Windows XP - Installing to SATA _WITHOUT_ a Floppy Disk

Hello everyone.

OK, a little background on this one. My floppy disk controller on my motherboard is very broken, and thus making it impossible to use a standard SATA install with Windows XP. For those who haven't done this before, this involves getting the SATA drivers on to a floppy disk, and then hitting F6 whilst Windows is starting the setup. It then loads them off the floppy so you can use your SATA drive.

I'm sure theres not that many people out there with my problem, but more likely, a lot of people out there who hate floppys and haven't used one for a few years. This puts you off buying a SATA drive.

So I've managed to make a WinXP CD with the SATA drivers built into it. After many hours of internet research and tens of CDs later, I finally got one that worked. To save everyone else the same problems, I'm gonna post up to let you know how to do it properly!

UPDATE: POST #12 : Easier way to do it!

Please note: This is based on an nForce2 motherboard which uses the Si3112r SATA controller. As far as I am aware that is all of the nForce2 boards, but plz correct me if I am wrong.

Please note: I do not own a copy of Nero, so I have had to make the burning process for Easy CD Creator 5. I will post up the instructions for Nero, but I do not know if these will work.


STAGE 1 - WINDOWS CD PREP
Take your Windows XP CD and copy all the files on it to your hard drive into a directory (C:\WinXPCD for example). Also take note of what the CD is called.

STAGE 2A - SATA DRIVER PREP
Go to C:\WinXPCD\i386\ and open "TXTSETUP.SIF" using notepad

Using the Find tool, find the [SourceDisksFiles] section, and paste the following line underneath it (directly under the heading is easiest):
si3112r.sys = 1,,,,,,_x,4,1

Find the [HardwareIdsDatabase] section, and paste this line underneath it:
PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3112&SUBSYS_61121095 = "Si3112r"

Find the [SCSI.Load] section and paste:
si3112r = si3112r.sys,4

Find the [SCSI] section, and paste:
si3112r = "Silicon Image SiI 3112 SATARaid Controller"

Save and exit this file. This file is for the text-based portion of the install (before we get XP's GUI). It keeps us from having to insert a floppy and pressing F6 during setup.

STAGE 2B - SATA DRIVER PREP
Go to C:\WinXPCD\i386\ and create / open "WINNT.SIF" using notepad. I am lead to believe that if you are using an SP1 WinXP CD, or if you have slipstreamed the files, then this file may already exist. If it does not exist (as it did not with me) then just create it.

This is a file that WinXP setup looks for for an automated GUI portion of the setup. This is called an "unattended installation", and is used to answer some of the questions XP asks during the installation (and even some questions it doesn't ask). This file is called an "answer file". For more on setting up a custom unattended install, look here: http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=202

Paste all of the following into the file:
[Data]
AutoPartition=0
MsDosInitiated="0"
UnattendedInstall="Yes"

[Unattended]
UnattendMode=ProvideDefault
OemPreinstall=Yes
OemSkipEula=Yes
NoWaitAfterTextMode=1
NoWaitAfterGUIMode=1
TargetPath=\WINDOWS
DriverSigningPolicy=Ignore
OemPnPDriversPath="Drivers\SATA\SI3112r"

[GuiUnattended]
OEMSkipWelcome = 1

[UserData]
ProductKey=xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx
FullName=""
OrgName=""

You need to replace the ProductKey xxxxxs with your actual product key. If you do not want to do this, then simply remove the line completely.

The OemPnPDriversPath line will tell XP setup where to look for the .INF files for each of your devices. It will look in these paths first before checking it's own database of device drivers. The paths given are relative to a $OEM$\$1 folder we shall soon create. That is, "Drivers\SATA\SI3112r" tells it to look for a .INF file under C:\WinXPCD\$OEM$\$1\Drivers\SATA\SI3112r. If you wish to add additional drivers other than the SATA ones described here, you add more paths on the SAME LINE, each path seperated by ";".

Save and exit this file.

STAGE 3 - SATA DRIVER FILE INTEGRATION
From the Asus / Abit / SI website (I am on a Abit NF7-S, and used the drivers from the Asus website, so it is not important to get the ones for your particular motherboard), download the latest Si3112r drivers.

Extract and copy the 'Si3112r.sys' file into the i386 folder.

At the root of the CD files (eg. C:\WinXPCD\), make the following folder structure: \$OEM$\$1\Drivers\SATA\si3112r (so you now have C:\WinXPCD\$OEM$\$1\Drivers\SATA\si3112r).

