XP setup doesn't recognize my hard drive (s) - please help me install XP?

Please help me somehow...

I just built a system from wholesaler, but it didn't come with the OS
installed and now I have a major problem installing windows XP since after I
put the disc into the CDROM drive.... after about 2 minutes it gives me a
message saying something like:

"XP Setup didn't find any hard disk drives installed on the computer....
check the connections, power, software guides etc...."

Then XP Setup has no option but to quit the installation process.

The computer on startup however recognizes my 2 hard drives because I see
the text that appears on startup showing Primary, and Secondary found as my
2 hard drives.

I have P4 chip, with ASUS P4P800 deluxe motherboard.

2 hard drives, one is WD 1200JB 160 GB ATA133 EIDE set up now I guess as
primary master, and the other HD is Maxtor 6Y120L0 160 GB ATA100 EIDE setup
as slave. Both HD are connected on the same bus cable to the RAID port on
the motherboard. The technicians that build the system have prepared the
hardware most likely the correct way. I just can't seem to get XP to
install.

Appendix A: (my use)
I want to use the main hard drive to install my Windows XP and use this
drive
for everything.
I want my 2nd hard drive as a separate drive letter to be only used to copy
backup files when ever I choose. So that I can simply copy over any big
files by dragging them into the backup drive letter on my desktop, the way
my old computer has it setup. Therefore both drives are independent.

Somehow all this RAID 0/1 stuff gets me confused. I don't know if the way
the drives are connected its possible to have what I want described in
Appendix A.

So therefore how am I supposed to get XP to recognize that I have 2 HD on
the system and get XP setup to install windows onto the master HD only.?

Please help, please be clear and explicit since I am novice to this subject.

When attached to a non-IDE controller DOS seeing them or not is less
important than XP seeing them.

If XP doesn't have the proper driver (which it does not for the VIA RAID
controller) then you must provide one during the early portion of setup.

Use the F6 key as mentioned earlier. Don't be confused... what XP needs is
a way to see the controller, it is not relevant whether the drives are RAID
or non-RAID configured. Once it sees the VIA controller then it can see the
drives attached to it!

Good Luck,
Len



"Great Weather" wrote in
message ...
Please help me somehow...

I just built a system from wholesaler, but it didn't come with the OS
installed and now I have a major problem installing windows XP since after
I
put the disc into the CDROM drive.... after about 2 minutes it gives me a
message saying something like:

"XP Setup didn't find any hard disk drives installed on the computer....
check the connections, power, software guides etc...."

Then XP Setup has no option but to quit the installation process.

The computer on startup however recognizes my 2 hard drives because I see
the text that appears on startup showing Primary, and Secondary found as
my
2 hard drives.

I have P4 chip, with ASUS P4P800 deluxe motherboard.

2 hard drives, one is WD 1200JB 160 GB ATA133 EIDE set up now I guess as
primary master, and the other HD is Maxtor 6Y120L0 160 GB ATA100 EIDE
setup
as slave. Both HD are connected on the same bus cable to the RAID port on
the motherboard. The technicians that build the system have prepared the
hardware most likely the correct way. I just can't seem to get XP to
install.

Appendix A: (my use)
I want to use the main hard drive to install my Windows XP and use this
drive
for everything.
I want my 2nd hard drive as a separate drive letter to be only used to
copy
backup files when ever I choose. So that I can simply copy over any big
files by dragging them into the backup drive letter on my desktop, the way
my old computer has it setup. Therefore both drives are independent.

Somehow all this RAID 0/1 stuff gets me confused. I don't know if the way
the drives are connected its possible to have what I want described in
Appendix A.

So therefore how am I supposed to get XP to recognize that I have 2 HD on
the system and get XP setup to install windows onto the master HD only.?

Please help, please be clear and explicit since I am novice to this
subject.

Open the box to see how the two hard drive are connected.

Are they both connected on the same IDE cable to the Primary IDE port (look
at your Motherboard diagram for which one, usually blue).

If they are, that's easier. Next to check the IDE jumper configuration pins
to see if they are setup correctly as master and slave.

a basic guide could be found here

http://www.buildyourown.org.uk/misc.asp

For Jumper settings for the WD HD (under Dual Master)

http://support.wdc.com/techinfo/general/jumpers.asp

Similarly for the Maxtor - but double check with their web page

If they are connected to the RAID controller, it's a different story. If
not using raid, you have to go into the bios and change to IDE instead of
RAID. You have install the driver via a floppy disk at the beginning of the
windows XP installation (press F6).

