XP SP2 SATA Fresh Install - USB Stops Working

[Gregorius]

Hi all,

I'm really stuck with this one and wasted countless hours trying different combinations of things to sort it out. I've reached the end of my patience and almost ready to ditch this whole SATA drive as my main OS HDD.

Anyway, what happens is this...

I've installed a Promise TX2plus SATA controller with WD Caviar 250gb SATA Drive in my PC (Medion MD8082 purchased from Aldi a year ago). Its installed fine, and works in Windows - the drive is partitioned and formatted, and i'm able to read/write to/from the drive in windows.

Now I'm trying to install Windows XP SP2 directly onto the Sata Drive, so i can use that as my OS drive, and my current IDE drive as backup. I am able, using the Floppy provided with the SATA Card, to get windows setup to copy all the files to the HDD, and then reboot into the Graphical Setup Interface... at this point, the Mouse and Keyboard stop functioning and i have no way of continuing.

The Motherboard I have has no PS2 ports, so I have to use USB KB and Mouse. I've tried swapping Logitech Mouse for standard MS USB mouse - no good. Also tried various keyboards, also no good. It seems the USB Controller is not functioning at all. I have installed windows numerous times on this PC, so it should work.

I think what is happening here is that the driver installations are stopping and prompting me, asking if i want to install the SATA driver even though it hasn't passed windows testing (this is where i get stuck) before the USB drivers are installed, so I"m not able to use the USB devices to answer that prompt. Bit of a catch-22 really.

So i need a way around this conundrum. Perhaps there is a way to force the setup to accept non-signed drivers? Or to do a full unattended installation? I don't know how to do either of these, so a pointer to some instructions would be great, if you guys think that's the best solution... if you think there's something else i could try, please do let me know.

Hoping to hear back from you guys soon... thanks heaps
Greg

 

[Gregorius]

Okay I've found a great unattended setup cd guide ( http://unattended.msfn.org/ )

also, found somebody else with exactly this same problem...
http://msmvps.com/nuoyan/archive/2005/09/17/66810.aspx

So, do you experts out there think this is the best way to go? Seems a bit tricky doing unattended setups with SATA drives... I think i'll hold back for some other (easier) suggestions before spending a few more hours on this option.

Cheers,
Greg

 

[IronDuke]

You could try a couple of USB-to-PS2 adaptors.

 

[mailpup]

Except his motherboard has no PS/2 ports.......

This may not be an ideal solution but there are PS/2 port PCI cards you can install to enable you to use PS/2 devices through PS/2 ports.

 

[Gregorius]

Thanks for the ideas guys

I've tried to use PS2 keyboard and mouse through a PS2 to Serial convertor, but that doesn't work.

I do, however, have a USB to 2xPS2 connector cable at work which i'll take home this weekend and test out... but i doub't it'd work as the USB stops functioning completely ( i think ).

Not sure about the PS2 card option... seems a waste to buy a card just to install windows. I'd rather spend a bit more time and build an unattended setup CD... still waiting to hear from people if that is likely to solve my problem?

 

[Gregorius]

Yaaaay I managed to solve this problem... i created an unattended setup CD using nLite, and all went well... same thing happened,but this time i didn't have to say Yes to the unsigned driver, so by the time i had to respond again, the usb had been reactivated.

Silly problem, but glad I've found a workaround now. Thanks for the suggestions guys.

Cheers
Greg