Windows OS Install on SATA drives

H

-Highway-

n00b
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Nov 4, 2006
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Here's what I'm working with:

Asus P5N32-SLI SE Deluxe
WD 74gig SATA

Trying to install Windows OS but it won't recognize the drive w/o the SATA drivers which requires a floppy!! Grr...who uses floppy anymore? Anyone know how to get around this without a floppy or am I going to have to do a salvage dive into one of my old computers? If I can burn the drivers onto a CD, anyway to make the windows install disk look at a cdrom drive?
 
-Highway- said:
Here's what I'm working with:

Asus P5N32-SLI SE Deluxe
WD 74gig SATA

Trying to install Windows OS but it won't recognize the drive w/o the SATA drivers which requires a floppy!! Grr...who uses floppy anymore? Anyone know how to get around this without a floppy or am I going to have to do a salvage dive into one of my old computers? If I can burn the drivers onto a CD, anyway to make the windows install disk look at a cdrom drive?
Click to expand...

As far as I'm able to find, XP requires a floppy for drivers during setup. You might can get away with a USB floppy if the BIOS supports booting from them.
 
I don't think that this BIOS supports booting from USB, unless someone knows differently.
 
you can slipstream the drivers using n-lite.. Otherwise you need to scrounge an old floppy drive up from somewhere...
 
GORANKAR said:
you can slipstream the drivers using n-lite..
Click to expand...

Can you use n-lite without having the OS already installed? I am looking at it and I am not sure.

(Same boat as OP)
 
If you have an old IDE drive you can install on that, then use the manufacturer's utility to move the contents to the SATA drive. Did that with a friends machine.

I was astonished too. Who uses a goddamn floppy.

Oh Vista, we welcome you with open arms.
 
yea i had that same problem but some how i got windows to recognize my hardrive as an ide when i was installing so i dont no lol
 
bubba13 said:
yea i had that same problem but some how i got windows to recognize my hardrive as an ide when i was installing so i dont no lol
Click to expand...

Sound like you set the SATA controller to IDE or Legacy mode in the BIOS setup before hand.
 
Yeh, XP doesnt need sata drivers to install onto the native chipsets Sata ports.

ie if the mobo has nvidia chipset and your using the nvidia sata ports, it should work aok, if your using the 3rd party onboard sata ports (like Silicon Image) then you ll need drivers.

The drivers are usually also needed when RAID is enabled in the BIOS, or when the chipset isnt set to legacy mode as mentioned above
 
I have a similar but different problem.

I can install to sata as long as it is the only drive in the system, but if I install an IDE drive, then it wont let me install to the SATA drive. I dont know why.
 
-Highway- said:
If I can burn the drivers onto a CD, anyway to make the windows install disk look at a cdrom drive?
Click to expand...

To select drivers during Windows setup, hit F6 (there will be a message at the bottom telling you this, though it will NOT stop and prompt you, so you need to pay attention). There is no booting from a floppy drive required for this.

You should be able to get the drivers off a floppy drive (USB or IDE), thumb drive, or another CD without any issues. Alternatively, if you think you'll have to deal with this in the future, you can use nlite (http://www.nliteos.com/) to slipstream the drivers onto a custom Windows XP CD as someone else mentioned. Makes life easy, but its the most time consuming option initially.
 
Who uses a floppy? I do. I always install a floppy drive into my builds. They only cost ten bucks, sometimes less. I don't use them much but they can come in handy at times, like when updating the mb bios or for diagnostics. Set the SATA HDD to IDE mode, might say non-raid mode, then you don't need to install the driver. Theoretically SATA mode is faster but it isn't in practice. I just set my SATA HDD to IDE mode. If you want you can install XP in IDE mode, install the driver after XP is installed and set the HDD back to SATA mode. Up to you but I say just use IDE mode and avoid the complications.
 
revan said:
Can you use n-lite without having the OS already installed? I am looking at it and I am not sure.