Copy the following files to the si3112r directory (don't worry if you can't find them all, just copy what you have. The ones marked in italics you DO need to worry about though!):

si3112r.cat (shows driver is digitally signed for Windows)
si3112r.inf (Tells Windows what to install later in setup)
si3112r.mpd (used for Win9x)
si3112r.sys (driver for the controller)
siisupp.vxd (used for Win9x)
siwinacc.sys (SATALink driver accelerator)
txtsetup.oem (used to install XP)

STAGE 4 - BURNING THE CD
As said eariler, I have only tried this with Easy CD Creator 5, but will post up the instructions for Nero as well.

Easy CD Creator 5
Download the following file: bootfiles.zip

Extract boot.ima to your C:\ from the file you just downloaded.

Start Easy CD Creator.

Select File > New CD Project > Bootable CD from the menu.
1.) Set Bootable CD Type: to No Emulation.
2.) Set Load Segment: to 0x7c0. (Could be wrong here, try 0x0000 if that doesnt work)
3.) Set Sector Count: to 4.
4.) Press the Browse ... button.
5.) Locate the BootSector file (boot.ima) in the folder C:\OS\BOOT.
6.) Click the Open button.
7.) Click the OK button.

Select File > CD Project Properties from the menu.

1.) Enter in the Volume Label. You should have noted down eariler what your Windows XP disk was called. However, if you didn't (or you can't for whatever reason) heres a quick guide on how to figure it out:

---------------------------

Please note: If you are using a copy supplied by HP / Dell / Compaq / Gateway or a MSDN or media version, you MUST look the volume name up off your CD.

Windows XP SP0:
WXPVOL_EN

[WX] - Standard Windows XP Starting Label
[P] / [H] - Professional / Home edition
[FPP] / [CCP] / [OEM] / [VOL] / [EVL] - Retail / Upgrade / OEM / Corporate or Volume / Professional Evaluation
[_EN] - Lanuage, _EN for English


Windows XP SP1:
XRMPOEM_EN

[XRM] - Standard Windows XP SP1 Starting Label
[P] / [H] - Professional / Home edition
[FPP] / [CCP] / [OEM] / [VOL] - Retail / Upgrade / OEM / Corporate or Volume
[_EN] - Lanuage, _EN for English


Windows XP SP1a / SP2:
X1APOEM_EN

[X1A] - Standard Windows XP SP1a / SP2 Starting Label
[P] / [H] - Professional / Home edition
[FPP] / [CCP] / [OEM] / [VOL] - Retail / Upgrade / OEM / Corporate or Volume
[_EN] - Lanuage, _EN for English

---------------------------

2.) Set the File System to Joliet.
3.) Set the Physical format of disc to Mode 1: CDROM.
4.) Click the File System tab.
5.) Enter MICROSOFT_CORPORATION in the Publisher Name:, and Prepared By:
6.) Select Use original file date.
7.) Click the File Types tab.
8.) Select Add all Files.
9.) Uncheck Do not add Hidden files.
10.) Uncheck Do not add System files.
11.) Click the OK button.

Select all files and folders in the C:\WinXPCD folder.
1.) Click the Add button.
2.) Click the Record button.
3.) Select Record CD under Recording Options.
4.) Select Disc-At-Once under Recording Method.
5.) Select your write speed (I prefer writing as slow as possible to make sure the CD is of good quality. Imo you should never write faster than 16x on important CDs)
5.) Click Start Recording button.

FINISHED!


Nero 5.5
Download the following file: bootfiles.zip

Extract boot.ima to your C:\ from the file you just downloaded.

Start Nero - Burning Rom.

Select File > New... from the menu.
(If the Nero Wizard starts, click the Close Wizard button.)
1.) Select CD-ROM (Boot).
2.) Select Image file from Source of boot image data.
3.) Set Kind of emulation: to No Emulation.
4.) Set Load segment of sectors (hex!): to 07c0. (could be wrong here, try 0000 if that doesn't work)
5.) Set Number of loaded sectors: to 4.
6.) Press the Browse... button.
7.) Locate the BootSector file (boot.ima) in the folder C:\
8.) Click the Open button.
9.) Click the ISO tab.
- Set File-/Directorynames length to ISO Level 2 (Max. of 31 chars).
- Set Format to Mode 1.
- Set Character Set to ISO 9660.
- Check the Joliet check box.
- Check all Relax ISO Restrictions.
10.) Click the Label tab.
- Select ISO9660 from the drop down box.
- Enter the Volume Label, System Identifier, Volume Set, Application.

