Installing OS on SATA Drive

Richard Alexander wrote:
 > I've just installed my first SATA hard drive in my new computer. I put
 > my Windows XP Home CD in the DVD drive and booted up my computer.
 > Windows XP installation ran ... but Windows did not detect my SATA
 > hard drive.
 >
 > I'm using a FIC AU-13 motherboard with an AMD Athlon XP 2200+ and 1
 > Gig of RAM (2 sticks of 512 Meg). POST detects and correctly
 > identifies the SATA drive during boot up as the primary device. I've
 > used this CD to install Windows on several parallel hard drives (no,
 > it's not installed or activated on any other hard drive at the
 > moment), and it's usually a straightforward process. I've tried
 > disconnected all my other hard drives and leaving only my SATA drive
 > connected, but then Windows cannot find any drives at all. Why won't
 > Windows install on (or even detect) my SATA drive?


The SATA hard drive is seen by the BIOS, but not by Windows. You will need
to download, unzip and copy the Silicon Image SATA drivers to a floppy.
During the first 30 seconds of install Windows will ask you to press F6 for
SCSI/RAID drivers. Do so. A little later, insert the floppy when prompted.
The rest of the install should go smoothly.

<a rel="nofollow" style='text-decoration: none;' href="http://www.fic.com.tw/support/motherboard/drivers.aspx?model_id=118" target="_blank">http://www.fic.com.tw/support/motherboard/drivers.aspx?model_id=118</a>

<a rel="nofollow" style='text-decoration: none;' href="ftp://ftp.fic.com.tw/" target="_blank">ftp://ftp.fic.com.tw/</a>
 >> Stay informed about: Installing OS on SATA Drive 

"J.Clarke" wrote in message ...
 > On 5 Jan 2004 06:41:05 -0800

 >
  > > I've just installed my first SATA hard drive in my new computer. I put
  > > my Windows XP Home CD in the DVD drive and booted up my computer.
  > > Windows XP installation ran ... but Windows did not detect my SATA
  > > hard drive.
  > >
  > > I'm using a FIC AU-13 motherboard with an AMD Athlon XP 2200+ and 1
  > > Gig of RAM (2 sticks of 512 Meg). POST detects and correctly
  > > identifies the SATA drive during boot up as the primary device. I've
  > > used this CD to install Windows on several parallel hard drives (no,
  > > it's not installed or activated on any other hard drive at the
  > > moment), and it's usually a straightforward process. I've tried
  > > disconnected all my other hard drives and leaving only my SATA drive
  > > connected, but then Windows cannot find any drives at all. Why won't
  > > Windows install on (or even detect) my SATA drive?
 >
 > Have you installed the device driver for the SATA host adapter?

Device driver? What device driver? OH-H-H-H! THAT device driver!
 >> Stay informed about: Installing OS on SATA Drive 

"S.Heenan" wrote in message ...
 > Richard Alexander wrote:
  > > I've just installed my first SATA hard drive in my new computer. I put
  > > my Windows XP Home CD in the DVD drive and booted up my computer.
  > > Windows XP installation ran ... but Windows did not detect my SATA
  > > hard drive.
  > >
  > > I'm using a FIC AU-13 motherboard with an AMD Athlon XP 2200+ and 1
  > > Gig of RAM (2 sticks of 512 Meg). POST detects and correctly
  > > identifies the SATA drive during boot up as the primary device. I've
  > > used this CD to install Windows on several parallel hard drives (no,
  > > it's not installed or activated on any other hard drive at the
  > > moment), and it's usually a straightforward process. I've tried
  > > disconnected all my other hard drives and leaving only my SATA drive
  > > connected, but then Windows cannot find any drives at all. Why won't
  > > Windows install on (or even detect) my SATA drive?
 >
 >
 > The SATA hard drive is seen by the BIOS, but not by Windows. You will need
 > to download, unzip and copy the Silicon Image SATA drivers to a floppy.
 > During the first 30 seconds of install Windows will ask you to press F6 for
 > SCSI/RAID drivers. Do so. A little later, insert the floppy when prompted.
 > The rest of the install should go smoothly.
 >
<font color=purple> > <a rel="nofollow" style='text-decoration: none;' href="http://www.fic.com.tw/support/motherboard/drivers.aspx?model_id=118</font" target="_blank">http://www.fic.com.tw/support/motherboard/drivers.aspx?model_id=118</font</a>>
 >
<font color=purple> > <a rel="nofollow" style='text-decoration: none;' href="ftp://ftp.fic.com.tw/</font" target="_blank">ftp://ftp.fic.com.tw/</font</a>>

Thank you so much for you advice. I did a bit more digging around on
the Web, and found that I could copy the driver files from my
motherboard drivers CD. Once I had them in the root of the floppy
(instead of in a sub-directory), the installation went smoothly.

I have to wonder... would SuSE Linux 9 have required a similar
procedure? Or, would it have included the drivers in the installation
materials? I would have to reformat my serial driver to test for
myself...
 >> Stay informed about: Installing OS on SATA Drive 

Richard Alexander wrote:
 > Thank you so much for you advice. I did a bit more digging around on
 > the Web, and found that I could copy the driver files from my
 > motherboard drivers CD. Once I had them in the root of the floppy
 > (instead of in a sub-directory), the installation went smoothly.
 >
 > I have to wonder... would SuSE Linux 9 have required a similar
 > procedure? Or, would it have included the drivers in the installation
 > materials? I would have to reformat my serial driver to test for
 > myself...

I forgot to mention the drivers on the driver CD. Glad to hear it worked.

As for the Suse9 distro, you could check in alt.linux.suse,
comp.os.linux.help or alt.os.linux.suse for more information.
 >> Stay informed about: Installing OS on SATA Drive 

"S.Heenan" wrote in message ...
 > Richard Alexander wrote:
  > > Thank you so much for you advice. I did a bit more digging around on
  > > the Web, and found that I could copy the driver files from my
  > > motherboard drivers CD. Once I had them in the root of the floppy
  > > (instead of in a sub-directory), the installation went smoothly.
  > >
  > > I have to wonder... would SuSE Linux 9 have required a similar
  > > procedure? Or, would it have included the drivers in the installation
  > > materials? I would have to reformat my serial driver to test for
  > > myself...
 >
 > I forgot to mention the drivers on the driver CD. Glad to hear it worked.
 >
 > As for the Suse9 distro, you could check in alt.linux.suse,
 > comp.os.linux.help or alt.os.linux.suse for more information.

Thank you for referring me to these other groups.

I would like to report that my copy of SuSE Linux 9, which I bought
from Outpost.com a few weeks ago, is able to find and install on my
SATA drive without any driver intervention on my part. Windows XP
requires me to tell it to look for SATA drivers (and the SATA drivers
must be in the root of a floppy disk) every time I boot from the
Windows CD.

Additionally, I got my copy of V Communications Partition Commander 8
this week. The program can run entirely from the bootable CD.
Partition Commander 8 also find my SATA hard drive entirely on its
own, without needing any external drivers added. I have created, moved
and deleted several partitions on my SATA drive, entirely from the
software loaded off the bootable CD.
 >> Stay informed about: Installing OS on SATA Drive