Good luck

JxD

I think he might be asking if there is no active partition, will XP
set it to active? The answer is that XP Setup can install on a HD
that's not even partitioned at all. If it finds an unpartitioned or
unformatted drive, it will handle that.

Nod, That was my question..
I was just trying to think of "Common" problems as to why ide drives dont
show up in the system

Hello Everyone,

Most of the replies missed the point of my question.

I do not wish to move the drives over to IDE since it will slow down
the entire point of this motherboard. They are now connected over
to the RAID as far as I can see inside the computer box.

So based on what Caroline suggests - pressing F6, things should
work out I guess. I just have to find the disk., I think it is a CD
actually.

If I keep the hard drives on RAID, will they still work out the way
I want them to with only 1 hard drive being used for the operating
system, and the 2nd only showing up as a drive letter on win xp---
whereby I use it as back up?



"JxD" wrote in message
...
Open the box to see how the two hard drive are connected.

Are they both connected on the same IDE cable to the Primary IDE port
(look
at your Motherboard diagram for which one, usually blue).

If they are, that's easier. Next to check the IDE jumper configuration
pins
to see if they are setup correctly as master and slave.

a basic guide could be found here

http://www.buildyourown.org.uk/misc.asp

For Jumper settings for the WD HD (under Dual Master)

http://support.wdc.com/techinfo/general/jumpers.asp

Similarly for the Maxtor - but double check with their web page

If they are connected to the RAID controller, it's a different story. If
not using raid, you have to go into the bios and change to IDE instead of
RAID. You have install the driver via a floppy disk at the beginning of
the
windows XP installation (press F6).

Good luck

JxD

Caroline,

The wholesaler did not supply a disk A floppy.

Thus now what can I do? Can't use CD ROM to
install these drivers can i?


"Caroline" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 5 Jul 2003 11:53:51 -0400, "Great Weather"
wrote:

Please help me somehow...

I just built a system from wholesaler, but it didn't come with the OS
installed and now I have a major problem installing windows XP since after
I
put the disc into the CDROM drive.... after about 2 minutes it gives me a
message saying something like:

"XP Setup didn't find any hard disk drives installed on the computer....
check the connections, power, software guides etc...."

Then XP Setup has no option but to quit the installation process.

The computer on startup however recognizes my 2 hard drives because I see
the text that appears on startup showing Primary, and Secondary found as my
2 hard drives.

I have P4 chip, with ASUS P4P800 deluxe motherboard.

2 hard drives, one is WD 1200JB 160 GB ATA133 EIDE set up now I guess as
primary master, and the other HD is Maxtor 6Y120L0 160 GB ATA100 EIDE setup
as slave. Both HD are connected on the same bus cable to the RAID port on
the motherboard. The technicians that build the system have prepared the
hardware most likely the correct way. I just can't seem to get XP to
install.

Appendix A: (my use)
I want to use the main hard drive to install my Windows XP and use this
drive
for everything.
I want my 2nd hard drive as a separate drive letter to be only used to copy
backup files when ever I choose. So that I can simply copy over any big
files by dragging them into the backup drive letter on my desktop, the way
my old computer has it setup. Therefore both drives are independent.

Somehow all this RAID 0/1 stuff gets me confused. I don't know if the way
the drives are connected its possible to have what I want described in
Appendix A.

So therefore how am I supposed to get XP to recognize that I have 2 HD on
the system and get XP setup to install windows onto the master HD only.?

Please help, please be clear and explicit since I am novice to this
subject.


You need to load the RAID drivers. This fooled me when I first installed
XP onto a RAID system. As Windows Setup is starting it says "Press F6 if
you need to install disc drivers" (that's not quite right but I can't
remember what it said. I *do* remember that it's F6 you gotta press).
Then you load the drivers from the floppy that should've come with the
system saying something like "HPT Driver Disc".

HTH

Caroline



Caroline Picking,
Milton Keynes, England.

On Sun, 6 Jul 2003 10:15:26 -0400, "Great Weather"
wrote:

Hello Everyone,

Most of the replies missed the point of my question.

I do not wish to move the drives over to IDE since it will slow down
the entire point of this motherboard. They are now connected over
to the RAID as far as I can see inside the computer box.

