Troubleshooting SATA Drive Installation Issue

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around troubleshooting an issue with installing Windows on a newly connected SATA drive. Participants explore various technical aspects, including BIOS settings, driver requirements, and installation procedures, while also considering alternative operating systems like Linux.

Discussion Character

  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested
  • Exploratory

Main Points Raised

  • One participant reports that the SATA drive is detected but not recognized during the Windows installation process, leading to installation failure.
  • Another participant questions whether the issue is with the drive itself or the partitioning, suggesting that appropriate drivers may need to be loaded during installation.
  • A different participant successfully installs Linux on the SATA drive, indicating that the drive is functional but raises the question of Windows compatibility.
  • Concerns are raised about whether the motherboard supports SATA drives, with suggestions to check BIOS settings for detection and formatting options.
  • One participant notes that their BIOS does not explicitly list a primary SATA drive, only IDE options, despite successful Linux installation.
  • Another participant inquires about the connection method of the SATA drive, emphasizing the importance of boot order settings in BIOS.
  • Instructions are provided by a participant on how to configure BIOS settings and install Windows, including switching between IDE and RAID modes.
  • There is a discussion about the necessity of providing SATA drivers during Windows installation, with some participants asserting that certain versions of Windows may not include these drivers by default.
  • One participant expresses skepticism about their motherboard's capability to run SATA drives in dual RAID-IDE mode and mentions the need to find a floppy drive for driver installation.
  • Another participant confirms that their experience with a specific version of Windows did not include the necessary drivers, which were resolved by using a floppy drive.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on the necessity of SATA drivers for Windows installation, with some asserting that they are required while others believe certain versions of Windows should include them. The discussion remains unresolved regarding the optimal configuration for the SATA drive and the best approach to successfully install Windows.

Contextual Notes

Limitations include uncertainty about the motherboard's capabilities regarding SATA configurations, the specific requirements for driver installation, and the potential impact of BIOS settings on the installation process.

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I just bought a sata drive for my computer and i connected everthing. i am trying to install windows on this drive. the drive is detected and everything but windows installation does not detect it and as a result the installation process is cancelled. i even turned off the primary ide interface. any suggestions for solving this problem?
 
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What exactly does it say? Is it not finding the drive or just not finding a partition? Did you partition it yet? What kind of hard drive is it? For some hard drive configurations you have to load the appropriate drivers when the windows installation starts.
 
it occurred to me that I should try installing linux instead, and that's just what I did with no problems. so i'll probably try to figure out windows sometime later.
 
is either 2 problem if I am not wrong? Your motherboard supports sata hard drive? 2nd this i suggest you got to the bios mode and detect your hard disk and then trying installing windows by fully reformating the hard disk.
 
well in the bios there isn't anything like a primary sata drive, it is just ide related stuff. however i installed ubuntu linux just fine.
 
Is the SATA drive connected to the motherboard directly or to an add-in card. If it is connected to the motherboard directly, it must show up in "boot order". If not, it will be viewed as a raid card and you have to have that selected in the "boot order" menu.

What motherboard do you have?
 
It is connected directly to the motherboard. I have a MSI 661FM3 motherboard.
 
Windows does not have sata drivers, you need to supply those during the installation by hitting F6 when asked for 3rd party drivers.
 
This is how i installed linux and windows on my sata disk.
Note : Your bios should have facility to run your sata in both ide and raid mode.

1. Disconnect all other drives if you have any at all.
2. Start your computer and go to bios and set your sata disk in IDE mode
3. Install windows. It should happily detect your sata disk now.
4. Install your linux after this, so that grub detects the windows partitions and stuff.
5. Once you are done installing both the OSes, restart your computer and goto bios and set the sata disk to RAID mode. (Do not connect the other drives as of yet.)
7. After setting to RAID mode, check whether the grub is getting loaded from the SATA disk.
8. If the grub got loaded successfully in step 7, then simply connect your other drives and enjoy your new speedy OS running on SATA.

-- AI
Some issues i had to face at times.
1. If your windows crashes at times, the grub may not get detected (just hoping it doesn't happen to you as well). In that case, just disconnect the other drives and just let sata be connected. Restart the PC, and check whether the grub is loaded. Mostly it would, shut down the system and then connect your other drives and restart, it should be fine.
2. Now even after disconnecting all drives and restarting the PC, the grub doesn't get loaded, then at this point, switch to IDE mode and restart. This time it should definitely load the grub. Once it does, restart the PC, switch back to RAID mode. Check if grub gets loaded. It will. Then connect all your drives back and restart and run the PC.

:p I know this is all fiddly, but its happening to me, and i am not able to put my finger on the exact cause of this.

-- AI
 
  • #10
Tenali I don't think that my board allows the running of the sata drives in the dual raid-ide mode so i'll have to find a floppy drive (can't believe i have to use that thing) and try what Triss recommended.
 
  • #11
Triss said:
Windows does not have sata drivers, you need to supply those during the installation by hitting F6 when asked for 3rd party drivers.
Are you sure? Windows XP Professional SP2 should have included all latest drivers.
 
  • #12
I think he's right because I was using a sp2 disk and it did not have the drivers. I did get it to work after finding a floppy drive.
 

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