(Same boat as OP)
Click to expand...
Just use another computer to install Nlite and make the new XP CD with the drivers slipstreamed in. Then you boot from the CD and install as normal. There are only a small percentage of chipsets that don't have SATA support off the bat with XP. RAID mode is another story, but in standard non-RAID mode, only a few older AMD compatible chipsets needed the drivers.
 
Personaly I just keep a usb floppy drive around. I also have an internal floppy drive or 2 somewhere(never can find them when I need them). Most boards support a usb floppy as a boot drive now. For bios upgrades and whatnot I use a jumpdrive that has dos loaded on it. Floppy drive no longer works for this as a lot of bios files are larger then a floppy disk. Yes this is something with vista I'm looking forward too. Best bet for the OP is to get a floppy drive for the install then push it aside. Personaly I stoped using a floppy drive like 6 years ago.
 
just for the record I just installed XP onto my machine (SATA drives + DVD) and my XP-SP2 install disk (hologram disk not a slipstream) installed fine.

IF I was to install as a software-RAID then I would of had to of used a floppy-disk for drivers
 
I've never had a bios update that doesn't fit on a floppy. Usually I can save my old bios to the floppy and put the new one on it too. Not saying there aren't any that won't fit on a floppy, just saying I've never had any that won't. I should look into making a bootable thumb drive though.
 
I dont get it.......I have three ASUS MBs and have never had to install any drivers to load XP on to a SATA HD.......I just used the nVidia chipset controlled ports and away I went. XP loaded from the CD just fine.

In fact the comp I'm using right now has Two SATA HDs, one with MCE and the other with Vista RC1.....both loaded without a catch.
 
magoo said:
I dont get it.......I have three ASUS MBs and have never had to install any drivers to load XP on to a SATA HD.......I just used the nVidia chipset controlled ports and away I went. XP loaded from the CD just fine.

In fact the comp I'm using right now has Two SATA HDs, one with MCE and the other with Vista RC1.....both loaded without a catch.
Click to expand...

Not all systems will need SATA drivers. Windows provides some that will work with a good portion, if not a majority of the motherboards out there. My EPoX 9npa+ultra didn't need any, nor did my Inspiron 6400, though a Dimension 8400 did. Its a hit or miss thing. And when its a miss, it can be a pretty big pain in the arse unfortunately.
 
If you're installing with a pre-SP2 image of XP, it doesn't have SATA drivers, I think. My Pro disc is SP1, and I had to slipstream to install on SATA.
 
Gatticus said:
I've never had a bios update that doesn't fit on a floppy. Usually I can save my old bios to the floppy and put the new one on it too. Not saying there aren't any that won't fit on a floppy, just saying I've never had any that won't. I should look into making a bootable thumb drive though.
Click to expand...

I just did one on an intel board yesterday that was over 2 megs. I want to say some of the toshiba notebook bios files were like 2 megs or so too but it has been a while.
 
swatbat said:
I just did one on an intel board yesterday that was over 2 megs. I want to say some of the toshiba notebook bios files were like 2 megs or so too but it has been a while.
Click to expand...
That's why I run all of mine from my bootable USB Thumb Drive. I keep a 32 MB sitting around just for this. I don't have to worry about them fitting on a floppy, nor do I have to wait for it to load. 32 MB is more than enough for the BIOS files, along with some other handy DOS utilities, like gdisk, etc.

Back on topic, I'm shocked at how many people are surprised that they didn't need to load SATA drivers during their install. Everyone should be using XP SP2 off the bat by now, and the vast majority of boards out there don't need the drivers loaded for a non-RAID setup. It's rare to come across a board at this point that actually needs something loaded.
 
Thanks for all the advice. I reset my mobo and SP2 recognized the drives on my nvidia sata ports but not the silicon sata port where I want to run my OS drive. Moved some wires and we're good to go; I think I'm going to play around w/ nLite in case I have to do this again and see if I can successfully boot from USB
 
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