Quick question

[PsharkJF]

Does it need the drivers when you hit F6 on Windows setup?

Edit: Attempting to install XP SP 1a onto it, it's been failing.

 

[JEDIYoda]

I do know on both my ASUS mobo`s when you hit f6 all that does is tell the computer that at some point you have drivers iether on a floppy or some other medium to load your SATA......I could be wrong but I would assume thats the case also with your mobo!

 

[PsharkJF]

Oops, forgot to mention, I'm not running any RAID with it.

Edit: Should also be more specific, failing on second stage of Windows setup. I assumed it was because I did quick formats and not a full format of the new drive with NTFS.. it's doing that now.

 

[PsharkJF]

I posted this on a another board, it's more detailed than what I have here:

BIOS detects drive correctly, XP setup correctly detects the drive (with or without drivers), but refuses to boot from the sATA drive (after formatting and copying files to it, mind you). Keeps going "Error in operating system"

I'm pulling my hair out. This is not a boot order problem... the bios only allows me to choose from FDD, CDROM, HDD, 3 USB things, LAN, etc. The sATA drive is the only hard drive connected to the computer (I have a PATA drive that is powered, but not cabled), so when I check around into the "Hard Drive Boot Order" - it's the only drive on the list. It also is unimportant where in the boot order I place it (HDD). I've tried it first, second, third, still spits out the same error.

Replaced the cable, moved it to a different sATA port (but still in the same grouping of two), still fails.

The onboard IDE and sATA RAID is disabled, and no amount of formatting (quick or full) and combination of MSI-provided drivers (they provide the RAID driver as well as the nForce3 controller driver) has provided any luck in getting the second stage of XP setup to continue.

Edit: My father, coming from Sun box experience, thinks I need to go into BIOS and activate the RAID before I install the OS, otherwise the OS wouldn't see the drive. Obviously, XP setup sees the drive and I will not be running more than 1 sATA disk in that machine at any one point in time, so I don't necessarily see the point in doing that.
I checked on Seagate's site and they say:

Quote:
Many SATA RAID host adapters require that a drive be assigned to an array before it will allow the operating system to see the drive. See the host adapter's documentation to determine how to assign the drive to an array.




About the only combination(s) I haven't tried yet is:
Activating RAID in bios and configuring it;
Installing XP with MSI Raid driver (full format, RAID off);
Installing XP with MSI Raid driver (quick format, RAID off);

I've tried these at least once:

Installing XP with MSI Raid driver and MSI nForce3 Controller driver (full format, RAID off)
Installing XP with MSI Raid driver and MSI nForce3 Controller driver (quick format, RAID off)
Installing XP with MSI nForce3 Controller driver (full format, RAID off)
Installing XP with MSI nForce3 Controller driver (quick format, RAID off)

 

[grooge]

I would unplug your old IDE drive when installing windows. if an old install was present on one of your old drive, it is the one that is going to be used instead of putting a new one on the SATA drive. Once windows is installed and boot correctly, I would try to plug back your old drive and try to boot.

You dont need any special trick with nvidia IDE controller and your SATA drive. No drivers, no RAID, it will use the SATA drive just like any other drive. This is rather an install problem than a hardware one here, as if windows got installed once, everything is set OK.

 

[PsharkJF]

Originally posted by: grooge
I would unplug your old IDE drive when installing windows. if an old install was present on one of your old drive, it is the one that is going to be used instead of putting a new one on the SATA drive. Once windows is installed and boot correctly, I would try to plug back your old drive and try to boot.

You dont need any special trick with nvidia IDE controller and your SATA drive. No drivers, no RAID, it will use the SATA drive just like any other drive. This is rather an install problem than a hardware one here, as if windows got installed once, everything is set OK.

The PATA drive that was (not in now, heh) in the machine was non-bootable, anyway - it was just a second HDD on another XP bootable drive... extended partition, I think it is?

Anyway, even without drivers, XP setup will recognize the drive and will format/install to it, but it refuses to boot from the drive (beginning the second stage of XP setup) - "Error in operating system" urgh.

 

[grooge]

you have a floppy in the drive??

 

[PsharkJF]

Originally posted by: grooge
you have a floppy in the drive??

Nah, didn't. I intentially took FDD out of the boot order.

I fixed the problem by removing two of the four 512 MB sticks of memory I had in the machine.

 

[grooge]

In this case, I would try to boost the memory voltage a little bit, this may help to stabilize the memory. try something like 2.7 or 2.8. may be set in BIOS