XP & ATA Card problem

Mixie

I'm not sure if this is in the right place, feel free to move it...

Basically I've got a Highpoint Technology HPT366 Ultra DMA 66 PCI Controller Card in my pc - and connected to it one 20GB Maxtor HD. Thats the only thing on the card - the reason being that 1)none of my DVD/CD-ROM/Burner/Zip drive's work when connected to the card, and 2) Windows XP wont install if I dont have at least one HD connected to my Motherboard ... For some strange reason, some combinations of drives dont work, so PC is currently set up as follows:

Primary (mobo) :: 1st 30gb Quantum, 2nd Yamaha Burner
Secondary (mobo) :: 1st Matasha DVD-ROM, 2nd 100mb Zip Drive
Primary (ATA card) :: 1st 20gb Maxtor


Now, with the above combination, I've installed Win98se to the maxtor drive (C:), with no problems. When I started installing Win XP I ran into a snag, since it couldnt read the Maxtor, and it was set to first boot device, when setup rebooted the PC - it booted 98 and screwed the setup. Soooo ... into the BIOS I went, and changed the boot order, ran setup again, did a full win XP install, BUT - now, although XP can see the Maxtor drive (in device manager) it wont read the partition on the Maxtor drive....

Its Fat32, the same filesystem on the XP Partition.

Any suggestions as to how I can view the partition on the Maxtor from Win XP? Would the problem be the Operating System, or the Card?

Mixie

*bump*

_CreeD_

It sounds like new need a new XP driver for the PCI-ATA card.

Mixie

Thanks for replying CreeD, but there is no Win XP driver - people are instructed to use the Win2k drivers... This would imply the driver that I am using *should* work properly, no? In any case, my WinXP device manager shows the Maxtor drive, just My Computer (etc.) won't show any partitions on it...

TacT

have you tried accessing it from the run prompt?

try >>run>d:\ or c:\ or E:\ or F:\ and see if you can access it that way, sounds to me like something went belly up while upgrading, If I was there I'd re-install and use the default ide drivers that are installed with XP for your ide devices.

Try convert it to ntfs and see if it picks it up then ..........dunno

Mixie

Thanks for replying anni, I've been meaning to do it myself. I ran a bunch of tools, all of em said that there was no disk in the drive (wtf?), then at Gerry's suggestion tried installing Win2k - which worked perfect. I then formatted the drive, reinstalled WinXP, and its working fine now - although I did nothing different in pre/post-install... ? I cant explain it, I'm just hoping next time the PC goes belly-up and I have to reinstall it'll work

Saruman

Your problem installing XP (or 2k/NT) with all hdd's on the ATA card sounds simple, unless im not understanding you right and its a diff problem to what i think... you need to install the drivers before install.. basically as setup is starting you press F6 (xp tells you, the others you have to get it right) during the initial copying setup files, it will then give you a prompt to specify scsi devices, put in your floppy with the drivers (must have oemsetup.txt) and hey presto it will see the card and all drives.

As far as Highpoint goes... not a fan... i use a promise card which works so much better.. i can stick anything on it even my zip, dvd etc... Best of all XP has drivers for it built in.

TacT

aye, I think Saruman put the nail in the coffin for you, be aware next time!