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Problems installing XP on a SATA drive

Discussion in 'PC Hardware' started by fsiaca, 2007/11/14.

  1. 2007/11/14
    fsiaca

    fsiaca Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    I'm not sure if this thread should be posted under hardware or Windows XP. If this is incorrectly posted please move. Thanks.

    I am trying to install Windows XP on a Gateway M465 laptop that has a SATA drive. I downloaded the SATA drivers from the Gateway web site and extracted them to a Sony 2X USB floppy drive, model MPF88E. When XP setup starts I press F6 to load the SATA drivers and XP loads them with no problems. Once the setup continues, (after the licensing agreement) it again asks me to insert the floppy with the SATA driver and press Enter to continue. When I press Enter nothing happens - it seems like setup has stopped reading the external floppy. This is very frustrating. I do not have the Gateway recovery CD. This is the laptop's configuration:
    Hard Drives - Find Upgrades

    60-GB 5400 RPM SATA Hard Drive (CRU) [Part #QND1HDDZYZ0042]

    Notebook Keyboard (CRU) [Part #QND1KBZZZUTAS0]

    LCD Display Panel
    15.4-inch WSXGA LCD Display Panel (FRU) [Part #QND1LDRZZZ02G9]

    Memory
    2024 MB 533 MHZ DDR2 Memory Module (CRU) [Part #QND1SMERZZ0011]

    Motherboard
    945PM w/64MB ATI Video Motherboard (FRU) [Part #QND10MBZZZ16W6]

    Network
    Intel 802.11 Mini PCI Express Wireless Card (CRU) [Part #QND1MIYZZZ05G2]

    Processor
    Intel Core2 Duo Mobile Processor T5600 (FRU) [Part #QNESL9SG]

    Why would setup initially load the drivers and then stop reading the external floppy? Any assistance will be appreciated. Thanks.
     
  2. 2007/11/14
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    When you press F6 you are not loading the drivers, just advising Windows setup that they need to be loaded - at the 'insert floppy disk .....' point.

    At this point the USB drivers have not been loaded so the external floppy will not be seen.

    I don't know if there is a workaround to this save acquiring a Recovery CD from Gateway, but someone else may.

    It may be possible to slipstream the SATA drivers into XP, but you will have to rely on others to confirm.

    I think we'll give this a whirl in the Hardware forum.
     

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  4. 2007/11/14
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff

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    Have you tried without loading the SATA drivers? I have sucessfully skipped that step on a number of desktop computers when prompted to hit F6 to load SATA/RAID drivers.

    As I understand it, XP RTM and XP SP1 did not include SATA drivers but XP SP2 includes some SATA drivers but not all.

    Christer
     
  5. 2007/11/14
    fsiaca

    fsiaca Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Thanks for the info. I have tried to install XP (SP2) without loading the SATA drivers but Windows does not recognize the drive. PeteC, I am curious about the slipstream, but I have no idea how that works.
     
  6. 2007/11/14
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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  7. 2007/11/14
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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  8. 2007/11/14
    fsiaca

    fsiaca Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Thanks for all of the responses. I'm going to check the options and see what I can come up with. The interesting thing about this problem is that XP actually gets to the point of formatting the drive, then once done I get a message saying "Insert the disk labeled Intel Matrix Storage Manager driverinto drive A: Press ENTER to continue. But once I press ENTER nothing happens - it's frozen. But it does format!
     
  9. 2007/11/14
    fsiaca

    fsiaca Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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  10. 2007/11/15
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    Glad to hear of your success - that URL bookmarked for future use :)
     

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