Win XP Installation on Single SATA Drive (No Frickin Clue)

[Paratus]

UPDATE UPDATE

Well I managed to get all the hardware installed after I got Windows loaded. Looks like everything is working. I did not need any SATA drivers to install on the ICHR5. I also think I found my problem with the ram. The board was defaulting to 2.65v and Corsair XMS 3200XL needs 2.75v So I bumped the voltage up and ran memtest 86+ with asus hyperpath (aka PAT) enabled and got no errors over 3 or 4 passes. The ram however did get pretty hot.

My 3.2E idles around 44C, mobo around 30C, GPU around 43C. Changing the speed of my 4 case fans seems to make no difference in overall temps. I haven't maxed out the processor yet. If it stays less than 60C I'll be thrilled.

My 400Watt coolmax power supply seems to be holding together. Pretty quite and the rails don't fluctuate more than .1v.

Thanks for all the helps folks!

(Original Message below)
****************************************************************
(Cliff Notes at bottom)
I managed to get my new machine to post on the first try over the weekend but now I need to install WinXp on my single SATA drive. After trying to find info here, on the net, and after RTFM I'm totally confused as to whether I'll need to load SATA drivers or not.

My specs.

Coolermaster Prateorian Black
Asus P4P800-E (Intel 865PE board)
P4 3.2E Prescott (aka the toaster) skt478
1gb Corsair XMS DDR 400 2225
160GB WD SATA HD
10GB WD PATA HD (the HD from my now dead desktop system)
Asus 9600XT w vivo
Atech 11in1 card reader
NEC floppy
Toshiba 6x DVD ROM
Lite-On 12X CDRW (will replace these drives later)
400W Coolmax Taurus Silent PSU
Vantec Nexus Fan Bus Controller


The board has 4 SATA ports 2 by the Intel ICHR5 chip and 2 by the Promise Raid controller. I'm planning on running off the SATA 1 port on the ICHR5. Plus I'll be disconnecting my old 10GB drive and the 11in1 card reader until I get Windows installed.

How do I install Windows XP? The mobo CD has makedisk executables for the Promise Raid Controller for Raid and SATA. It also has makedisk executables for the Intel Application Accelerator which is for RAID. It DOES NOT have any drivers that I can find for SATA off the ICHR5. The only drivers I can find are the Intel INF (?) drivers for SATA, AGP, USB, etc, except the readme specifically states I need an operating system installed to load these drivers!!!! (chicken or the egg anyone?) The Intel site also does not have any SATA drivers I can use with the "F6" method.

So do I need drivers to install on the single SATA drive off the ICHR5 and where do I find them? Or I read one post somewhere they said that the ICHR5 acts like a PATA controller and no SATA drivers are needed and I can just install normally.

Anyone know?

******************Cliffs Notes******************************************
How do I install WinXp on a SATA HD non raid, with an 865PE board when both the Mobo CD and the Intel Site don't seem to have SATA drivers for the "F6" method?

 

[mechBgon]

The chipset should natively support the drive. Reality check: does it show up on the POST list? The fun part is getting the motherboard to boot from it, and the manual ought to help you somewhat with that. Look at the following pages:

4-11, 4-12

4-20 (you can disable the Promise controller here since you're not using it)

4-32

So get your drive connected, verify that it's showing up to the motherboard, set it as a boot device after CD-ROM, and commence installing Windows and see how it goes. Be aware of the need for firewall protection on a WinXP system with SP1a and nothing further, it's vulnerable to worm attack if it's plugged into a broadband connection without firewall protection. See the top link in my signature for suggested countermeasures.

 

[x2ThorsHammer2x]

"The chipset should natively support the drive. " Just because the SATA is onboard and not a PCI card does not mean that it is natively supported. I have a asus mobo that has onboard SATA which needs drivers to be installed. Is there any reason why you want to us the ICHR5 and not the Promise Chip? Im not sure about this, but my best bet would be that you still need to install the SATA RAID drivers even though you do not intend to set up a RAID array. My friend is trying to reinstall XP and is getting the same error. I dont know his specs, but I know that he has one SATA hd and an onboard SATA mobo. but anyhow, my guess would be that you need to install the RAID drivers. try and install them. i dont see what its going to hurt.