You should have noted down eariler the Volume label of your Windows XP disk (what is was called). However, if you didn't (or you can't for whatever reason) scroll up to the Easy CD Creator section for a quick guide on how to figure it out.

11.) Click the Dates tab.
- Select Use the date and time from the original file from File Dates.
12.)Click the Burn tab.
- Check Write.
- Check Finalize CD (No further writing possible!).
- Set Write Method to Disc-At-Once. (We have had Track-At-Once work as well.)
- Click the New button.
- Locate the folder C:\OS\ROOT.
- Select everything in the folder and drag it to the ISO compilation panel.
13.) Click the Write CD Dialog button.
14.) Click the Boot tab.
- Verify the settings. Correct if needed.
- Click the Write button.

FINISHED!




Well I hope that is of use. As it is such a long document (as you can see) PLEASE tell me any corrections or problems you have encountered, I must have made a mistake somewhere :p .

cheers !!!! your a star :)

I was gonna research this as I only put a floppy in my system when I format or reinstall.

Guess who's making a XP SP1 disc tonight with integrated SATA drivers :)

Flippin' 'eck - that's one hell of a post - must have taken you ages to get all that sorted out!

Nice work.

Now just need to work out how to do it for an i875p board!

Yeah, it took many hours of research and many CDs worth of failures to get to that stage. Not to mention a good many minutes this morning typing it all in!

Basically the process is the same for all drivers, but you just need to change little bits here and there.

I'd just like to point out that it is VERY IMPORTANT that you get the correct volume label for your CD, otherwise Windows will claim an internal structure failure (i think). I must have used a good 4 or 5 CDs figuring that one out!

Essencially, you can add any drivers you want to it, by just adding them in at STAGE 2B and STAGE 3. However, for fundemental drivers (such as the SATA ones) it is more complex, and they need adding in sooner.

Also, be prepared to have several attempts at this...I'll be very suprised if someone manages to get it right first time.

Once I've bought more CDs (I've run out now :/ ) I'll have a bash at making it SP1 & SP2 streamlined, with better-than-basic nVidia and ATi drivers built in and with all the standard nForce2 drivers. I'll post it up here again when I get round to it :)

Gives me something extra to add to my cd too. Slipstreaming sp1 into it is dead easy, you'll gte that right first time. The CD I've got installs all the drivers for my PC, and a shed load of programs. All without me touching it :rockon:

Hello again.

OK, heres the next part of my guide, as promised. I went out and bought myself 100 CD-Rs just to be on the safe side ;)

This disk will have SATA drivers for the nForce2 board built into it (no annoying floppys required) as well as all the motherboard drivers for the nForce2 and ATi graphics drivers. Also it will have SP1a built into it, saving all that annoying time updating your system.

Please note: I'd imagine the process to put nVidia drivers on the disk is very similar, but I've not owned an nVidia card in a while. If anyone wants to donate a GF 6800, then email me or post and I'll give u my address ;)

You will need the following files:
Windows XP SP1a Network Installer (125MB)
XP SP1a Corporate Deployment Tools (1.66MB)

STAGE 1 - See Above

STAGE 1.5 - WINDOWS XP SP1a
Create a new folder on your hard drive. C:\WinXPSP1a\ will do nicely.

Move the SP1a Network Installer to C:\WinXPSP1a\ (the file should be called xpsp1a_en_x86.exe). Type the following into the Run dialog (Start > Run):
C:\WinXPSP1a\xpsp1a_en_x86.exe -x

Tell it to extract to the same folder (ie C:\WinXPSP1a\).

Now type the following into the Run dialog to update your WinXP CD files copied on your hard drive:
C:\WinXPSP1a\Update\Update.exe -S:C:\WinXPCD\

STAGE 2A - See Above

STAGE 2B - DRIVER PREP
Follow the instructions as above, but in the WINNT.SIF file, copy and paste the following instead:
[Data]
AutoPartition=0
MsDosInitiated="0"
UnattendedInstall="Yes"

[Unattended]
UnattendMode=ProvideDefault
OemPreinstall=Yes
OemSkipEula=Yes
NoWaitAfterTextMode=1
NoWaitAfterGUIMode=1
TargetPath=\WINDOWS
DriverSigningPolicy=Ignore
OemPnPDriversPath="Drivers\SATA\SI3112r";"Drivers\ATi";"Drivers\ATi\2KXP_INF";"Drivers\ATi\2KXP_INF\ B_15581";"Drivers\nForce2\AudioDrv";"Drivers\nForce2\AudioUtl";"Drivers\nForce2\Ethernet";"Drivers\n Force2\GART";"Drivers\nForce2\IDE\WinXP";"Drivers\nForce2\MemCtl";"Drivers\nForce2\SMBus"

[GuiUnattended]
OEMSkipWelcome = 1

[UserData]
ProductKey=xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx
FullName=""
OrgName=""

You can adjust the OemPnPDriversPath to your needs.

