[Ham-Computers] RE: XP with SATA Harddrive

[WA5CAB at cs.com]

Fortunately, I kept this old post of Aaron's.  Last year I bought a notebook 
(laptop) from Gateway and although they did ship it with XP instead of Vista, 
it was XP Media Edition, which lacks LAN capability.  So I ran into the same 
problem when I tried to install XP Pro.  Only in spades.  I downloaded the SATA 
driver OK and put it onto a CD.  Then I discovered that the code that runs if 
you press F6 will only look for a floppy drive, not a CD or DVD.  And this 
laptop has no floppy and no place to put one.  And I don't have an external USB 
floppy drive.

Anyway, nLite solved the problem.

In a message dated 1/3/2008 1:11:16 PM Central Standard Time, 
aaron.hsu at nbcuni.com writes: 
> Did you get my last e-mail?  Along with the list of WinXP drivers for the 
> C700, it included instructions on how to install WinXP with a SATA drive.  
> I'll send it to you again.
> 
> For others interested, WinXP doesn't support SATA out-of-the-box.  You 
> either need to disable "native" SATA mode or use the <F6> install method when 
> installing WinXP.  Disabling "native" SATA will reduce performance, but it 
> usually doesn't make a difference in WinXP.  However, most would prefer to get the 
> most performance out of their system, so using the <F6> method is the way to 
> go.
> 
> Below is a snippet from the e-mail I sent Loren.  If anyone has any Q's, let 
> me know.
> 
> 
> 73,
> 
>   - Aaron, NN6O
> 
> 
> *****************
> 
> One definite issue you'll run into is that Windows XP doesn't support the 
> SATA hard drive running in "native" mode.  So, you'll need to install Windows 
> XP using the "F6" method.  Go here and download the "Floppy Configuration 
> Utility".  Then follow the instructions under the "How to install...on a single 
> serial ATA hard drive (F6 install method)" link:
> 
> http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/imsm/
> 
> If you don't use the <F6> method, then the WinXP installer will eventually 
> give you a "no hard drives found" error.
> 
> Another option is to "slip-stream" (add) the drivers into the WinXP 
> installation CD.  There's a great utility called "nLite" that allows you to 
> slip-stream the SATA driver and many other drivers/apps (e.g. chipset support) plus 
> customize the actual WinXP installation.  It's free and you can get it here:
> 
> http://www.nliteos.com
> 
> You still need an original WinXP installation CD to build from, but the 
> resulting installation CD you create is bootable and will work just like the 
> regular WinXP install CD (except it has all your own customizations and apps).
> 

Robert & Susan Downs - Houston
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