• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

WINXP PRO won't install with just sata drives in

S

Sikespa

Junior Member
I just bought an Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe MB, AMD 3200+, Corsair XMS4000 1Ghz, and a pair of Sata Raptor 74's. I have never used Sata drive prior to this and I cannot get WinXP Pro to install. It says that it sees no drives. I cannot get the BIOS to let me into the RAID setup upon boot up. The drives show during the bootup portion on the screen prompting me to hit F4 to enter RAID setup (which will not allow me in). Any help would be really appreciated.
 
try flashing the BIOS. if the SATA controller is also the RAID controller, you might need to put them into individual RAID0's.

also, your mobo shoulda have come with a driver disk. when the Windows install first begins, there should be a prompt to hit F6 for SCSI/RAID devices. hit F6 and let Windows read the drivers off of the disk. That is probably the issue.

Alternatively, just install linux 😛 jk
 
ive got the older verson of that board, first of all, flash the BOIS to support 48 bit LBA, not sure if Raptors are or not. then you need to get the sata drivers off the asus cd rom and put them on a floppy and press F6 when the install screen comes up to load the drivers, then itll work fine
 
Question: is the motherboard letting you into its own regular BIOS, but not the SATA controller's BIOS? If it won't let you into its own BIOS either, first confirm that you got the keyboard plugged into the keyboard port, the purple one.

You'll want to go into the SATA BIOS and set up the drives as shown in your manual, and it sounds like you're already working on that, so good luck and let us know how it goes 🙂
 
Had the same problem. You just need to download the drivers, put 'em in a floppy, and install them when Windows asks you to do so (pressing F6 right before the installation starts).
Some instructions from another forum: instructions
 
Originally posted by: mechBgon
Question: is the motherboard letting you into its own regular BIOS, but not the SATA controller's BIOS? If it won't let you into its own BIOS either, first confirm that you got the keyboard plugged into the keyboard port, the purple one.
Click to expand...
I'm ashamed to say how many times I've plugged the keyboard into the mouse port. It's easy to do. Real perplexing for a minute or so!😕
 
Don't be too ashamed. I built one for somebody and had a problem that the machine was not recognizing the F6 key. It was connected to the right port I scratched my head on that for 30 minutes before I realized that the keyboard had a fourth LED, marked F-key. Turns out, it toggles the function keys between F-keys and internet "quick action" keys, and the default was the internet functions. Doh.
 
Originally posted by: Bunter
Don't be too ashamed. I built one for somebody and had a problem that the machine was not recognizing the F6 key. It was connected to the right port I scratched my head on that for 30 minutes before I realized that the keyboard had a fourth LED, marked F-key. Turns out, it toggles the function keys between F-keys and internet "quick action" keys, and the default was the internet functions. Doh.
Click to expand...
Ooo, excellent suggestion :thumbsup: One of those tricky little things. Welcome to the Forums Bunter, by the way 🙂
 
yeah, when i first built my comp I got a logitech keyboard with those alternate function/quick action keys.... spent 3 days figuring out that i needed to push the F-lock key first.... in the meantime, I just borrowed loose keyboards from around the house so I could have working F-keys 🙂

And by loose, I mean "attached to my little bro's computer". Yoink!
 
Oh yeah, was so busy reminiscing about my little story there, I forgot to say something relevant 🙂

I tried setting up Windows XP to boot off a Serial ATA drive about a year ago.... my mobo is an ASus P4G8X, the Pentium 4 counterpart to your mobo. The serial ATA controllers gave me hell.... I flashed the BIOS, updated everything, prayed, etc. etc.... but in the end the board itself screwed me over. It wouldn't let me select Serial ATA drives in the boot menu, nor would it default to them even when I disconnected every PATA drive in the system. I was crushed 🙁

Look around your BIOS and mobo manual, try to find if your motherboard even supports booting off its Serial ATA drives - if your board is as close to mine as i think it is, it probably wont. Trust me, better you find that out now rather than later.
 
"Ooo, excellent suggestion One of those tricky little things. Welcome to the Forums Bunter, by the way "

Thanks. Guess I have this strange urge to tell the world about my F-key snafus, cables not plugged in and things not connected quite as well as I swore they were. Or as a guy I once worked with constantly said, "don't do what I did."
 
TheLonelyPhoenix
All mbs with sata that I have ever seen or heard of support booting from sata.
Does the mb bios have a setting to enable/disable the sata controller?
 
I've installed SATA drives on an A7V8X-Deluxe, an A7N8X-Deluxe and an A7N8X-E Deluxe, and all booted right up from the SATA (raid or not) once Windows was fed the driver during its install. There is nothing in the BIOS of any of those to enable or disable the SATA that I remember. It just worked.

That said, the A7V8X did require me to go into the RAID setup and tell it I was using a RAID 0 configuration, even though it had only one drive. Otherwise it would not access the drive. The other two did not need that, and would not have allowed me to configure a RAID with only one drive, anyway.
 
Originally posted by: jackschmittusa
TheLonelyPhoenix
All mbs with sata that I have ever seen or heard of support booting from sata.
Does the mb bios have a setting to enable/disable the sata controller?
Click to expand...

Yep, there is an enable/disable feature, and I made absolutely sure my SATA was enabled. It was just a mess on the whole, I never was able to figure it out... though I knew it should have defaulted to the SATA drives first. *shrug* If anyone out there has gotten their P4G8X mobo to boot off a SATA drive, please tell me how you did it.
 
On many boards, you choose "SCSI" in order to boot from SATA, since the board thinks of PCI-based disk controllers as "SCSI" whether they're SCSI, SATA or PATA.
 
Installing Windows XP on a SATA drive is just like installing on an drive connected to an external IDE or SCSI controller. Windows can't see any drives because it doesn't have the driver loaded for it. What you need to do is copy the SATA controller drivers to a floppy disk and use the F6 option when the blue-screen installation first begins off the installation CD. That option will allow you to install the necessary drivers for any external controller present on the system.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top