Help Needed For Win XP Pro Installation

Hi, I have just built a brand new PC and I'm having trouble installing Win XP Pro. When I insert the disc for the first time, it goes through seup and what not, but eventually tells me there is no HDD installed and it will restart in 15 secs. For the record, I have a Maxtor SATA 120GB HDD. Are there any special procedures I must go through to get Windows to install or will it only install on an IDE HDD, in which case I will have to use my other HDD.

 

You need to press the 'F6' key as the installer first starts up, and provide your SATA driver floppy before the installer will be able to detect your SATA drives.

 

Thanks for the prompt reply. Any idea where I can get a driver from as I wasnt given one.

 

If your SATA controller is integrated on your motherboard, try the motherboard manufacturer's website.

 

Help Needed - SATA Driver At Windows Setup For HDD

Ok, I have got as far as pressing F6 at setup and then selecting the relavent controller from those listed after inserting the floppy disk. I then get a message saying "file iastor.sys could not be loaded. The error code is 512. Setup cannot continue". Any ideas?

 

Just a note -

The SATA driver has to be introduced during the first few seconds of the installation. Rightly mentioned by AT (F6).

Before you boot the computer with the CD in the drive. Make sure you have a floppy disk with the drivers in the floppy drive as set-up will look for the drivers straight away as you press the F6. If the drivers are not there you will need to start again.....

After that is is really straight forward.

Good luck!

 

Ok I have progressed to the point where I have selected the partition of my HDD and formatted it. Problem now is that it says setup cannot copy the iastor.sys file. It has 3 options: Try again (same response), skip (problem persists at a later stage, cannot progress), and cancel setup (self explanatory). What am I doing wrong? I have done everything suggested here and on the setup document for my motherboard (a gigabyte GA-8I915P DUO Pro for the record). Can anyone help me?

 

After some reading, i found a similar problem to yours.
I don't if it'll work in you case, but it's worth a try!
Read Here, and pay attention to the last post (15)

 

I did actually try this earlier on in the day (found it on google search), but no luck I'm afraid. Thanks anyway! I just dont understand why this particular file wont copy seeing as it is there.

 

Maybe you could try putting the file on a CD instead of a floppy?

 

Still no luck I'm afraid. Any more suggestions? Is it even possible to install Win XP on SATA??? If so, did anyone have this problem I'm having or can they tell me how they got around it?

 

I relly understand you frustration. But again, I have to say that once I got on top of the SATA driver, set-up went a treat. Never had any hitches.

I am not implying anything but check whether the file actualy exist on the installation disk. If you can put the disk in another PC and search for the file on your CD. I hate to ask but have you ever manged a successful install from your CD, i.e. on an IDE drive? One of the first thing I noticed is that IT professionals always ask - "Did it work before.....?"
I think (and I might be BSing....) it might be that the file is not there or corrupted in some way.....

Try installing to an IDE drive and see....

Let the forum know....

 

Right! I have sorted it completely! How, I dont know LOL! All I can recall doing was changing something in BIOS and changing the onboard SATA connector. Whether one or both things were to blame, I dont know. Anyway, I'd just like to thank everyone very much who took the time to reply to my posts. I'll certainly recommend this site to all of my friends!

Regards, Matt