OT: Windows XP trouble - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Emmerich · #1 03-25-2009, 05:45 PM

I have been trying to reinstall XP on my hard drive. No luck. I have a second IDENTICAL drive (both SATA) and when I have that second drive plugged in, either as a second drive, or as a primary by itself, the XP install program says I have no disks at all.

I can still boot to XP on my original disk, this is the one I am trying to reinstall onto, but I have stripped it down to the bones. I am guessing I am having some issue with the BIOS and the drives and passing that info to XP, but the BIOS sees both drives with no problem. I can boot to my current copy of XP and it sees the second rive fine under that scenario, I formatted it to be NTFS.

I have tried every combination I know of and I can't get the install program to work. Anybody got a clue I what I might try?

Da Nag · #2 03-25-2009, 06:15 PM

More likely a driver issue.

I avoid Microsoft like the plague, but am forced to use it on occasion. If memory serves, the XP install CD doesn't include SATA drivers, and you have to install them from floppy during the install process.

Without SATA drivers, the XP installer won't see your drives.

Emmerich · #3 03-25-2009, 06:21 PM

Where could i find the drivers? I actually have a floppy so that will work. Is it possible to pull the drivers off my current install? How would I know which files to copy to the floppy?

During the install, XP says to hit F6 if I need to install and drivers, but F6 didn't do anything.

thanks
Fred

Medmech · #4 03-25-2009, 06:23 PM

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Install-Windows-XP-On-SATA-Without-a-Floppy-F6-47807.shtml

Da Nag · #5 03-25-2009, 06:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emmerich

Where could i find the drivers?

Depends on your SATA controller, but likely from the manufacturer.

Google is your friend...there are gazillions of hits for "XP SATA install".

JollyRoger · #6 03-25-2009, 06:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emmerich

Where could i find the drivers? I actually have a floppy so that will work. Is it possible to pull the drivers off my current install? How would I know which files to copy to the floppy?

During the install, XP says to hit F6 if I need to install and drivers, but F6 didn't do anything.

thanks
Fred

If you don't hit the F6 key within a half a milli second, it won't take you to the screen to load your drivers.

lutzTD · #7 03-25-2009, 07:05 PM

are you sure you dont have the slave/master jumpers incorrect? if you remove the jumpers the drive at the far end of the cable usually becomes the master, did you switch the cable position of the hard drives so the new one is at the end?

cmbdiesel · #8 03-25-2009, 09:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lutzTD

are you sure you dont have the slave/master jumpers incorrect? if you remove the jumpers the drive at the far end of the cable usually becomes the master, did you switch the cable position of the hard drives so the new one is at the end?

x2
and do your drives have master/slave switches?

Emmerich · #9 03-25-2009, 09:29 PM

The web site of the drive manufacturer says that with SATA there is no slave/master anymore, and that the jumper should be the same on all drives. That was a surprise to me.

lutzTD · #10 03-25-2009, 09:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emmerich

The web site of the drive manufacturer says that with SATA there is no slave/master anymore, and that the jumper should be the same on all drives. That was a surprise to me.

if there are no jumpers then it most likely uses the cable position to determine primary/secondary or master/slave, but I do not have experience with SATA

Emmerich · #11 03-25-2009, 09:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lutzTD

if there are no jumpers then it most likely uses the cable position to determine primary/secondary or master/slave, but I do not have experience with SATA

Yup, each drive has its own cable and connector on the motherboard.

thanks
Fred

Simpler=Better · #12 03-25-2009, 10:23 PM

You need the SATA drivers. SATA figures out it's own master/slave thing independantly, it's better this way.

F6 at just the right half-second(and then SATA drivers from floppy) or slipstream(aka integrate) the SATA drivers onto your install cd

Emmerich · #13 03-25-2009, 10:44 PM

This sucks, I downloaded the drivers on to a floppy, did the F6 during setup, it reads the floppy, but still comes up and says I have no drives in the system.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Simpler=Better

You need the SATA drivers. SATA figures out it's own master/slave thing independantly, it's better this way.

F6 at just the right half-second(and then SATA drivers from floppy) or slipstream(aka integrate) the SATA drivers onto your install cd

Emmerich · #14 03-26-2009, 12:49 AM

I downloaded drivers onto a floppy, F6 worked and copied them, but XP still says it does not recognize any hard drives.

I'm a tad frustrated!!!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Simpler=Better

You need the SATA drivers. SATA figures out it's own master/slave thing independantly, it's better this way.

F6 at just the right half-second(and then SATA drivers from floppy) or slipstream(aka integrate) the SATA drivers onto your install cd

BoomInTheTrunk · #15 03-26-2009, 12:56 AM

its not drivers, at least not from the sounds of it.

So you are saying that it only works with the install cd in but when you take the cd out nothing happens, right? If this is the case then you need to set up your boot priority in the BIOS. In the BIOS you need to set the hard drive with the OS to boot. by default it is set to CD boot so you can load a OS but you need to change that to run the OS off the hard drive.

Secondly you set whats the master and slave in the BIOS now, not with jumpers.

So if you have installed the OS but it just wont run without the CD in then change your Boot priority in the BIOS and then problem solved.