Installing XP pro on an SATA hard drive (super techie needed)

Mr_Skint_2

Give it a go as the floppy drive might be duff.

barginboyrob

nope no luck with CD, this sucks!
Thanks for that techimo site, i was optomistic when i read it, but that didn't work either!

Do you think i have to install the amd 64bit drivers instead of the standard, because i have a amd 64bit athlon3400+ ?

blinky

barginboyrob wrote:

nope no luck with CD, this sucks!
Thanks for that techimo site, i was optomistic when i read it, but that didn't work either!

Do you think i have to install the amd 64bit drivers instead of the standard, because i have a amd 64bit athlon3400+ ?

64bit drivers are for the 64 bit OS only.

With the CD did you create a new bootable XP disk with the drivers in place?

Anyway you only need the driver if you are setting up a RAID array.

Taken from http://www.asrock.com/support/FAQ/FAQ.asp?num=113 (in pure Engrish)

Full FAQ at http://www.asrock.com/support/FAQ/index_QA.asp?class=K8Upgrade-1689

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Q: I am going to use K8 Combo-Z / 939A8X-M / K8Upgrade-1689 / K8A8X-M to build up my system. I found that there is a new option ?SATA Operation Mode? was added in the latest production BIOS. What is the option for? How should I set it?[/font] [font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]A: The ?SATA Operation Mode? provides two choices to install OS on the SATA hard disk. There are two options for ?SATA Operation Mode?: RAID (Default) and non-RAID. a. When choosing ?RAID? mode, you have to create a SATA floppy image diskette by the support CD and press ?F6? to install SATA driver at the beginning of Windows XP/2000 installation. If you want to install Windows XP/2000 on the SATA hard disk and also want to use RAID function, please set the option to ?RAID?. If you want to install Windows 98SE/ME on the SATA hard disk, please set the option to ?RAID?. Please also install the latest LAN driver (3.10a or newer version) for your new system. b. When choosing ?non-RAID? mode, it is not necessary to create a SATA floppy image diskette by the support CD nor press ?F6? to install SATA driver at the beginning of Windows XP/2000 installation. It is also convenient for users who do not have floppy drive. If you want to install Windows XP/2000 on the SATA hard disk but do not want to use RAID function, please set the option to ?non-RAID?.[/font]

www.OCWorkbench.com has a very active ASRock forum but you do need to register to access it.

barginboyrob

What is a Raid function by the way, i keep coming across it, but i do't know the difference between SATA and RAID

Thanks

Also, the new drivers avaliable download are .exe. files, and are bigger than floppy disk capacity. I can't use these right?

blinky

If you don't know what RAID is I would keep away.

Windows setup would need .inf and .sys files. It is possible that the .exe file is a Windisk (or similar) image file. When run it writes a complete floppy disk.

RAID Explanations:

RAID = Redundant Array of Independent* Disks *(or Inexpensive depending on your tastes).

Two commonest forms on Desktop are RAID 0 and RAID 1. Both require at least two drives, preferably identical ones.

RAID 0 = Striping (Technically not RAID as there's no redundancy). The limiting speed with hard drive access is the rate at which the data can be physically read or written to the disks. To increase performance in RAID 0 the data is alternatively read / written to two (or more drives).

E.g. data = AAABBBCCCDDDEEEFFF
In RAID 0 data is stored as:
Drive 1 data = AAACCCEEE
Drive 2 data = BBBDDDFFF

The Downside is there is a greater chance of a RAID 0 array failing than a single drive. If either drive fails all data is lost.

RAID 1 = Mirroring. Much easier to explain. You have two hard drives both of which are exact mirror images. If one drive fails all the data is still present on the other one (hence redundancy / fault tolerance).

Downside: You effectively lose the capacity of one hard drive and write times are longer (each write needs to be done twice).

There's also other options less commonly seen e.g. JBOD (= Just a bunch of disks, combine drives to appear as one larger one) and RAID 5 (common on servers. Some desktop boards support it but not worthwhile as they don't have a dedicated parity processor).

barginboyrob

One interesting thing is that, in the bio (when i press f2), Normally SATA1 (or 2) is not detected, but when i change SATA operation mode from Raid to non-raid the maxtor hard 160gb hard drive is detected!

Do i still need to load the drivers using f6?


I didn't bother now the computer has got it's furest and is finally copying the windows files over!

Is it a problem that i chose non raid when it was raid before? will it make a difference?

blinky

No you don't need the drivers

From FAQ

"When choosing ?non-RAID? mode, it is not necessary to create a SATA floppy image diskette by the support CD nor press ?F6? to install SATA driver at the beginning of Windows XP/2000 installation"

As you hadn't setup a RAID array the changes won't make any difference.

barginboyrob

Cool, its all working now (well i can't get my genius wireless mouse to work), thanks everyone

blinky

Probably a case of finding the correct drivers, unless the batteries are flat.

barginboyrob

Crap, i spoke too soon

Ok, so i've installed windows and was currently uploading some files etc on it when i realise that my hard drive is only 30gb (when it is actually 160gb)

When i was installing windows, it asked where do i want to install it, and i choose to make a partition of 30gb

The 30gb drive is all i see now!

edit: ok i sorted it now, had to go to my computer> manage> disk drives> and format

thanks