 

[Paratus]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
The chipset should natively support the drive. Reality check: does it show up on the POST list? The fun part is getting the motherboard to boot from it, and the manual ought to help you somewhat with that. Look at the following pages:

4-11, 4-12

4-20 (you can disable the Promise controller here since you're not using it)

4-32

So get your drive connected, verify that it's showing up to the motherboard, set it as a boot device after CD-ROM, and commence installing Windows and see how it goes. Be aware of the need for firewall protection on a WinXP system with SP1a and nothing further, it's vulnerable to worm attack if it's plugged into a broadband connection without firewall protection. See the top link in my signature for suggested countermeasures.

Thanks Mech -- somehow I knew you'd pickup on this thread.

Actually I did see that the bios found the drive when I first booted up and I intended to disable the promise controller, but you're basically the first person to say that it would natively support the drive.

I'll give it shot and let you know how it goes. Unfortunately it'll probably be this weekend before I get to it. - Crazy job and crazy 2 year old !

Thanks!

 

[Paratus]

Originally posted by: x2ThorsHammer2x

"The chipset should natively support the drive. " Just because the SATA is onboard and not a PCI card does not mean that it is natively supported. I have a asus mobo that has onboard SATA which needs drivers to be installed. Is there any reason why you want to us the ICHR5 and not the Promise Chip? Im not sure about this, but my best bet would be that you still need to install the SATA RAID drivers even though you do not intend to set up a RAID array. My friend is trying to reinstall XP and is getting the same error. I dont know his specs, but I know that he has one SATA hd and an onboard SATA mobo. but anyhow, my guess would be that you need to install the RAID drivers. try and install them. i dont see what its going to hurt.

I'd rather use the intel as primary since the promise controller is attached through the PCI bus I believe. I don't have any SATA drivers for the intel contoroller - just raid drivers. Is your Asus mobo an 865 or 875? or are you using a promise or via controller on the mobo? just curious

 

[x2ThorsHammer2x]

well my proc is an AMD so no, its not an 865

 

[x2ThorsHammer2x]

and im 90% sure that the promise is attached to the south bridge chip, atleast with my mobo. because i know that i read how onboard SATA is better performance than a PCI card b/c PCI bandwith is restricted to 133 mbs and onboard CAN reach up to 155 mbs. and im using a promise controller on the mobo, but i do have my hds set up in a RAID array. but i still think that youll be able to get away with setting it up as RAID because it will need to load the promise or intel driver whenever you boot up. im also pretty sure about that. lemme know how it goes.

 

[dmw16]

Is there any reason why you want to us the ICHR5 and not the Promise Chip?

Just to touch on this one. Since he ICHR5 is built into the south bridge, performance should theoretically be better than the promise controller which runs on the PCI bus.

 

[stevty2889]

You will have to extract the drivers from the intel aplication accelerator, and put them on a floppy disk. Then you while installing windows, have the floppy in the drive, and press F6 when prompted. To extract the drivers from the IAA, use the command line "iaa23_enu.exe -A -A -P c:\SATA". The IAA23_enu.exe would be replaced by what ever version you have, and this will extract the SATA drives to a folder called sata on your c: drive.

 

[x2ThorsHammer2x]

yeah your right the ichr5 is southbridge and the promise is pci, sorry about that.

 

[Paratus]

Well I'm giving it a shot now. Disabled Promise controller, disconnected old IDE hard drive and loaded the WinXP Pro CD with no F6 drivers. It let me get to the install XP now screen and EULA.

Updates to follow.

 

[Paratus]

Well it seems to be formating the disk 4% Woot!

Can someone tell me if I made a mistake not partitioning the drive?

What good is partitioning?

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: Paratus
Well it seems to be formating the disk 4% Woot!

Can someone tell me if I made a mistake not partitioning the drive?

What good is partitioning?

It depends what you want. Some people would like a small-ish partition for Windows and programs, and then a big one for holding data files. That way, if Windows needs reinstalling, they can reformat its smaller partition and reinstall, without having to move their data off the drive. If that sounds like what you want, then this is the time to make that decision, you'll only lose about 30 minutes of progress if you start from the top at this point.

 

[Paratus]

Ugh %20 now - long way to go.