Save and exit this file.

STAGE 3 - See Above

STAGE 3B - DRIVER FILE INTEGRATION
Download the driver sets you want. For this tutorial I've used the following:
nForce2 Motherboard Drivers (v4.24) - www.nvidia.com
ATi Catalyst Drivers (v4.6) - www.ati.com

First I'll deal with the Catalyst Drivers. Make a new directory in C:\WinXPCD\$OEM$\$1\Drivers\ called ATi.

Start up the ATi drivers executable. After it has extracted all the files, you can exit the installation (ie before it actually installs anything). We are only interested in the drivers themselves, and not all the other software that comes bundled. Navigate to the driver dir (C:\ATI\SUPPORT\wxp-w2k-catalyst-8-02-040515a-015958c\Driver\ for v4.6).

Copy all the files to the ATi directory you created a short time ago. Your ATi drivers are now done.

Now for the nVidia nForce2 board drivers. Make a new directory in C:\WinXPCD\$OEM$\$1\Drivers\ called nForce2.

Start up the nForce2 drivers executable. After it has extracted all the files, just before the installation process you can exit the installation (ie before it actually installs anything). Navigate to the driver dir (C:\NVIDIA\nForceWin2KXP\4.24\ for v4.24).

Copy all the files to the nForce2 directory you created a short time ago. Your nForce2 drivers are now done.

STAGE 4 - See Above

That should do it. Any problems or queries plz post up, and I'll do my best. Also success stories would be nice (so I know it actually works with other people as well!)

I'd like to credit the following sites for their insight:
www.tacktech.com
www.theeldergeek.com
www.nforcershq.com

It would be great if someone manages to put the famous Abit NF7-s V2.0 SATA drivers, WinXP SP1/2 onto a disk and then give all the untechnical peeps a bit torrent link.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ERU

It would be great if someone manages to put the famous Abit NF7-s V2.0 SATA drivers, WinXP SP1/2 onto a disk and then give all the untechnical peeps a bit torrent link.

---

Yes Yes :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

Pleasae DO! :devilish:

Fantastic work Bigman, and something that i most certainly can appreciate given that my floppy broke the day before my sata arrived. I ended up getting a floppy drive from a mates computer 15 miles away. No more problems thanks to your hard work. As soon as SP2 comes out i'll take a week off and get slipsteaming :D

much appreciated


mart

Oh god almighty...

I got 2 Systems that have SATA, and both have been giving me greif, and funnily enough, one is the NF7S and the other is my MSI Delta, and the SATA card for that, is annoyingly...An SIL3112 too!!!

Right, I have managed to do a SATA installation with SP1, but the SP2 CD Failed... I am sure that they were the same everythings, but just upped to SP1 and SP2.

I am still workign on a SP2 one cos the drivers for the SATA card, and the original Floppy for the NF7S DO NOT WORK - even if from a floppy, they find the drivers using the F6 option, but then fail to load them from the floppy during the installation stage???? EH?

I have been trying with your method, and SP1 works, but not SP2.

Now, I can use the SP1 method, to install XP onto the HD, thenchuck SP2 into it and thats fine, but such a massive waste of HD space isnt it?

Right now, the NF7S is running no SATA drives purely so I can install with SP2 SlipStreamed, and the MSI is on pure SATA, but no SP2, so in the next couple of days, I will be doing some more messing and will see if I can update you anything?

seems like a lot of hard work to me. none of this faffing about with an easy os like linux

Well since I made this guide quite some time ago, it has become a LOT easier to do. Basically there are now some really neat tools for doing this kind of thing.

First tool I would recommend is nLite. http://www.nliteos.com/
If you start from your original XP disk (or SP1 or wotever) then this will pick up what version it is etc and then you can apply the service packs to it really easily. If you want you can also add drivers via this program, however for the SATA drivers etc I've found the next program easier.

Second 'tool' is Bashrat The Sneakys unattended packs. http://www.btsunattended.net/
You need to download the BASE pack, and then any of the other packs you want. Make sure you read the tutorial on the site / in the packs on how to actually do it. It looks like the guides were written before the latest release, as there are a few inconsistences, but it tells you what to do and everything in general.


