Guest James Egan Posted July 22, 2008 Posted July 22, 2008 When I attempt to install XP Home on a clone PC, I get to the point where the install says something like "Setup is checking your hardware configuration". That's when the screen goes black, the hard drive light remains on, and it just hangs. This PC doesn't have a floppy drive, so I purchased a USB floppy. However, during the install process, I'm never prompted to insert a floppy disk with drivers. How can I get the installer to recognize the SATA drive if I'm not prompted for the drivers? -Thanks
Guest sgopus Posted July 22, 2008 Posted July 22, 2008 RE: How to be prompted for SATA drivers during installation? USB floppy won't work. unless your Bios supports it, else you would have tow ait for windows to load and that's too late. have you run the hardware check to ensure your pc is compatable with XP? What do you mean clone pc? "James Egan" wrote: > When I attempt to install XP Home on a clone PC, I get to the point where > the install says something like "Setup is checking your hardware > configuration". That's when the screen goes black, the hard drive light > remains on, and it just hangs. This PC doesn't have a floppy drive, so I > purchased a USB floppy. However, during the install process, I'm never > prompted to insert a floppy disk with drivers. How can I get the > installer to recognize the SATA drive if I'm not prompted for the drivers? > > -Thanks > > >
Guest Anna Posted July 22, 2008 Posted July 22, 2008 Re: How to be prompted for SATA drivers during installation? "James Egan" <jegan472@comcast.net> wrote in message news:wNydnc2cPoULohjVnZ2dnUVZ_uidnZ2d@comcast.com... > When I attempt to install XP Home on a clone PC, I get to the point where > the install says something like "Setup is checking your hardware > configuration". That's when the screen goes black, the hard drive light > remains on, and it just hangs. This PC doesn't have a floppy drive, so I > purchased a USB floppy. However, during the install process, I'm never > prompted to insert a floppy disk with drivers. How can I get the > installer to recognize the SATA drive if I'm not prompted for the drivers? > > -Thanks James: A few days ago you posted a plea for help with the subject-name "Windows XP Hangs at Beginning of Install". As best as I can make out your present post is identical (or nearly so) to your previous post except now you're using a different subject-name. You had a number of responses to your prior post, including mine. Just out of idle curiosity, did you see those responses, and if so, do you think it would be helpful as well as considerate if you referred to them and indicated your reaction to them? Anna
Guest James Egan Posted July 22, 2008 Posted July 22, 2008 RE: How to be prompted for SATA drivers during installation? On Mon, 21 Jul 2008 19:17:01 -0700, sgopus wrote: > USB floppy won't work. unless your Bios supports it, else you would have tow > ait for windows to load and that's too late. > have you run the hardware check to ensure your pc is compatable with XP? > What do you mean clone pc? > My BIOS does support USB floppy drives. By clone PC I mean that it's no-name brand 3.2 GHz celeron, with SATA hard drive. Should Windows prompt me for drivers before it checks the PC's hardware configuration?
Guest sgopus Posted July 22, 2008 Posted July 22, 2008 RE: How to be prompted for SATA drivers during installation? no, it will check the hardware then later in the install process it will display a prompt saying press f6 to install drivers. even after you press f6 it will not immediately ask for those drivers, the request will show at a later time in the install process, to insert the floppy for the drivers. "James Egan" wrote: > On Mon, 21 Jul 2008 19:17:01 -0700, sgopus wrote: > > > USB floppy won't work. unless your Bios supports it, else you would have tow > > ait for windows to load and that's too late. > > have you run the hardware check to ensure your pc is compatable with XP? > > What do you mean clone pc? > > > > > My BIOS does support USB floppy drives. By clone PC I mean that it's > no-name brand 3.2 GHz celeron, with SATA hard drive. Should Windows > prompt me for drivers before it checks the PC's hardware configuration? > >
Guest James Egan Posted July 22, 2008 Posted July 22, 2008 Re: How to be prompted for SATA drivers during installation? On Mon, 21 Jul 2008 22:20:58 -0400, Anna wrote: > > James: > A few days ago you posted a plea for help with the subject-name "Windows XP > Hangs at Beginning of Install". As best as I can make out your present post > is identical (or nearly so) to your previous post except now you're using a > different subject-name. You had a number of responses to your prior post, > including mine. Just out of idle curiosity, did you see those responses, and > if so, do you think it would be helpful as well as considerate if you > referred to them and indicated your reaction to them? > Anna I did respond to one or two. This is a different question. Now that we've established that the problem is a lack of SATA drivers, the question becomes how to install them.
Guest Daave Posted July 22, 2008 Posted July 22, 2008 Re: How to be prompted for SATA drivers during installation? "James Egan" <jegan472@comcast.net> wrote in message news:vtadnSEBGoXS0RjVnZ2dnUVZ_vudnZ2d@comcast.com... > On Mon, 21 Jul 2008 22:20:58 -0400, Anna wrote: > >> >> James: >> A few days ago you posted a plea for help with the subject-name >> "Windows XP >> Hangs at Beginning of Install". As best as I can make out your >> present post >> is identical (or nearly so) to your previous post except now you're >> using a >> different subject-name. You had a number of responses to your prior >> post, >> including mine. Just out of idle curiosity, did you see those >> responses, and >> if so, do you think it would be helpful as well as considerate if you >> referred to them and indicated your reaction to them? >> Anna > > > I did respond to one or two. This is a different question. Now that > we've established that the problem is a lack of SATA drivers, the > question > becomes how to install them. Actually, I agree with Anna; your problem is most likely *not* due to a lack of SATA drivers. And even that was the problem, starting a new thread is not helpful to those who are trying to help you. Have another look at Anna's post; you really need to answer those questions if you want to receive the highest quality assistance.