Luckily I read mechbgons First time builders guide so I know the importance of snacks!

Mint Choclate Chip Ice cream here I come.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: Paratus
Ugh %20 now - long way to go.

Luckily I read mechbgons First time builders guide so I know the importance of snacks!

Mint Choclate Chip Ice cream here I come.

LOL!

 

[Paratus]

Originally posted by: mechBgon

Originally posted by: Paratus
Well it seems to be formating the disk 4% Woot!

Can someone tell me if I made a mistake not partitioning the drive?

What good is partitioning?

It depends what you want. Some people would like a small-ish partition for Windows and programs, and then a big one for holding data files. That way, if Windows needs reinstalling, they can reformat its smaller partition and reinstall, without having to move their data off the drive. If that sounds like what you want, then this is the time to make that decision, you'll only lose about 30 minutes of progress if you start from the top at this point.

Ok I understand now. I was under the impression that I would have to reformat the whole hard drive. Regardless of the partition if I had to reinstall windows.

I think for now I'll leave it unpartitioned. My critical data I'll backup on the 10GB secondary drive and disks.

 

[Paratus]

Ohhh the big bad Nazi just got crushed by his tank (Indian Jones and The Last Crusade)

I'm feeling very geeked out right now. Sitting in the home office with the laptop up to post and running a DVD while I have the news on the satellite TV and the new computer loading windows.

 

[Paratus]

Crap I got a CDFS FILE SYSTEM Error after the format was complete. It told me to reboot if this was my first time seeing this screen. After I rebooted I got a NTDLR is missing error and I could get into the CD until I swapped the disk and bios to my cd burner. Now I'm back in windows but I'm still getting the same error

Any help?

 

[mechBgon]

Wrong flavor of ice cream, I'm guessing




Try lightening up the load on your basically-generic PSU. For a system spec'ed like yours, I would be going straight for a 450W Enermax if it were me. Coolmax... uh... no. Also, use a plain, flat 80-wire IDE cable and just one of your optical drives and see if that helps.

Tip: use the Quick Format option!
Another tip: if you didn't already do this, make sure your PATA hard drive isn't plugged in while trying to set up Windows on SATA. Or your card reader, either. Don't want your SATA drive getting drive letter G: or something...

 

[Paratus]

Well the rails on the coolmax aren't bad but not great either 3.3v and 5v are both solid 12v is 11.8 or so.

However I just took out one of my sticks of corsair ram and now it managed to intall. I'm wondering if I've got a bad stick.

 

[mechBgon]

Ahhh, I forgot you have LL Corsair combined with the crummy i875P chipset (edit: ok, i865PE, oops) May I strongly advise you to follow the advice I gave in this thread.

As for the voltages, don't trust the mobo, use a good voltmeter. Considering the appetite of the 3.2E alone, I really would advise getting a high-quality PSU with ample 12V on tap. Don't want to see this end up as one of those "My PSU went *POOF* and nuked my mobo! " situations...

 

[Paratus]

Well successfully installed on 512mb

I'll see about the timings tomorrow. And run memtest86

 

[Paratus]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
Ahhh, I forgot you have LL Corsair combined with the crummy i875P chipset (edit: ok, i865PE, oops) May I strongly advise you to follow the advice I gave in this thread.

As for the voltages, don't trust the mobo, use a good voltmeter. Considering the appetite of the 3.2E alone, I really would advise getting a high-quality PSU with ample 12V on tap. Don't want to see this end up as one of those "My PSU went *POOF* and nuked my mobo! " situations...

About the Coolmax. Granted its not an Antec or Enermax but from what I've seen its a step above generic. I've got 18A on the 12V line which should be more than enought especially since I've got a low power video card. The PSU itself is nice and heavy, quiet, and has a sleaved mobo connector. We'll see though. Consider it an Anandtech forums Review!. If it blows up I'll let you know.

PS I actually did have a PSU blow on me once - a bang, flash of light, and smoke coming out of the back of the PSU. When I took the PSU out a capacitor casing fell out of it. It had been crumpled like a beer can against John Belushi's head (see Animal House)!!!! Launched off the board like a rocket.

My mobo was fine for another two years.

 

[Paratus]

See update to first post