Disk Boot Failure. Please Help Me!

[phreejak]

typically, installing 3rd party drivers at the windows setup meant you had to have the inf files at the first level of access and not buried in folders. txtsetup.oem took care of that by allowing a person to have multiple sets of drivers, on a floppy, in folders. That error means that you are trying to install drivers that came from a package. Think of it as going into a CD and getting the drivers from a folder that were meant to be found by the computer in that folder. txtsetup.oem directs it there. Many Asus and Abit motherboards are done this way. I am surprised that your motherboard CD does not come with the drivers. It shouyld also come with a utility that allows you to make a sata driver disk.

 

[sluzbenik]

Hi I'll take a stab at this -

you downloaded the IDE driver, not the RAID driver. I have no idea what that driver is for on that mobo. But if you can boot from the CDROM you don't need this. You have a SATA drive, you need the SATA RAID driver.

Since you are not installing RAID tho, you might need to change a BIOS setting. It will work as a RAID volume with one drive, but doesn't have to be. You can set it for AHCI in BIOS. The default config on Asus mobos (not sure about Gigabyte) is IDE and Windows should be able to deal with it. That may not be the case and you need the RAID drivers, so do this: .

Download the Intel RAID driver (ICH7R) from Gigabyte's site, it is a self-extractive archive that will make a floppy disk when you run it.

Now do the F6 thing again and put that disk in.

To get yourself up to speed see Intel's site: RAID and SATA are friggin' complicated for new builders. Intel Matrix Storage Manager

Edit - I just read your manual. Gigabyte does a pretty good job laying out what's involved at the end (p. 79) Follow those instructions, ignoring everything you have read here, and then post again. Note you will need to enter BIOS and change to RAID as I said before...Then just skip the part about creating a RAID array. Then you will use your driver disk.

When in doubt, RTFM...lol

 

[rman3349]

Ok here we go:

Did everything you suggested, which all worked well. The error screen i mentioned a few posts ago came up so i hit s and this time I had a choice of a few different things. I chose the RAID driver for the ICH7R and then hit it. Windows continued to install for a while then the old error came up again.

I followed the steps in the manual mostly:

1. INstall SATA hard drives in your system
2. Configure SATA controller mode and boot sequence in BIOS setup
3. Configure RAID set in RAID BIOS
4. Make a floppy disk containing the SATA controller driver
5. INstall the SATA controller driver during the OS installation

I followed these instructions except number 2. I don't really know what it means. While I'm at it, I wouldn't mind clarification on what 3 means, although I'm almost positive I have that covered. I feel like I'm on the right track here, so thanks everyone.

 

[sluzbenik]

P. 80!

Hit delete on power-up, enter the BIOS, make sure where it says SATA RAID/AHCI mode it says RAID.

It won't work until the system is configured in SATA mode and by default it is disabled.

You can skip manual steps 2 and 3 since that is the only drive in your system. There won't be another boot drive so your drive will be the boot drive by default.

 

[croc]

(sigh) There should be a setting in your bios for changing your boot drive settings. Something like 'settings, advanced settings..." So find that then make the drive that you are trying to boot from the first drive in the settings list. Save the settings and reboot.

 

[rman3349]

hey man sorry to frustrate you so much. If I had only know that you were one of those people who was never a beginner...

 

[yourmothersanastronaut]

It's ok, everyone's a beginner at some point. You should have seen the problems I had with my first build...my DVD burner wasn't being recognized. My 3 SATA hard drives and floppy were, but not my optical.

So, I went out and bought another DVD burner and a cable.

Turns out, the cable shipped with the Asus motherboard was faulty, when I plugged in both drives with the new cable both were instantly recognized by the BIOS.

I was so happy I could have died, but that could wait, since I really wanted to get the OS installed.

I don't have any experience with Intel parts or Gigabyte boards, so I'm not sure what help I can be. But, you do need the SATA drivers on a floppy. When you unzip the SATA driver files in the .zip file, make sure that when they're on the floppy they're not in a folder on the floppy. Unzip all the files right to the floppy, not in a folder on the disk.

