installed XP Can't see HDD issue

Which driver do i need to get the XP install CD to see the SATA drives on a 6625WD? I can't see anything obvious on the ftp site?

 

1. you need to disable AHCI in the BIOS.
2. You need to have XP w/SP2 integrated into the install.

 

Get the zipfile for the Intel chipset from the ftp. It contains everything needed for SATA.

However, if your BIOS is set to AHCI then you will need the Matrix Storage Manager. There are lengthy instructions about how to extract the right files from the installer. The key thing seems to be to run a DOS command such as:

c:\iata_cd.exe -a -a -pc:\<path>

Why on earth they don't put those files which get extracted into a separate zip file is a mystery to me.

You can download the attached pdf file (it's too big to upload as .zip), rename it to .zip and then unzip it to get the drivers.

John

 

OK a little confused, i downloaded that zip file john (aHCI in enabled in bios) and put on a usb stick, do i need to just hit F6 and select s when prompted? As i have done this but it says it cannot find floppy drive. I have managed to get my copy of XP to see the memory stick beofre on a differnt computer during install. I have an old non SP release of XP.

 

I'm not sure if an ancient XP can be persuaded to recognise a different type of removable device.

Much the best way is to get nLite, SP2 for XP, the Intel storage drivers, the key Microsoft post-SP2 patches and your Zepto drivers and build a customised installation CD. nLite is very easy to use and it's very satisfying to have a pain-free install.

John

 

I think it is, on my stationary (DFI motherboard) my BIOS allows me to use stuff like a USB stick for f6 procedure

 

John thats for all the help putting together a install cd now with n lite (great program by the way) Can i get my turbo memory to work under XP as well then or is it vista only?

 

Yes nLite is useful. I discovered it a few years ago when I wanted to install Windows 2K on some relatively new hardware.

Turbo Memory is Vista only.

John

 

I am using Vsta at the moment but in my opinion it is a fair bit slower than XP in general use so am going to try XP again. I will sacrafice the turbo memory which has not convinced me either if i am honest, but that maybe a matter of opinion also.

 

I'm finding Vista OK for performance: Visual settings set to best performance + smooth screen fonts, indexing disabled, UAC disabled and 3GB of RAM. Applications usually start much faster now that Vista has discovered what I'm likely to run and has already got them in the cache. My real complaint is backwards compatibility with some applications.

Hibernation avoids the problem of Vista spending the first 10 minutes after booting doing housekeeping (and it definitely comes out of hibernation faster than XP).

John

 

only way i could get xpsp2 cd to see drives was to disable ahci in bios, windows xp now installed successfully. However if i re enable ahci i get blue screen do i need it enabled in xp is there any benifit? Is there anyway of enabling it after install as i can not get the f6 option to work on install of xp as it will not see my pen drive on this laptop.

 

I don't know of any benefit of enabling AHCI if you are running only XP. However, if you want to get it working see this thread. You have to manually install the right drivers before changing the BIOS setting.

John

 

excellent thread ta, now i have ahci enabled but not the robson suport as i cannot use it anyway. I have one last problem in my device manager list i have a pci memory controller listed but with no driver . any ideas what that is anyone?

 

I think XP is seeing the Turbo Memory (it's in a mini PCIe slot).

It just has to remain as an unconfigured device until someone creates a Turbo Memory driver for XP.

John

 

that will bug me now arghhh, ah well