Guest Patrick Keenan Posted July 22, 2008 Posted July 22, 2008 Re: How to be prompted for SATA drivers during installation? "James Egan" <jegan472@comcast.net> wrote in message news:wNydnc2cPoULohjVnZ2dnUVZ_uidnZ2d@comcast.com... > When I attempt to install XP Home on a clone PC, I get to the point where > the install says something like "Setup is checking your hardware > configuration". That's when the screen goes black, the hard drive light > remains on, and it just hangs. This PC doesn't have a floppy drive, so I > purchased a USB floppy. However, during the install process, I'm never > prompted to insert a floppy disk with drivers. How can I get the > installer to recognize the SATA drive if I'm not prompted for the drivers? > > -Thanks The prompt you're missing, which never mentions the word "floppy", is well before hardware detection. It's just after Setup starts, and in IIRC the lower left of the screen says "press F6 to add drivers". You will then be prompted again for various things and finally the system will look for drivers on the A: drive. However, I've found that sometimes this doesn't work, on the system I'm writing on at this moment, for example. It's sometimes necessary to set the BIOS to use the SATA drives in a non-AHCI or "legacy" mode, which will reduce performance and allow the install to proceed normally. Once Windows is installed properly, you re-install the SATA drivers from within Windows, then reboot to the BIOS and change back to AHCI. Note, however, that XP includes support for some SATA controllers and you *do not need* to add drivers. You can tell if this is the case very easily; Setup will fail just after loading files when it can't find a hard disk to install to. So, if your system got to the Setup phase where the GUI hardware detection occurs, it's already found the SATA drive and doesn't need drivers. The problem is something else entirely. It looks to me like your system has a basic hardware defect or incompatibility, and it isn't the SATA drive. HTH -pk
Guest Patrick Keenan Posted July 22, 2008 Posted July 22, 2008 Re: How to be prompted for SATA drivers during installation? "James Egan" <jegan472@comcast.net> wrote in message news:vtadnSEBGoXS0RjVnZ2dnUVZ_vudnZ2d@comcast.com... > On Mon, 21 Jul 2008 22:20:58 -0400, Anna wrote: > >> >> James: >> A few days ago you posted a plea for help with the subject-name "Windows >> XP >> Hangs at Beginning of Install". As best as I can make out your present >> post >> is identical (or nearly so) to your previous post except now you're using >> a >> different subject-name. You had a number of responses to your prior post, >> including mine. Just out of idle curiosity, did you see those responses, >> and >> if so, do you think it would be helpful as well as considerate if you >> referred to them and indicated your reaction to them? >> Anna > > > I did respond to one or two. This is a different question. Now that > we've established that the problem is a lack of SATA drivers, the question > becomes how to install them. From your description, I personally do not think that the problem has anything to do with SATA drivers or a lack of them, because if XP Setup actually needs them and doesn't have them - it won't find a hard disk and Setup will abort with a very clear message that there's no hard disk to install to. There's no way to be mistaken about the cause, the message is explicit. Setup does not hang if drivers are required, it halts and tells you why. XP Setup will not allow you to get to the point you seem to be getting to if it can't find the hard disk, and if it does find the hard disk and begin the install, it doesn't need SATA drivers. Therefore, if you are getting to the point I think you are, SATA drivers or lack of them are *not* at issue. If it's actually copied files to the disk, SATA drivers aren't the problem. If you want to be sure to exclude SATA drivers as an issue, go into the BIOS and turn off the AHCI support, which will put the drive into a "legacy" mode that doesn't require any drivers. Add the drivers later after Windows is running, and then reboot to the BIOS and turn AHCI back on. You can be sure that if turning AHCI off doesn't resolve the problem, the problem has nothing to do with SATA drivers. HTH -pk
Guest Bruce Chambers Posted July 23, 2008 Posted July 23, 2008 Re: How to be prompted for SATA drivers during installation? James Egan wrote: > When I attempt to install XP Home on a clone PC, I get to the point where > the install says something like "Setup is checking your hardware > configuration". That's when the screen goes black, the hard drive light > remains on, and it just hangs. This PC doesn't have a floppy drive, so I > purchased a USB floppy. However, during the install process, I'm never > prompted to insert a floppy disk with drivers. How can I get the > installer to recognize the SATA drive if I'm not prompted for the drivers? > > -Thanks > > Don't wait for a prompt. As soon as it says "Setup is checking....," press <F6>. (Oh, and be sure Legacy USB support is enabled in the BIOS, just in case, since you're using a USB floppy. -- Bruce Chambers Help us help you: http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375 They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. ~Bertrand Russell The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has killed a great many philosophers. ~ Denis Diderot
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