baffled again help really needed

[fishman09]

hi guys

hoping someone might be able to help me out here...

just upgraded my pc to a

amd64 3000venice
foxconn NF4K8AC mobo
2x512 ddr400 (dual channel)
pcie x800gto
80gb maxtor sata

prob i got is that whilst i am able to get as far as installing windows..with no probs..as soon as that install is complete and i attempt to instal the n.force drivers, on reboot, the pc won't get past detecting the ide/sata drives at bios boot

i've checked all connections internally and if i re-install windows (using the sata driver floppy to add the necessary drivers during windows install) the pc is rock solid...(can reboot etc as needed) all until i attempt to add the drivers in windows for the mobo..be it sound/lan/pci etc

it all shows that that the drivers have been installed..but as soon as i reboot..the pc freezes and doesn't get as far as rebooting to windows...stopping at the detecting devices screen on boot up...this forces me to go through the whole process of formatting/re-installing windows..at which point i'm back to square one...with everything rock solid but obviously with no drivers installed..no sound...no internet...nothing but bl00dy windows?

i've tried installing the drivers one by one, instead of using the nforce software suite..but no diff...on my last attempt...i only installed the audio driver..nothing else...and bang..on reboot..freeze at ide/sata check in bios

do i need to update the bios via flash?
am i installing the drivers in the wrong order?..would that matter?

my head is slowly cracking here...so any ideas would be greatly appreciated

fish

[ultimate]

Have you installed sp2 first then install your drivers as I think there is a fix for the sata prob by installing sp2, worth a try

[fishman09]

@ultimate thanks for the reply

on first install..xp sp2 was installed..but same prob...i'm starting to wonder if its my psu..maybe i'm running outta juice?!?!

just getting more confused here cos i would assume if i can install windows etc..and everything is running ok..that whether i install the drivers or not that the juice being used by my psu will not increase

my heads is screwed

fish

[ultimate]

The very fact that you are installing windows ok proves that the h/d's are working, so as you say it is a weird prob so it could be that your bios wants an update and also check if your drives came with a sata install disk and if not suggest you look the to makers site to see if there is a install disk download, also recheck your bios settings as I have known that the raid is enabled and can cause conflicts. good luck

Try Maxblast to set the drives up.

http://www.maxtor.com/portal/site/Ma...op%20Downloads

[Mutley]

I vaguely remember someone telling me that there were issues with installing Windows XP on a SATA drive...but things could have changed.

Anyhoo, after a quick scoot around Google, I found this:

http://cruftbox.com/blog/archives/000867.html

Dunno if it will help, but take a look! Thinking about it, you may well have already got passed this point anyway...

[sanchezxxx]

I remember reading before that someone else had a similar problem with Maxtor and certain NF4 mobo drivers conflicting, they said to just use windows own rather than mobo or hdd sata drivers.