So basically set up your disk fully with nLite except for the drivers. Then get BTSunattended going on it. Again I'd recommend burning to CD-RW for testing purposes before writing a final CD. Also beware that the more drivers you include with BTSu, the longer the windows CD will take to load them at the start of setup. Also keep a watch on the size of the CD, if you include everything from the CD you will easily exceed 700MB. If you need it all, then you will have to burn to a DVD.

I'm not sure why my guide above didn't work for you with SP2, because I managed it a few times using SP2 (did several different styles of CD), but I'd definately recommend the above tools now over my guide due to the complexity of doing it manually.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ERU

It would be great if someone manages to put the famous Abit NF7-s V2.0 SATA drivers, WinXP SP1/2 onto a disk and then give all the untechnical peeps a bit torrent link.

---

Heh, you expect someone here to create a self installing Windows XP disc with SP2, drivers and other things, then let everyone else d/l their copy of Windows?? :P

:lol:

Dunno whether u guys have it available but i use a winxp disk with sp2 - no modifications needed. Dont have to do anything such as press f6 etc to make it see and install to the sata drive. :D

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by EvilMunky

Dunno whether u guys have it available but i use a winxp disk with sp2 - no modifications needed. Dont have to do anything such as press f6 etc to make it see and install to the sata drive. :D

---

Edit: Misread - shouldn't type when hungover ;)

I didn't know the SP2 disks could handle SATA controllers, but it certainly makes sense if Microsoft have decided to sort that one out.

This guide was created over a year ago with people with the original Windows disks in mind though. Also, the only way that the Windows SP2 disk will detect the SATA drives is by having the appropriate controller drivers integrated. I'm sure there will be controllers that are not supported already, never mind a few months down the line. The described technique allows for that kind of 'update' to your disk to be made as well. Handy :)

xp sp2 and xpx64 sp1 both install onto my k8t890 board fine with no driver disks

yep, its has drivers for single disks. Raid it doesn't though.

On a simple note, if anyones got this far down this thread (much praise to the author for his hard work) but I think you can do this (and more) from a GUI with a tool called nLite.

Nox

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Nox

I think you can do this (and more) from a GUI with a tool called nLite.

---

Indeed you can, check out my post page 1, post #12 :)

very l33t:rockon:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by [R4A]Bigman

Indeed you can, check out my post page 1, post #12 :)

---

how did I miss that!! eyesight AND memory failing!

Nox

I'm glad to see a universially useful thread like this, a bit late for myself, i had to do a lot of leg work and googling (long before nLite existed) to make my own slipstream disc for my ide raid drivers and other custom mods on windows installation.

Praise be to nLite now though, it cuts the time and effort of making slipstream discs in half.. good stuff guys :)

u can try to use a usb stick if thats is possible or i think it is possible to set it up without the driver because some motherboards can detect it, but you may lose some of the features like 3gb/sec.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bobby18121

u can try to use a usb stick if thats is possible or i think it is possible to set it up without the driver because some motherboards can detect it, but you may lose some of the features like 3gb/sec.

---

windows nt5 (2k, xp) CANNOT read drivers that aren't a) on the installation CD in the right place or b) on a floppy disk

if USB stuff were supported, nobody would bother with any of the above

Although if you have a USB floppy drive I believe that works (given that your mobo supports it). Though its not really that much of an alternative - as you still need floppy disks which are terribly prone to dying on you.

Hi there, i`m just new on the boards so forgive me for maybe asking a few silly questions and thanks for any replies in advance.

I am looking at getting a mesh system soon and it appears it will come with a SATA drive and windows media centre 2005.
now should i be unlucky enough to have to require to do a reinstallation will i need to install the drivers off a floppy disc or will media centre install correctly without any need for the drivers?

Second question is the drivers for the P5B-TMX which i downloded recently has folders for win200, win2003 and xp, i only need to put the xp folder on the floppy i assume?

I realise its a lot of questions but any reassurance will be much appreciated

Or you could always just use nLite which is approximately 1000000% easier than this (although credit where due it was in 2004) and does the whole lot for you

Uber bump :D

Kempez has it bang on. Grab nLite. Grab the drivers you need. Point nLite to the windows location and the drivers.
Job done.

the first versions of nLite were horrid and always used to mess up, but the latest releases are brilliant. Really recomend them :)

You probably won't have to install the drivers anyway, but best that you do I guess. :)

Annoyingly, I was going to do a fresh install last night, but whenever I went to slipstream my RAID drivers, nLite kept bombing out for no apparent reason - it's done it hundreds of times fine previously with a huge collection of drivers - wouldn't even do it on another system... :S

I appreciate all the help, i`ll download nlite just in case it may be required in the future. I`ve downloaded the drivers for the board and it contains the four folders:

language, vista, win2000, win2003, xp
and then a whole series of files including asussetup.exe and a install.cfg. which are the files or folders that i add to nlite setup to put that into the install? This should hopefully be the last question and i can give it a shot when i get the new system.