Now, this is an XP Service Pack 2 disc, right?

 

[Pain]

It's ok, everyone's a beginner at some point.

True. Unfortunately other beginners still get on forums and try to give advise, which just complicates the whole thing even further.

The only comment I'll make, and I think it's probably already been corrected, is that the optical drive can be CS, master or slave, and it will work perfectly. In fact the bios can often be set to NONE on the IDE channel, and the optical drive will still work perfectly.

 

[rman3349]

a few questions:

If I just buy another hard drive and try ot load windows into that, will this drive still be usable? I guess what I'm asking is: even though this drive is having some issue with Windows, it is being recognized and is therefore conpatible. Thus, why not buy a smaller capacity drive (raptor maybe?) to boot windows onto and still use this drive as storage for most of my sh*t? Is this necessary or do you think that this drive will eventually work? isn't it true that some dirves, for whatever reason, just do't agree with certain mobo's?

Lastly, If I have an external drive, could I install windows onto that and then use it as my boot drive? or could I even use it as my boot drive initially then move windows over later (I will probably be using this drive anyway, why not make it my boot drive?) It is even possible to have a USB drive as your boot drive?

Also, what is the meaning of life?

Thanks to anyone ambitious enough to tackle this

 

[Pain]

I don't think I've ever seen an instance where a drive wouldn't work on a board, that wasn't a configuration error that could be corrected.

I haven't gone back and read the whole thread carefully, but you can certainly use another disk to load windows and use this disk as storage.

 

[yourmothersanastronaut]

If I just buy another hard drive and try ot load windows into that, will this drive still be usable?

Of course it will, assuming it isn't broken. If it recognizes the drive, it's most likely not broken, although it is possible it has bad sectors on it. That could be causing your problems, potentially, but I have a hunch the drive is fine.

Thus, why not buy a smaller capacity drive (raptor maybe?) to boot windows onto and still use this drive as storage for most of my sh*t?

If you want to spend the extra cash on a Raptor or two, go right ahead. Not necessary, but it will be faster. Some people will tell you to get another drive and stripe RAID them, others will tell you Raptor. I think you should do whatever you feel comfortable buying and using.

Is this necessary or do you think that this drive will eventually work? isn't it true that some dirves, for whatever reason, just do't agree with certain mobo's?

As I said above, the drive should be fine. I've heard of problems between this hard drive maker and this chipset, but they're usually on an individual basis. I'm sure you won't have a problem like that. I believe it was Maxtor and nForce controllers, but I think that problem has been fixed by flashing the firmware of the drive. You shouldn't have to do that.

Lastly, If I have an external drive, could I install windows onto that and then use it as my boot drive?

The only OS I know that lets you install it to an external drive is Linux, and only then because of the kernel's versatility. Windows and MacOS X do not let you install to a USB or FireWire drive, flash or otherwise.

or could I even use it as my boot drive initially then move windows over later (I will probably be using this drive anyway, why not make it my boot drive?) It is even possible to have a USB drive as your boot drive?

No, for the reasons I said above.

Also, what is the meaning of life?

42. Douglas Adams already covered this.

Thanks to anyone ambitious enough to tackle this

I accept cash, personal checks, and MasterCard.

 

[rman3349]

Update:

After extensive time on the phone with a very knowledgeable person at Gigabyte, I still couldn't get this to work despite all his suggestions and ideas. I also tried to install windows onto my external with disasterous results. In fact, I recieved the same error message that I have been getting on my DIY on my laptop with external. Here is what I, in my hum ble opinion, this I should do;

1. find some way to get my hard drive plugged into an IDE port instead. The fact that I know now that usb inst supported and I got the same error message tells me that it my be an interface problem. I know SATA should work, but I'm running out of Ideas so I'll try this.

2. Buy another drive

3. Drop one of my 40lb barbells on my new conputer and light it on fire.

What do you think?

p.s thanks to Astronaut for the very thourough response.