers with F6. I have not upgraded to the latest BIOS for the MOBO and Video card yet although they are pretty new and I suspect that this won't help either. I am contemplating buying an IDE hadrdrive so I can install the OS...
I thought I about swapping in my old video card but it is a 3DFVoodo which is known to be incompatible with XP. I do have an 8 yr old diamond 2MB PCI video card... Any suggestons here? Thanks- I am pulling my hair out over this!!!

 

[Audiofight]

Check for the mobo bios.

Have you checked if the Tekram card has a newer bios available for it?

I used to have an Adaptec 2940UW scsi controller and it wouldn't boot from my 40x Plextor cd-rom. It would detect the bootable cd, but wouldn't install from it. It needed to be flashed, then all the problems went away.

Maybe the scsi controller has a newer bios available that may clear up your problems.

 

[ProviaFan]

As a last resort, I'd suggest getting the latest BIOS for the motherboard, but IMHO the video card BIOS could have nothing at all to do with your current problems. If the SCSI card has a BIOS, you might want to attempt flashing that to the latest version, also (pardon my ignorance, but I've not had extensive experience with SCSI yet). Also, you might want to consider downloading the latest drivers for the SCSI card onto a floppy disk and using that when you install Windows instead of the one they give you with the SCSI controller.

BTW, I assume you've checked, but are you sure your SCSI cables are properly terminated, and the devices have appropriate SCSI IDs?

 

[OJ]

I had a very difficult time installing Win200 once on a SCSI setup, tried everything I could think of and it would not work.

Finally I tried booting off the four cold start disks and loading the SCSI drivers by hitting F6 when it asked, it worked link a charm.
I tried reproducing this problem and it acted the same every time, it had to boot from the cold start disks to work!

Hope this helps.

OJ

 

[rahvin]

Chances are you need to update the scsi bios, that's what it was in my case. Some of the older scsi bios's didn't play nice with XP.

 

[kursplat]

and loading the SCSI drivers by hitting F6 when it asked, it worked link a charm.

setup asks you if you have any third party drivers to install during setup. hard to see if your not looking for it at the bottom of the screen.
good luck

 

[Abzstrak]

setup asks you if you have any third party drivers to install during setup. hard to see if your not looking for it at the bottom of the screen.

Better than not printing it on the screen at all like NT did... ;-)

Agree with the others, update the BIOS of the SCSI card, if that doesn't work try drivers

 

[kursplat]

if that doesn't work try drivers

just curious , don't you need the drivers anyway ?

 

[Abzstrak]

Quote
if that doesn't work try drivers just curious , don't you need the drivers anyway ?

Drivers above and beyond what comes on the winxp install cd

 

[jmatej]

Thanks everyone... but I have tried all of the aforementioned suggestions. I have flashed all the hardware with the latest BIOS and I have loaded the latest scsi controller drivers from floppy during setup but the system just hangs at "starting windows" screen.
Are there any known "issues" with Tekram scsi controllers, Gigabyte, AMD SCSi and xp pro setup. Any other ideas? I can almost taste Linux...

 

[Panther505]

Where are you loading the SCSI drivers? If you are waiting until the blue setup screen to press F6 you are waiting too long.

WHen the initial
"Setup is checking your hardware" screen comes up (black screen with 1 line at the top) you need to press F6 then. IF you wait the OS will probe the SCSI controller and you will not be able to load the driver.

This has been an MS issue since NT4 and the newer Adaptec cards (read 2940versions) can out. I recently had to do it with an LSI controller.

HTH.

 

[jmatej]

I am loading them as soon as I get the prompt at the bottom of the screen. It says to press F6....Shortly thereafter I am prompted to select "S" if I want to add drivers for scsci controllers or mass storage devices; then I place the floppy. The correct driver shows up on the screen, I select it and press enter to continue... Setup proceeds to load the driver and the rest of the drivers. Then I see the caption "setup starting windows"... Some times I get through the EUA and then the software starts examining my hard drive at ID0 HD0 Bus0 sync8xxx. Then the hard drive is displayed but underneath it is a note that "setup cannot access the hard drive"... I have swapped in my other cheetah hard drive and I ge the same problem. One side note, my drives were configured for wide negotiation and sync transfer at 80MB/sec in my old ABITBx6rev2 MOBO but when I put the Tekram controller in this new motherboard I am forced to disable wide negotiatioon and run Xfer at 40MB. I have trippled checked jumber settings and termination issues, BIOS and driver updates etc... I am wondering if there are some compatiblity issues with the tekram390u2W controller and the Gigabyte MOBO. The only drivers I haven't tried loading are the Gigabyte Mobo drivers-I think they can only be loaded in windows...

 

[jmatej]

Is there in fact anyone out there who has themselves, or knows of someone who has successfully installed XP pro on a GA7AXP mobo with a tekram 390u2w controller, scsci hard drive, scsi cdrom?:disgust:

 

[rahvin]

Originally posted by: jmatej
Is there in fact anyone out there who has themselves, or knows of someone who has successfully installed XP pro on a GA7AXP mobo with a tekram 390u2w controller, scsci hard drive, scsi cdrom?:disgust:

Whoa there buckaroo, there is a fact you didn't mention before. Your CDROM is SCSI too? Is this is the one you are using to load windows? If so I think you need to build the 4 boot disks and use those rather than booting the CDROM. I know this is a pain but I'm aware of issues with LSI cards (Tekram is a rebranded LSI), SCSI boot CDROMs and windows. The combo doesn't play nice together and the solution recommended was to always install using the boot floppies rather than booting from the SCSI cdrom.