Thanks

Find the directory with txtsetup.oem then add the contents of that, including any sub-directories.

Unfortunately the drivers dont come with a txtsetup.oem but do come with a INFAnswr.txt file in the xp folder. If i was using nlite i assume i would be steering it towards that folder.
If I can reinstall media centre without having to worry about it i`m not too concearned, i just want to make sure i am covered just in case of emergencies really.
I might ask on the mesh boards as well to see if they might give me any help.

Hi, First of all, many thanks for this thread as it has really helped me out....

Could I please just ask if anyone can help me with a small issue I am having, I have followed all instructions to the letter, but I just cannot get the SATA Drive auto detected at all! The drivers are on my CD successfully (if you try and load the drivers from F6 + Floppy it says that Windows already has the driver, and you can see it flash by when setup is loading files) but it will just not detect the drive. The only way I have got this driver working at all actually is to turn the OEMPREINSTALL off, but then obviously the auto detect doesn't work.

Does anyone have any ideas of something I may have missed?
It's an Intel Mobile 965 Chipset driver BTW.

Thanks
Rob

Is it a sataII drive on a Sata I controller? If so you'll need to apply the appropriate jumper settings.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by RobGreen

Hi, First of all, many thanks for this thread as it has really helped me out....

Could I please just ask if anyone can help me with a small issue I am having, I have followed all instructions to the letter, but I just cannot get the SATA Drive auto detected at all! The drivers are on my CD successfully (if you try and load the drivers from F6 + Floppy it says that Windows already has the driver, and you can see it flash by when setup is loading files) but it will just not detect the drive. The only way I have got this driver working at all actually is to turn the OEMPREINSTALL off, but then obviously the auto detect doesn't work.

Does anyone have any ideas of something I may have missed?
It's an Intel Mobile 965 Chipset driver BTW.

Thanks
Rob

---

Yep, had this issue with some Dell Latitudes recently - if you can, flip the SATA controller in the BIOS from AHCI to ATA mode.

Quote:

---

Is it a sataII drive on a Sata I controller? If so you'll need to apply the appropriate jumper settings.

---

Thank you for your reply.

I don't think it is a physical problem here, it's a laptop HD, and I have been able to detect it using the F6 driver load, and with OEMPREINSTALL turned off. The HD itself is fine.

Quote:

---

Yep, had this issue with some Dell Latitudes recently - if you can, flip the SATA controller in the BIOS from AHCI to ATA mode.

---

Will give that a bash, thanks

Hi there,

Tried switching that, but can't do it I'm afraid.
I have also been trying to do this using the textsetup.oem and massstoragedrivers in winnt.sif.
Not working that way either!

This is getting to be a nightmare.....

Spoiled few CDs while getting everything exactly as said in you guide, [R4A]Bigman.
I took *.sys and *.inf files from SATA floppy downloadable at Asrock home page.
Substituted the lines from viamraid.inf where necessary:

Viamraid.sys
%PCI\VEN_1106&DEV_3249.DeviceDesc% = viamraid , PCI\VEN_1106&DEV_3249
%PCI\VEN_1106&DEV_3149.DeviceDesc% = viamraid , PCI\VEN_1106&DEV_3149
%PCI\VEN_1106&DEV_3164.DeviceDesc% = viamraid , PCI\VEN_1106&DEV_3164
VIA VT6421 RAID Controller

First disk spoiled because I did not copy the first square bracket to Winnt.sif file.
Second was, I forgot to put Viamraid.sys in i386 directory.
Third coaster was because I left line in [SCSI.LOAD] section without ",4" part.
Forth CD finally WORKED :D

I used XP installation with integrated SP2.

The next step would be to integrate drivers into CMDCONS.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by directhex

seems like a lot of hard work to me. none of this faffing about with an easy os like linux

---

Yeah right... you try installing Feisty on a raid set on an nvidia 680i chipset mobo... lol

I spent ages trying to get it to work and finally gave up and just installed it on a single SATA drive that was in my machine as well.

When they put a version of dmraid into the live cd and actually get gparted to work with it, that's when it'll be easy! ;)

Matt

There is another way...

