Trying to reinstall XP
 

I wish to completely reinstall XP on my PC along with reformatting my hard drive. Everything I read says all I need to do is boot from the install CD and after setting up my partition, it will let me format. I can boot fine, including using SATA drivers off a floppy since XP does not support them (before SP2 I think). I can delete and recreate my partition, but I never get any option to format. I get an error saying Windows can't recognize the drive, this is after it installs the SATA drivers with no problem.

Anybody know what might be going on?

thanks
Fred Emmerich

Pre format the drive ????

Install to a IDE or USB then clone to the SATA ?

Slipstream SP3 into the CD

Download EASEUS Partition manager to rearrange things later if you need.

You're going to have to create a slipstream install disk with the SATA drivers on it. Nlite will make it easy to do. You can download it (free) and create the disk. Hope this helps.

http://www.nliteos.com/download.html

I thought you only needed to slipstream if you have no floppy drive (I do).

PP is thinking similarly to me but we have some slight differences.

I suggest you download sp3 for XP. That's the last service pack for XP. If you can't find it I'll dig up a link but it's out there. It's probably 250 MB or so. Then you'll slip-stream the service pack.

There are some advantages to SS the service pack instead of using nLite (a nice program) to embed the SATA drivers.

Once you've downloaded sp3 you'll use incorporate it into your existing installation CD. Doing this is easy and googling slipstreaming sp3 into XP will bring up a half million hits that will guide you.

There is something to be aware of. When you install the OS you either manually enter your 25 character license or your software is OEM which means it recognizes your BIOS and does not require manually entry.

If your install CD is OEM then you need to be more precise while burning your new, installation CD which has the SS version of XP.

The other idea of initially installing to an ide drive (call it C), updating with all of the MS updates, then installing your SATA drive and copying over is valid but tricky.

I've done it 100's of times but copying an OS while it is running to another drive and then setting up the MBR of your new boot partition of the SATA drive takes some finesse.

If you provide more specifics I can help.

I was wrong, even though I loaded my SATA drivers off floppy, the XP install does not see my SATA drives. Previously I thought it had but it was seeing my USB external drive. Guess that why i wiped it out when I thought I was deleting my boot partition. Luckily I have multiple backups....

So if I slipstream my SATA drivers on to my XP install CD, that should do it?

thanks

I got NLite installed. It asks me for a Windows installation folder, is this the one currently running on my hard drive or the XP install CD? Then is says to specify a folder for files, where the heck is this suppose to be placed? The program has no help files.

thanks

Okay, I got an ISO image created to burn to CD. Guess I better get a blank CD.
What does it mean to "burn" the image to CD? How is that different than copying the file?

thanks

Another reason to SS the service pack. It's an MS procedure of one MS prog into another MS prog.

Further you should not need to be doing any of this but be able to hit F6 during the install. The fact that that is not working makes me question what good it will do to have that driver embedded in your CD when its not doing any good be being read from the floppy.

But without more clear, specific information I'd exhaust myself explaining all of the possibilities via typing in a little window. I'm more vocal-auditory-visual when it comes to teaching and or analyzing a problem.

I hear you. I am stumped why it does not recognize the SATA drivers off floppy. I'll try the install from my CD image and see what happens.

thanks

Your free to call.

Just to let you know I have 14 computers in my house right now, 40 or 50 memory sticks, 20 hard drives, multiple networks, etc. This is what I do for fun, it relaxes me, it's how I unwind after I've put in my day.

The .ISO file actually contains a file system, with directories and files. You don't want to create a CD that contains the .ISO file, which is what you get if you simply copy the file.

Your CD writing software should have an option to work with "raw" CD image files.

Well this bites, I burned the ISO to CD and booted from it and it still does not see my SATA drives.

Does your BIOS see your drive?

The BIOS does see the drive, but it pre-dates SATA. If I turn off the drive in the BIOS it goes directly to CD to boot, but the setup program does not see the drives.

I have XP running now so obviously I got it installed before with some set of drivers. If I go into my hardware manager it says the drivers are Microsoft SATA drivers, which are different than the ones I am trying to use now which are from the HD manufacturer.