 

[jmatej]

Interesting... So even thought the SCSI CD ROM is bootable I may still be required to create the floppy disks. How should I do it? Would you be able to provide me with link? Also shoud, I then DISABLE the "boot from CD ROM" in the scsi bios? Many Thanks!!!

 

[rahvin]

Consult the microsoft knowledgebase for building the floppies. Just telling you what I know, certain scsi bios's from LSI combined with certain Athlon chipsets combined with a scsi boot CDROM don't work. Try the boot floppies.

 

[jmatej]

OK, I found the floppy creation program at Micorsoft and created the six floppies for XP pro. I disabled boot support for the CD rom in the SCSI Bios. When I ran the floppy setup on clean hard drive I got the part of setup showing my hard drive highlighted and stating that it was unpartioned. I selected "C" to "create" a partition of the largest size (8.1MB) and hit "enter". The hard drive clicked for a few seconds and sat. I hit C again and the same thing happened. When I tried the "install "option from the screen I was told to back up a create a partition. So I went back to my 98 floppy and created a Dos partition. I retried the install process only to get hung up at "windows cannot access disk". At this point I am wondering if Bill Gates deserves the same fate as Osama Bin Laden...

 

[compudog]

ROTFLMAO! I had a similiar problem setting up win2K with SCSI drives. I got fed up, threw in an old IDE (4.3GB) HDD and CD-ROM. Installed the OS and just used the SCSI drives for storage. Tired of fighting. (MSI mobo, WD Enterprise 9.1's, Adaptec 2940UW) Good luck!

 

[jmatej]

Gonna dig through the attic and pull out the old paper weights... What is the minimum size IDE HD that XP pro needs to load?:disgust:

 

[Trashman]

One side note, my drives were configured for wide negotiation and sync transfer at 80MB/sec in my old ABITBx6rev2 MOBO but when I put the Tekram controller in this new motherboard I am forced to disable wide negotiatioon and run Xfer at 40MB.

Thats the part I don't understand....board should have nothing to do with that, you'd think...right? What kind of cable are ya using , and is that a 68pin drive or 80pin?
Just to add here.........I'm assuming this is the same scsi setup you had using that Abit board...

 

[Abzstrak]

Have you installed any OS ever on this setup? if not I'd suggest installing something else to rule out a hardware issue... SCSI is pretty easy in linux, just run a redhat or similar setup and see if it works, if it does then its XP's problem, if not, I'd suspect something is screwy with the hardware.

 

[jmatej]

Originally posted by: Trashman

One side note, my drives were configured for wide negotiation and sync transfer at 80MB/sec in my old ABITBx6rev2 MOBO but when I put the Tekram controller in this new motherboard I am forced to disable wide negotiatioon and run Xfer at 40MB.

Thats the part I don't understand....board should have nothing to do with that, you'd think...right? What kind of cable are ya using , and is that a 68pin drive or 80pin?
Just to add here.........I'm assuming this is the same scsi setup you had using that Abit board...

68 pin. I even left the cables attached to their respective pins on the card when I transferred it to the new MOBO. Being that I am using LVD drives with a LVD terminator at the end of the cable there are no jumper settings on the individual harddrives to worry about. About the only thing I can think of is that I shared one of the power cable trunks with the 2 drives (400W power supply) -could there be a drop in juice? I am finally able to install XP... I removed the SCSI hard drives and installed my old eide 2.7 WD EIDE HD so that the CD rom is the only device running off the scsi controller and VOILA... Talk about Bill Gates puttting out yet another "not ready for prime time product" and at a premium price... So it appears that the Tekram 390u2w scsi controller with scsi cd rom (yamaha 4416s) and cheetah 10k and 15k RPM LVD devices on a Gigabyte GA7VAXP MOBO are NOT ENOUGH to get XP pro installed. Any other ideas on the downgraded scsi performance of the HD drives would be appreciated...

 

[Panther505]

I am loading them as soon as I get the prompt at the bottom of the screen. It says to press F6....Shortly thereafter I am prompted to select "S" if I want to add drivers for scsci controllers or mass storage devices; then I place the floppy.

You are not reading: what I said was:

"Setup is checking your hardware" screen comes up (black screen with 1 line at the top) you need to press F6 then. IF you wait the OS will probe the SCSI controller and you will not be able to load the driver.

If you wait until you have a blue backround and it prompts you to press F6 you have WAITED TOO LONG!!! YOU MUST PRESS F6 AT THE BLACK SCREEN. If not then it will not load the driver correctly as the hardware has already been polled. I have this problem all of the time with SCSI 320 cards and drives on Windows XP and 2K. The Adaptec controller that we are using currently must have the driver loaded this way or it will load until we reboot the system and then we get an execption error.