Hard drive / Win xp installation problem

Praetorian

Hi all,

I just bought a brand new 74GB SATA 10,000 RPM Western Digital Raptor. I'm having awful trouble installing Windows XP on the drive.

I get to the 3rd reboot every time (everything installs perfectly) and then I'm left with a blank screen, the windows starting logo doesn't even appear. I can press F8/F10 for 'further options' but none of these will boot the machine.

I've tried two copies of WINXP, so it's highly unlikely both cds are corrupt. WIN2k installs perfectly, so I don't think there is a physical problem with the drive. Unfortunately I need WINXP on the machine.

I've tried different partitions, NTFS / FAT32, Logical and Primary. I've tried different partition sizes from 30 gigs to 74 gigs. I have set the partition to active when trying Fat32.

My motherboard seems fine because my old hard drive still boots perfectly!

Frankly I've ran out of ideas. :dunno: HELP ME PLEASE!

Zombrex

The only problem I ever had with WinXP and S-ATA is that XP Install didn't have the drivers to recongise the drive. At the start of the install when it said press Esc (or what ever) to install 3rd party drivers, and I inserted a floppy with the Silicon Image drivers for my S-ATA controller. Everything worked fine from then on.

That isn't really what is happening to you, since the installation is seeing the drive when you are installing, but it might be something to try, just incase the installation program can see the S-ATA driver but the main WindowsXP install doesn't have to correct drivers.

Just copy the S-ATA drivers to a floppy and when the install program asks you insert the floppy.

Probably won't do anything but you never know with Micro$oft.

Praetorian

I have tried installing WIN XP with the drive plugged up to the SATA Raid interface which does require drivers, and I've tried the normal SATA interface which doesn't need drivers. Same result.

Thanks for your suggestion though!

jim_bob

if you have 2 video cards in your machine switch to the other card had sort of the same problem with installing xp before was picking up the on boards card as default

unkel

Is your XP by any chance a bootable cd that you created yourself from an XP cd and than streamlined it with SP1?

I know that can create the exact same problem

If this is the case, try installing XP from a non-SP1 cd

If you get that far into the installation, it is not an issue relating to a driver for the HDD

Praetorian

I've tried a WINXP CD without sp1, and WINXP with sp1 integrated.

I only have one graphics card.

Thanks for your replies!

moridin

How feasable would it be to install XP on the other HDD and boot off that, with the SATA being used for just storing stuff?

I have 2 SATA drives myself and they work perfectly with XP. Your problem sounds nasty, and it does sound like you've tried a fair few other options to work around it.

Praetorian

I would like the raptor to be my boot drive, because it was so expensive and it is a very fast drive. It seems pointless using a performance (yet relatively small drive) purely for file storage

unkel

I presume you have tried as well with all unnecessary cards (audio, modem, usb, riser cards, network, etc.) taken out of the system, as well as all on-board functionality BIOS disabled

What internet connection do you have? If it is broadband (always on) and you have your ethernet / usb plugged in during installation, it might be an XP licensing issue

Edit: Obviously you want the Raptor as your system partition - that's the only reason you bought it

Is it very fast? You saving up for another one for RAID0? :cool:

moridin

Originally posted by Praetorian
I would like the raptor to be my boot drive, because it was so expensive and it is a very fast drive. It seems pointless using a performance (yet relatively small drive) purely for file storage

True, but hey, it'll tell you if the problem is a hardware incompatibility or not... it's worth a test.

unkel

Originally posted by moridin
True, but hey, it'll tell you if the problem is a hardware incompatibility or not... it's worth a test.

Valid point

Praetorian

Problem finally sorted.

I somehow decided to try and install without Smartdrv running and it worked (took hours). I have not got a clue why it did work, but hey you know computers, they kind of defy logic

unkel

What? So you were upgrading from a 16 bit OS (win98, win95, me) rather then installing anew were you? I came across this back in '96 installing NT

If not I'm