A7N8X-E deluxe SATA Win2K install fails

[sultan]

Hello,

I tried several times to install Win2k on a single SATA harddrive (Samsung SP1614C). With F6, I installed the SATA-drivers for the silicon v10050 drivers found at
ftp://ftp.asuscom.de/pub/ASUSCOM/TREIBER/CONTROLLER/IDE/SILICON_IMAGE/
and there are always errors:
Sometimes i get a plain BSOD saying either "KMODE_EXCEPTION not handled" or "irq less than or equal to(...)" right after Setup attempts to "start Windows 2000" or something like "Si3112r.sys: error in line 163". Once even I managed to choose the dest. partition, copy the files and when Windows started up for the first time to continue the installation, yep, I got the BSOD once again. The odd thing is 1.) installing Linux, e.g. Slackware was no problem at all and 2.) no matter what I tried , trying to update the BIOS always gave me "checksum" errors and 3.) all of the above was reproducible on an identical box (only the cpu differed, the other one had a athlon xp3000+).

My hardware (x2):
Athlon XP2800+ (other one: 3200+)
Asus A7N8X-E deluxe rev 1
sapphire radeon 9800pro
768mb of 3rd party ram not being on asus' compatibility list, but proven ok (twice)
samsung spinpoint sp1614c

I have the raid jumper enabled, the boot sequence is CDROM, SCSI (tried also hdd0 instead), boot other=off . I tried different versions of the driver from different sites. I tried different floppy disks since they are older ones and possibly not working, and different floppy drives. That problem also exists when trying to install Win XP.

My questions.: 1.) What am I doing wrong? 2.) Could it be that a crappy floppy drive controller produces random errors on the floppy disks without the OS recognizing them when writing? Because I copied the files from an older box. (this could explain the really strange fact of aditionally not being able to flash the bios).

thanks in advance

 

[RealBlackStuff]

Welcome to Techspot

Did you partition and format the HD already?
Have you tried it with the drivers that came with your mobo?

 

[sultan]

I already got the answer: It seems that either the floppy controller from my third computer produced random errors (more possible IMHO) or that all(!) of the seven floppy disks i own were crappy. However, copying the drivers from ftp.asuscom.de on newly bought floppy disks with a notebook floppy drive finally worked, thanks nonetheless.

 

[RealBlackStuff]

If you know how to, slipstream SP4 into W2K, then burn a bootable CDrom.
No more fiddling with floppies.
The "how to" is readily available either on this forum (use search) or on the www (use Google).

 

[Didou]

You'll still need a floppy with the SATA drivers if you wish to install Windows 2000 on a SATA drive. Otherwise the setup process will not be able to detect any hard drives & will exit.

You don't have that problem with motherboards where SATA is natively supported.:blackeye:

 

[Buffe]

I need to install My new Seagate Baracuda (S-ata) and BIOS find the disc but when i´m going to install Windows on it then windows can't find any hard-discs so i need sata-drivers for my motherboard (ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe) I did not get a floppy with drivers with the motherboard so where can i download the drivers for this?

 

[Didou]

Search Feature is your friend.

• SATA HD Drivers for XP

I've installed WindowsXP on an A7N8X-E a few weeks ago. I just needed to download the Silicon Image drivers located HERE (4.38mb).

Obviously the contents of that file are too big to put on a floppy. The only thing you need to have on your floppy are the following files (all located inside the zip file you've downloaded):


* Si3112r.inf
* Si3112r.mpd
* Si3112r.sys
* SIISUPP.VXD
* SIWinAcc.sys
* TxtSetup.oem


With these files on a floppy, once loaded at the beginning of the XP install procedure, it will find your SATA HDD & offer you the option to install XP on that drive.

PS. Welcome to TechSpot. Hope you enjoy your stay.:wave:

 

[RealBlackStuff]

You could also burn those SATA drivers on the same afore-mentioned CD, there is plenty of space left for any other drivers as well.
Direct Setup to that directory when asked.

 

[Didou]

That's the problem, the 2K/XP setup will only look in A: for such files & you do not have the option to direct it anywhere else. Sad but true.