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...roductID=43836

:)

lol :D

yeah there is that

The other alternative would be to use a usb floppy, while this is restricted to mobo's that support usb through the bios, thats most of em nowadays...

Matt

Quote:

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Originally Posted by peterb

There is another way...

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...roductID=43836

:)

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Pardon the intrusion but i saw the title and thought wtf!

I have a sata II hard drive and when i first built the system it was fine. I'm now getting a new rig and going to chuck on vista premium.

Now reading this thread has got me worried. I was under the impression i could just connect everything up and install vista or xp with no problems, but this thread has me confused.

Have i missed something i should of done or should do?

Yes i'm thick

It does depend on motherboards, chipsets etc, but if you are getting new kit I would think you would be fine.

I have recently installed vista on my nvidia 680i mobo onto a raid pair of sata drives, no floppy disks needed, no sata drivers required. Vista installer picked up the raid array and installed straight to it.

XP might be different, but if you have a floppy in your rig it's a simple case of F6 in the installer, stick in the floppy for the sata drivers and away you go. However this thread is for peeps that don't have a floppy drive in their machine and it's a way of building an XP install disc that contains all the necessary files to boot the installer and have it see the sata drives without needing to F6 and use a floppy.

Matt

Ah i se.

Thanks for clearing that up :mrgreen: much appreciated.
It will be a vista build i'm doing so should be easy. And i appear to of gotten rid of my floppy a while ago.

But thanks again.

I have followed steps 1 through 3 completely and had no troubles. But the links provided for the bootfiles in step 4 are invalid. Where might I find these files? I've googled a bit and looked around the site the link takes me to, but I can't find anything.

Help appreciated.

Use nLite, it takes the hassle away.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lee @ SCAN

cheers !!!! your a star :)
Guess who's making a XP SP1 disc tonight with integrated SATA drivers :)

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<Not the best first post mate :) - even talking about warez is strictly forbidden on here. We prefer to pay people for their work - Agent>

<yes its a great post that's why it got deleted =D. You know you gotsta hide the good info.. cant let people know da truth ya feel?. Oh and about warez.. didn't i say I downloaded it? You must think its illegal.. jumpin to conlusions.. that's alright all the mods everywhere do... but i have an offsite ftp server that has a copy of basically all windows i've ever brought (ALL LEGIT) in iso format and I keep them in torrents tho b/c its faster than ftp and more reliable in resuming a download.. so yes you shouldn't even have touched my post ... but its ok. - Baalpeteor , Computer Network Specialist>

Hi,

I managed to solve my problem if anyone is interested

Basically after a LOT of searching I came across this link (apologies for not being able to link it properly- need 5 posts - the x's are w's) hxxp://xxx.windowsserverx64.com/CSK/technical_articles/hardware/56.aspx which descirbes in detail what all the stuff in txtsetup.sif does.

From careful reading of the bit about [sourcedisksfiles] i noticed that the string "si3112r.sys = 1,,,,,,_x,4,1" or in my case "iastor.sys = 1,,,,,,_x,4,1" is actually trying to load drivers from a directory on the root of the XP cd called AMD64.

Try creating this directory with your SATA drivers files in it, and see if that works.
It might also be worth adding you driver .inf file under SOURCEDISKSFILES with the string 1,,,,,,,20,0,0 after it e.g "iastor.inf = 1,,,,,,,20,0,0"

Finally, I have found that it's good to make sure all the cases in your diver files match- My disk wasn't working until I made ALL entries that use the words iaStor.sys into iastor.sys (as the actual driver file had no capital 's')

I hope this can help someone!

Hi All

For the past week I tried this approach to get XP to recognise a SATA HDD, without success. This morning: Eureka!!! I simply went into the BIOS and disabled the IDE channel. XP then immeiately installed successfully. Hope this is of use to someone.

This may be old news now, but I was able to take the folder with the sata drivers and intergrate them into a custom unattended install using nLite. I tried this in a hurry and when I loaded windows on my sons pc with this cd it loaded the drivers, recogonized the hd and installed without a hitch.
Much easier than the steps outlined earlier. He has an Abit Nf7 -S V2 mobo.

Ok, here is a trick I learned the other day while installing Windows XP with a SATA hard drive and CD/DVD. What you have to do is get a IDE CD drive install it. Run the windows set up and it will work fine. No need to install 3rd party raid drivers. Once you have installed windows xp successfully. Run the drivers cd that came with the new motherboard. Then shutdown your computer and install the SATA cd/dvd drive back in and it will work perfect. I have done this several times and each time has worked.

