ReFormat/ReInstall Windows XP Pro SP2 on SATA

[EpOxY]

I posted this in Peripherals and didn't get much help, so I thought I'd give it a shot here.

I searched and didn't find anyone with the same problem.

I had a windows install on my SATA drive (so I got it to work before) and I'm trying to wipe the disc clean and start fresh. I haven't changed any BIOS settings or anything, so it *should* still be set up to work properly.

I went to Silicon Image and downloaded the new SATARaid and Base drivers for the 3112 and tried both of them when loading up Windows install + F6. It shows loading those drivers and seems to install correctly (I pick the Windows XP/NT option).

It goes into the windows setup and at the disk selection screen, it shows my two PATA drives and their correct sizes, but only shows one other drive that is just a couple hundred megabytes. My SATA drive should be in two partitions, one of approximately 30GB, and the other with the rest (270 think).

Any suggestions? Any additional information you might need from me?

 

[mechBgon]

1) unplug the other hard drives when installing Windows onto the SATA drive, so it gets drive letter C: and the boot files.

2) if you haven't tried this already, delete all the partitions on the SATA drive, then hit the F3 key twice to exit from Windows Setup, then start Windows Setup a second time and try creating a partition (or two partitions if that's what you want). Obviously you don't want to do this until you've backed up whatever is on the SATA drive, since all data will be lost.

 

[EpOxY]

I tried removing the other HDs but didn't have any success. The windows installation software was still only recognizing the drive as only a couple hundred MBs.

I would really rather not try to delete any partitions until I know that that's the last option. Right now, it's not even showing partitions for me to delete. Just one FAT drive of 280+ MBs. Which it shouldn't be, because it's 2 NTFS drives of 30gb and 270gb.

Any other suggestions?

 

[John]

I had the same thing happen on a pc I was servicing a few weeks ago and it was a defective drive.

[*]Does the bios report a 300GB HDD on a SATA port?

 

[EpOxY]

The BIOS seems to be working well...

since I accidentally installed windows on the wrong drive, I know that the drive works, since I can see all the files/data.

it's not a problem with the drive per-say, since i can access it. it just seems like i'm doing something wrong with the installation.

 

[btcomm1]

Are you running your SATA drive in Raid mode or is it just a stand alone drive? If it's stand alone go into the bios and see if it's runnning in IDE compatibility mode, if not enable that. I had an issue similiar to yours when I first got a SATA drive I would boot off of the windows CD and it would not see the drive. Only when I disabled raid/enabled ide compatibility mode did the windows cd see it. Why that would have changed since you first installed I don't know but still check it.

 

[EpOxY]

my SATA drive is in Stand-Alone mode.

I'm using the SATA chip that was integrated into my mobo. I've gone into the SATARaid utility and since i only have one drive, there's no RAID setup. My BIOS doesn't have anything in it about my RAID driver, besides boot order, which I have set properly I think.

Get this... I unplugged all the other drives in my computer and now windows setup doesn't even see the SATA drive. However, if I just let the computer boot... the computer boots off the SATA drive and goes into windows just fine (i haven't been able to reformat it, so windows is still on it.)

So, my BIOS seems to be okay, and the drive is okay... am I doing something wrong with my installation process?

I downloaded the latest 3112 drivers, put them on a floppy disk, and i'm pressing F6 to add those into the windows installation... am I doing something wrong there? Should I download an older driver, since my BIOS is still the original one?

 

[EpOxY]

Figured it out...

I guess, since my chip was part of my mobo, i can't use updated drivers... i have to use the older ones.

i found the old drivers and it works now... thanks