So based on what Caroline suggests - pressing F6, things should
work out I guess. I just have to find the disk., I think it is a CD
actually.

If I keep the hard drives on RAID, will they still work out the way
I want them to with only 1 hard drive being used for the operating
system, and the 2nd only showing up as a drive letter on win xp---
whereby I use it as back up?

Yup, should be fine. I'm using a different mobo ATM but that's the setup
I've got.

You have set the boot order in the BIOS haven't you? On my Abit mobo, I
had to select RAID as the boot disc. Then do the F6 bit for installing
XP. Copy the files from the CD to a floppy - XP will only load the
drivers from the floppy.

(I'm reading this board cos I'm about to splash out on a A7N8X Dlx with
an Athlon 3000)

Regards

Caroline

Caroline Picking,
Milton Keynes, England.

On Sun, 6 Jul 2003 14:22:44 -0400, "Great Weather"
wrote:

Caroline,

The wholesaler did not supply a disk A floppy.

Thus now what can I do? Can't use CD ROM to
install these drivers can i?


Presumably you got a CD with mobo drivers? They need to be copied from
the CD onto a floppy (doesn't need to be a bootable floppy).
Otherwise, collect the info on startup for the make of your RAID chip
and find them on the web. They should be on your mobo maker's website
but people like Highpoint have websites too. Even if that doesn't work,
there are a load of sites out there (can't remember url's...
www.drivershq.com??) with driver collections and I bet you'll find them
there.

Can anyone remind me of some web driver databases?

Best Wishes

Caroline


Caroline Picking,
Milton Keynes, England.

Response inline...
"Caroline" wrote in message
news
On Sun, 6 Jul 2003 14:22:44 -0400, "Great Weather"
wrote:

Caroline,

The wholesaler did not supply a disk A floppy.

Thus now what can I do? Can't use CD ROM to
install these drivers can i?


Presumably you got a CD with mobo drivers? They need to be copied from
the CD onto a floppy (doesn't need to be a bootable floppy).

But he keeps saying the company he got the computer from did not install a
floppy drive so he cannot copy the files to a floppy. Even if he took the CD to
a friend who had a floppy drive, it would not do him any good when he got it
back to his computer since there is not drive to stick the disk into.



Otherwise, collect the info on startup for the make of your RAID chip
and find them on the web. They should be on your mobo maker's website
but people like Highpoint have websites too. Even if that doesn't work,
there are a load of sites out there (can't remember url's...
www.drivershq.com??) with driver collections and I bet you'll find them
there.


Personally, I stick with the mobo manufacturers drivers for all onboard
controllers. I have had problems using drivers from the chip makers websites.
But this is my personal preference.

Can anyone remind me of some web driver databases?

Best Wishes

Caroline


Caroline Picking,
Milton Keynes, England.

On Mon, 7 Jul 2003 23:17:08 -0400, "Paul"
wrote:

Response inline...
"Caroline" wrote in message
news
On Sun, 6 Jul 2003 14:22:44 -0400, "Great Weather"
wrote:

Caroline,

The wholesaler did not supply a disk A floppy.

Thus now what can I do? Can't use CD ROM to
install these drivers can i?


Presumably you got a CD with mobo drivers? They need to be copied from
the CD onto a floppy (doesn't need to be a bootable floppy).

But he keeps saying the company he got the computer from did not install=
a
floppy drive so he cannot copy the files to a floppy. Even if he took =
the CD to
a friend who had a floppy drive, it would not do him any good when he =
got it
back to his computer since there is not drive to stick the disk into.

Oops. Stupid me for not reading the post properly.... I read it as
"don't have a driver disc".

Oh dear.... I think maybe the poor guy's screwed then?

Caroline





Otherwise, collect the info on startup for the make of your RAID chip
and find them on the web. They should be on your mobo maker's website
but people like Highpoint have websites too. Even if that doesn't work,
there are a load of sites out there (can't remember url's...
www.drivershq.com??) with driver collections and I bet you'll find them
there.


Personally, I stick with the mobo manufacturers drivers for all onboard
controllers. I have had problems using drivers from the chip makers =
websites.
But this is my personal preference.

Can anyone remind me of some web driver databases?

Best Wishes

Caroline


Caroline Picking,
Milton Keynes, England.


Caroline Picking,
Milton Keynes, England.