RECAP:
1. Take out SATA CD drive and Install IDE CD drive.
2. Run Windows XP from the IDE drive and install it on the SATA hard drive.
3. Once inside windows run the drivers & utilities cd that came with the new motherboard. And install all drivers needed.
4. Shutdown the computer and install the new SATA cd/dvd drive back into the system.
5. You're done!

I have a Sony Vaio VGN-AR61ZU (Core 2 Duo T8300 2.4Ghz, 4GB ram, 2x250 SATA Fujitsu MHY2250BH) with VISTA pre-installed. I want to install Win XP SP2 on it. When I boot the AR61ZU from the installation disk for Win XP SP2 the installation process says that there is no hard disk in the PC.

I read previous posts in this thread. So I downloaded nLite and using it I combined my installation disk for Win XP SP2 with all the drivers that I was able to estract, using both the utilities "Double Driver" and "Double Max", from the AR61ZU. I burned a new bootable disk with this combination, giving the new disk the same name as the installation disk (WINXP_SP2) and tried again.

But I still obtain the previous result: when I boot the AR61ZU from this new disk, the installation process says that there is no hard disk in the PC.

The new installation disks is larger than the previous one - hence the drivers have been added, but I have the impression, reading the messages during the start of the installation process, that the new drivers I have added are NOT loaded.

Anybody has hints to why this happens and what I can do? Thanks

PS
The BIOS on AR61ZU is very simple and does not give me the possibility to change the hardware configuration as other posts in this thread have suggested: I can only change the boot order of devices and enable booting from network/external devices...

It appears that Sony might not issue Windows XP drivers for that model, which may explain your issue. I don't suppose you know what controller it's using do you? Sony stuff can be a nightmare as I'm sure you're finding!

i am trying to download the file u recommend but its taking me to tacktech website. has it expired? is there anyway i can obtain a copy of these files u speak of:bowdown:

i see now that this post is about 5 years old. lol! well if u could b so kind to post the files again or maybe something updated.
i reinstalled windows and have a Maxtor sata drive that i would like to use but have no floppy drive. any help would b greatly appreciated.:bowdown:

Nero 5.5
Download the following file: tacktech.com/pub/microsoft/bootfiles/bootfiles.zip]bootfiles.zip[/url]





i got problem to download these files..

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DJAMNYC

i see now that this post is about 5 years old. lol! well if u could b so kind to post the files again or maybe something updated.
i reinstalled windows and have a Maxtor sata drive that i would like to use but have no floppy drive. any help would b greatly appreciated.:bowdown:

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Can I ask what motherboard/system/SATA disk controllere you're attaching your drive to, please?

As I've mentioned (perhaps not very clearly) in my first post, check out post #12: http://forums.hexus.net/operating-sy...tml#post488632

This is using nLite which allows you to do all sorts of funky things very easily and is perfect for slipstreaming. Whatever controller you have, you should go to your motherboard/controller card's manufacturer's website and download their latest drivers. You should then be able to use those in conjunction with nLite in order to make your slipstreamed XP CD.

Good luck!

hey man that's grat nlite worked perfectly!!
thanks!

yergle

Quote:

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Originally Posted by [R4A]Bigman

This is using nLite which allows you to do all sorts of funky things very easily and is perfect for slipstreaming. Whatever controller you have, you should go to your motherboard/controller card's manufacturer's website and download their latest drivers.

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Problem: My motherboard is an ASRock AOD790GX/128M. There are no SATA drivers available for it! There is a 60M .exe file I can download that will INSTALL the SATA drivers. But there's no way to get the drivers out from inside that executable, other than executing it and installing the driver (which I can't do before installing Windows)!

And ASRock's technical support is on vacation for the next 2 weeks for Chinese New Year.

Yes, there are - http://www.asrock.com/MB/download.as...90GX/128M&o=XP . You want the item labelled "SATA RAID Driver (For system to read from floppy diskette during Windows installation)"

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nichomach

Yes, there are - http://www.asrock.com/MB/download.as...90GX/128M&o=XP . You want the item labelled "SATA RAID Driver (For system to read from floppy diskette during Windows installation)"

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Also, if your using nLite, you do not want the drivers as PnP, but rather just text. It'll offer you a choice between the two.

what is the windows xp vista product key

Quote:

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Originally Posted by niharudeen

what is the windows xp vista product key

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It is the key you get when you buy a retail or OEM copy of Windows. It is applicable to all Windows products and identifies the product as legitimately licenced.