Ok I'm having some major difficulties installing XP pro on my pc.
Heres my setup:
Motherboard Asus P5ND2-SLI DX
Pentium D 3.2Ghz
4x1gig PC2-4200 DDR2 533 sticks
Zalman Fan
Gigabyte 7800 gtx 256mb
WD Raptor drive 10,000 74gb
JeanTech JNP-500AP case
The main prob seems to be getting the sata hard drive recognised by windows, I have downloaded a few versions of SI3132 sata driver on my old PC and made a disk, then hit F6 as you do at startup to install driver and this seems to get it recognised, so I continue and format drive and partition it (The whole drive, I assume this is ok?), then it all seems to be installing ok, then at about 96 - 97 % done it says 'Cannot install SI3132.sys' error mssge so I hit Esc to skip file, it lists 5-6 more files it cant install (all appear to be from the driver disk I downloaded) then I get BSOD with what appear to be all different errors every time! I have tried the driver from ASUS site and from my HD manufacturers site (manufacturers didnt even work at all. If I dont use any drive disk I get to the format and partition screen and no HD is listed. Also I have upgraded the BIOS to latest version as recommended, however the exact same errors were happening before, so new bios didn't change anything....to do with this prob. Any suggestions gratefully accepted.

Ta!

Below is a link to what should be the correct drivers for your SATA drive. Be sure you have the drive connected to the correct port according to the Manual. You want the "Make nVidia nForce Chipset SATA RAID Driver Disk".

http://support.asus.com/download/do...

Would I need a RAID driver for a single HD? I thought that was a few linked together? I shall give it a go anyhow, will I need to change BIOS?

Ta!

They are called SATA/RAID drivers. If you only install one drive and do not setup a RAID array the other part of the drivers won't be used. Just make the disk and supply when prompted. Do not remove the floppy until prompted to do so.

I tried with that disk and no drive was recognised in XP setup. (they are all there in BIOS), I have checked the disk and all is well there, I re-formatted it and tried again with the SI3132 SATA driver and again, gets all the way to the end 97-98% then says cannot copy SI3132.sys (and 3-5 other files with SI3132 in the name) then crashes.

Ta!

You may have the drive connected to the wrong SATA port or have the BIOS settings wrong. Some motherboards have many SATA connectors. Some of which are for storage purposes only and can't be used for a boot drive. You should read your manual for a complete understanding of how to connect the drives and set the BIOS.

When you first start the computer you should see ALL drives identified by model and size in the startup screens. If they don't appear there the system will never work.

I might add that many motherboards don't necessarily require you to install any SATA drivers as the BIOS has native support. In those cases the settings in the BIOS are very important. Intel and AMD vary somewhat in that regard and I am not very familiar with the Intel stuff because I have been using AMD for a number of years.

Or you could bypass all of that and just go to Nlite and download their software and then make a windows xp disc with those drivers on them.

Jim R

You may have used a floppy disk with undetected bad sectors on it.

I recommend you use Windows to check your floppy using FULL format. FULL format is slower, but will find and exclude from use any previously undetected bad sectors on a floppy, a common problem these days.
In XP, RIGHT click on A: to find Format, DO NOT use the Quick format switch, format the floppy. After the format has finished, RIGHT click on A:, choose Properties - Free Space should be 1,457,664 bytes for an error free floppy. If it is less than that and the floppy is less than about 7 years old, I recommend you don't use it - it will probably get worse. Format another floppy instead.
....

If the SATA controllers have RAID support built in, if you are given the choice in Setup to choose between non-RAID and RAID drivers, it usually DOES NOT work to choose the non-RAID drivers. Also, if there is more than one model number listed, make sure the model number matches that of the chip(s) on your mboard. The RAID drivers include support for non-RAID use, you do not need to setup a RAID array unless you choose to, and in any case you usually can't set up a RAID array unless you have two or more hard drives on (a) controller(s) that support(s) RAID.
......

As OtheHill has pointed out, if you set the bios Setup so the SATA drive / drive controller is in IDE compatible mode, you don't need to load SATA drivers when you run Setup and Setup will see the SATA drive no problem. If you want to install the SATA drivers later after Setup has finished, you can do that, then change the bios setting to SATA (AHCI) or RAID (SATA RAID or AHCI RAID) support, to enable the full 300mbps data burst speed the drive and the SATA controller are capable of.

I wouldnt know where to put them on a cd or in what directory or anything!!

Ta!

daniel

If your last response is directed toward #6 you don't need to know where to put them.

There is some work involved in slipstreaming the drivers into your Windows CD but it can be worth it. You can also include missing service packs and updates if desired.

However, you do need a computer with a burner that is running Win2000 or XP in order to create the disk.

Tubesandwires,
I have noticed that the hard drive is not listed in with the main optical drives in bios, however it is listed in Boot menu in bios where you can list drives seperatlely.

When booting there is no mention on very first boot screen when detecting ide drives (only dvd, cd-rom etc) then if you hit DEL for setup, you go to a boot screen which lists 'SI sata driver 3132 ver. 7.??' and lists HD, THEN into BIOS menu's. So its there but maybe not where it should be......

Ta!

In #5 I said the drive must show in the startup screens. You may have the drive connected to a disabled or non boot SATA port.

I don't know what screen you are seeing that lists a driver.

Just a thought,

4gb of RAM might just be too much for XP to handle on instal. I recall reading a lot about exceeding 3gb in XP.
I would suggest reducing the amount of ram during the instal and re-insert the extra after the job is done.

I used to have a signature but it disappeared and I just couldn't be bothered writing another so please feel free to ingore this.

Ok just to let peeps know, I have managed a clean XP install after going down to 2 gb ram and moving 1 s***ing SATA lead to a different plug, ironing out a few other issues at mo so will prob post again, but in mean time thanks for all advice so far ;-)

Ta!