Install XP Pro on SATA HD and Motherboard ASUS P5LD2 Deluxe

[catana]

Hello,
I can't install Win XP Pro on a SATA HD. I have a ASUS P5LD2 Deluxe MB. Everytime XP try to start installing, the blue screen shows up.
I read some info about using a floppy , etc.
But I need someone to give me the info where to download the drivers that I need to copy on the floppy, and also step by step on how and when I will be using the floppy option.
I am familiar with using F6 in the beginning of XP installation, but I have never installed XP on a SATA HD.
Please HELP!!

 

[tecmo34]

This topic has been moved from the section Opinions and Experiences to section Storage by Tecmo34

 

[Paperdoc]

You have two choices for how to proceed. From what you say, it appears you have a floppy drive in the machine and some diskettes, and maybe another machine you can use to download a driver and write it to a floppy diskette.

The root of the problem is that Win XP has drivers "built in" for IDE hard drives and optical drives, but not for SATA devices. (Actually, SATA HDD's really should be considered and used as AHCI devices if possible.) The simplistic solution is to use a trick built into your mobo's BIOS, and this avoids having go install any driver from the floppy drive. In the BIOS Setup screens very near where your SATA ports are Enabled is a line for setting SATA Port Mode. The options available usually are IDE (or PATA) Emulation, Native SATA, AHCI, or RAID. Do NOT choose RAID unless you intend to use a RAID array of drives. If you choose IDE (or PATA) Emulation mode, the BIOS will fool any Windows OS into thinking it is using a plain old IDE-type device it DOES have a driver for, and it will work just fine. The downside of this choice is that you will not get to use a few of the advanced features of AHCI devices. But if you do this, the Windows XP Install routine will find the drive, think it is IDE, and go ahead and use it.

The more sophisticated way technically - and you are in a perfect position to do this - is to actually use the SATA drives as AHCI devices for which Win XP does NOT have built-in drivers. This requires an extra step during the Install process. You need to have the correct AHCI device driver(s) on a floppy diskette ready to use during Install. You might have to find them and download them. BUT before doing that, read you mobo instruction manual. Most have a section where they provide the details you need to load the AHCI drivers for a Win XP Install. Often the drivers you need are already on the CD that came with the mobo, and the manual will tell you how to prepare the floppy diskette with those drivers.

Start by going into BIOS Setup to the SATA Port Mode line. This time you set it to AHCI, Save and Exit. Now, with that prepared and your diskette drive installed in the new machine, you boot from the Win XP Install CD. Early in the process there is a screen prompt asking whether you need to install additional drivers, and instructing you to push "F6" if you do. (You say you're somewhat familiar with this.) If you do nothing the prompt disappears and the process continues. But if you push F6, the system prompts you to place the diskette with the required driver(s) in the floppy drive - the Install process can ONLY load drivers form a floppy disk. Do that and follow the instructions. It will load the first driver you tell it to get, then come back and ask whether there are more to load. If there are, do the process again until all drivers are loaded, then tell it to exit and proceed with the normal Installation. At this point you have just provided Win XP with the proper driver(s) to actually use that AHCI device, and it will add those drivers into itself permanently so that it always can use the SATA AHCI drives from now on. This way you do get to use all of the latest features of this hardware.

 

[abudaan]

I have done it this way:

1) Go into the BIOS and on the Main page go to IDE Configuration. Set "Configure SATA as" to "Standard IDE"

2) Install Windows XP in the regular way, so without pressing F6

3) Once XP is installed perform all necessary updates

4) Go to Control Panel -> Device Manager. In IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers, you'll probably see "Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller". We are going to update these drivers.

5) Download the Intel Matrix Storage Manager. Choose the file IATA88ENU.exe and install it. You might have to restart your computer.

6) Download from the same page the file f6flpy3288.zip for 32 bit computers or f6flpy6488.zip for 64 bit computers. Just unzip the files to a folder on your harddisk.

7) In the Device Manager right click on "Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller" and select "update driver".

8) Select "Install from a list or specific location", click next

9) Select "Don't search. I will choose the driver to install", click next

10) Choose "Have Disk" and browse to the location where you have upzipped the files of step 6). (If your computer asks you to insert a disk into drive A: just click cancel)

11) Choose the file iastor.inf and now you will see 3 choices displayed:
- Intel(R) 82801FBM SATA AHCI Controller
- Intel(R) 82801FR SATA AHCI Controller
- Intel(R) 82801GR/GH SATA AHCI Controller

12) Pick the right controller depending on your hardware, for my Asus P5LD2 deluxe i chose 82801GR/GH

13) Reboot your computer and enter the BIOS again and on to the Main page go to IDE Configuration

14) Now set "Configure SATA as" to "ACHI" and you're done!


Most of this information i got from this blog