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WindowsXP installation - SATA drives not working?

T

Triage

Junior Member
I did a search for the topic and I was able to find similar subjects but my problem does have some difference I was hoping someone could help me figure out.

Im trying to install WindowsXP Pro onto a Maxtor12GB SATA HD and when the screen that asks if I would like to install third party raid or sata drivers pops up I press f6 like I am prompted to but nothing happens. Windows continues with the installation and I get the error that windows is unable to find a HD connected to my PC.

At one time I was actually able to get the drivers installed from my floppy because when I unplugged my SATA drive and booted up the computer windows installation asked me if I would like to install the drivers manually. I said yes and my floppy drive installed the SATA drivers that I have on it. I rebooted the computer with the HD connected and I got the same error that windows was unable to find a HD.

I tried a second blank HD that I own and that caused the same problem so I know that the drive isnt bad.

Does anyone have any ides? Thanks in advance for any answers.
 
Originally posted by: mechBgon
Post complete system specs. The devil's in the details.
Click to expand...

You got it

AMD Athlong 2800+
Gigabyte 7VT600P-RZ Mobo
Radion All-in-wonder 9600XT
Maxtor 120GB 7200 RPM SATA HD

Thats all the reliavant information. If you need anything else let me know. I did go to gigabytes webpage to look for drivers and the ones they offer are like 7.4mbs I think which is too big to fit on a floppy. Im running out of ideas.
 
Originally posted by: Triage
Originally posted by: mechBgon
Post complete system specs. The devil's in the details.
Click to expand...

You got it

AMD Athlong 2800+
Gigabyte 7VT600P-RZ Mobo
Radion All-in-wonder 9600XT
Maxtor 120GB 7200 RPM SATA HD

Thats all the reliavant information. If you need anything else let me know. I did go to gigabytes webpage to look for drivers and the ones they offer are like 7.4mbs I think which is too big to fit on a floppy. Im running out of ideas.
Click to expand...
As I expected... a VIA-based board & SATA controller. They make me look like this. :evil:

To cut to the chase here, the easiest two solutions are either a different motherboard that natively supports SATA drives (Abit NF7-S2G or NF7-S2 being a couple examples, note that these are different from the NF7-S rev. 2), or a nice normal PATA drive. If you want, you can try going into the VIA SATA controller's own BIOS at the special prompt and attempt to define a single drive as an array, in which case installing WindowsXP on it ought to be feasible. But people report that that usually doesn't work.
 
Originally posted by: mechBgon
a nice normal PATA drive. If you want, you can try going into the VIA SATA controller's own BIOS at the special prompt and attempt to define a single drive as an array, in which case installing WindowsXP on it ought to be feasible. But people report that that usually doesn't work.
Click to expand...
Ugh .. so SATA doesnt work on these VIA chipsets?! Im doing this build for a friend of mine and she wont be happy to know that I might have to send back her HD or Mobo. I guess a new HD would be the easiest to get.

I tried to the VIA SATA BIOS prompt and I was unable to select any of the options, it almost seemed disabled. Ill will mess around with it a bit more to hopfully get it working.

So just to clarify, there is no real simple way to get my SATA HD to work on this VIA chipset correct? Why would the Mobo come with a SATA cable? and SATA slots? Im a bit confused why it wouldnt work on this mobo when it says it supports SATA.

 
Whoa .. something random just happened. I didnt do anything different before, I booted up the computer and came back here to do some searchers and when I went back everything worked .. I dont know if thats a good thing (it is for now) or a bad thing. Im just excited because windows is installing now.

If I have anymore questions im sure Ill be back. =) Thanks again
 
The VIA SATA controller, if you read the manual carefully, is for RAID0 and RAID1 with a pair of hard drives as an array. But if you can get it to work, hey, that's what counts, so good luck 🙂 Let me get this straight, you did go into the VIA SATA BIOS, were not able to change stuff (because you only have one drive, not two), but now it is installing successfully? Maybe I'll suggest that to the next victim :evil:
 
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