Please help with my Serial HD and WinXP

[xodius]

Hey there,

I recently built a new system and placed a serial HD in it. It is a Seagate 120 GB on a Gigabyte K8NS Ultra 939 with a AMD 3500+.

I have the CMOS configed and the bootup sees the drive but when I try to install my windwos XP it says that there setup did not find any hard drive devices installed on the computer.

What am I missing?

I double checked all my connections and the cables. Checked the Bios/Cmos and it looks good...COuld my drive be bad or something? I just bought it from MWave.

Let me know.
Thank You,
Xodius

 

[Woody419]

Welcome to the forums. You probably need to install the SATA drivers, a Win XP SP2 disk sometimes will have the correct drivers for your mb, sometimes not.

Read the SATA Installation instructions HERE.

 

[xodius]

Thank you good to be here...well...yes and no, lol. I only have SP1. I will check those instructions though also. THank You. I am starting to wonder if I might need to pick up SP2 also.

 

[Woody419]

Originally posted by: xodius
I am starting to wonder if I might need to pick up SP2 also.

No you don't need to pick it up, it will be rammed into your computer the first time you run Windows Update.

You will need to copy the SATA drivers from the install disk that came with your mb to a floppy.

 

[mechBgon]

If your WinXP CD only has SP1, then be aware that you need to take some steps to prevent worm infection, and here they are. If you first download the whole SP2 installer and burn it to CD, and patch Windows to SP2 before exposing your computer to any network connections, that may save you from some problems.

On your Gigabyte motherboard, there are two Serial ATA controllers. One of them has fittings up above the video card, the other one has fittings down at the bottom edge of the motherboard. You want your drive on the ones up by the video card, try it that way. Since this is the "native" chipset SATA controller, it may work without needing any drivers on a floppy at all. It won't take long to determine if that's the case, just run Windows Setup without trying to give it any drivers on floppy, and see if it works or not.

 

[xodius]

Honestly I tried SP2 once and it made my computer go insane so I removed it and never looked back, lol.

FOr the SATA files do I just drag and drop?

 

[xodius]

Ok I will try that because right now it is plugged into the lower controllers

 

[mechBgon]

Try with no drivers on floppy first, using your drive on one of the SATA jacks that are located above the video card, and see if Windows Setup works that way.

If you're not going to use Service Pack 2, then make sure not to expose your computer to any network connections until you have enabled the Internet Connection Firewall (see Windows Help on the topic of "firewall" if you don't know where to enable ICF). WinXP SP1 is a sitting duck for worm attacks without any human intervention required.

 

[xodius]

MMM worms. No I know what you mean with tham. I have a hardwire firewall and Zonealarm along with NAV.

 

[xodius]

does it matter if it is in slot 0 or 1?

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: xodius
does it matter if it is in slot 0 or 1?

I don't think so. I'd look in the owner's manual for you, but I have dial-up and it takes a while to download the manuals

 

[xodius]

ok, I plugged it into the top controllers and still says the same thing.

 

[xodius]

the manual on this MB is...how should I say...banther foder

 

[xodius]

it does not szay anything about it. I am goign to try the cd-floppy thing and see if that works.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: xodius
ok, I plugged it into the top controllers and still says the same thing.

All right, then bust out the floppy diskette that has the SATA drivers on it, reset the system, boot from your Windows CD, and watch for the first blue screen where it'll say to Press F6 for Yadda Yadda and you should press F6 when you see that message. It'll remember that, and after a while it'll ask for the floppy diskette that has the SATA controller's drivers on it.

If you do this right, then Windows Setup will be able to see the drive that's on the SATA controller and carry on with setup.

BTW if you give SP2 another try, and install it before your other stuff, you should be fine. It's installing it on fully-loaded systems running antivirus software and etc where I would expect issues (in which case, installing SP2 in Safe Mode is probably your best bet).

 

[Woody419]

Originally posted by: xodius
Honestly I tried SP2 once and it made my computer go insane so I removed it and never looked back, lol.

FOr the SATA files do I just drag and drop?

Microsoft has recently reminded to the users of its Windows XP operating system that the 240-day grace period for delayed Service Pack 2 (SP2) upgrade comes to the end on April 12. After April 12th Windows Update will not longer work unless you have SP2 installed.

Drag an Drop the SATA files to a floppy - probably
I don't have a Gigabite board, but it probably has two SATA controllers and two sets of drivers, requiring 2 floppies, one for each. Once you get the right driver loading when Windows installs everything will work, you will know when it doesn't work.

 

[xodius]

do I just copy the 3 drivers on to a floppy then? There are a ton of files in here, lol. I fell overwhelmed on this build up.

Will it work if I just drop in the cd instead of a floppy?

 

[mechBgon]

It appears from Newegg's photos of your board, that it doesn't come with the drivers on floppies. Try this: put the Gigabyte CD-ROM into your working computer and when it AutoPlays, see if it has a diskette-making utility that creates the driver floppy for you.

 

[xodius]

I tried the download and dropped it to some floppies before. It made 2 and when I tried to use them it said...."can't load BDOS Kernal file A:\ibmdoc.com"

 

[Woody419]

You need the floppy. SATA driver install by floppy hard coded in XP install routine.

You can also download the SATA drivers from Gigabyte HERE if you are lost inside the disk.

The Chipset, Audio, Lan, and USB2.0 drivers neet to be installed too, after Windows is installed.

edit: looks like they are .exe files, so they might make a floppy for you. Otherwise expand the files to a folder and move to a floppy.

edit2: Corrected links

 

[xodius]

ooo ty, I am trying that one now

 

[Woody419]

Opps, wrong driver set, use these HERE

 

[mechBgon]

Don't put the floppy in until Windows Setup actually asks for it. It's not supposed to try booting from the diskettes, they're just carrying information. The diskette should contain some folders for specific OS's, and some files like txtsetup.oem and stuff. If you download a ZIP file or a self-extracting .EXE, then extract the contents to the floppy diskette.

This stuff is why I try to steer newbies towards PATA

 

[xodius]

lol. Ok

 

[xodius]

what is PATA?

The only reason I am trying a sata is because my IDEs I tinjk got a virus. It slowed my PC way way down even after adware removal and AV along with some pest patrol. So I tried to reformat and it got beyond slow. TO where it took 2 days to instal Windows XP so I pulled it all o0ut and bought this set to replace it.