SATA QUESTION - PLEASE HELP!!

damian44 · 11 Mar 2006 at 09:11

Hi,

I am in the process of building a new pc and I desperately need some advice.

I have a MSI RD480 Neo2 Crossfire motherboard and I am istalling Windows xp64 prof onto a Maxtor 250Gig IDE drive but I have also added a new Western Digital Raptor 150GB to the mix (this is my first encounter with an sata drive!) BUT windows doesn't see it at all!

I know it is there as when I go into my Bios settings I can see it but thats it - I cannot install the drivers as they came on a floppy (and I don't have a floppy drive) and when I try and install them durinmg the whole installing windows bit (press f6) it will not allow me to use a CD as a source for the drivers.

PLEASE help as it is driving me mad (literally!!)

Matrix · 11 Mar 2006 at 09:55

I'm in the same boat at the moment my SATA system drive went down but i have a syatem on a old IDE drive. That boots up great but it won't see my SATA drive at all that has games and programs on it.
I've tried all my settings in my bios on my ABIT- kv8-max3 board but still no go.

Fourstar · 11 Mar 2006 at 10:20

Damian, I'm afraid you'll have to go and buy or borrow a floppy drive. There is no way install the controller drivers from anything but floppy unless you already have windows installed.

Matrix said:
my SATA system drive went down but i have a syatem on a old IDE drive

You mean like it stopped working/died? From windows you will be able to install drivers for the controller your SATA drive is on.

Go to the Abit site and download the latest drivers for your SATA controller -
"VIA SATA Driver" from here
http://www.abit-usa.com/products/mb/drivers.php?categories=1&model=150

then run the installer.

semi-pro waster · 11 Mar 2006 at 11:16

You can 'slipstream' the drivers onto your Windows CD using a program like nLite I believe, there is more information on how to do this both in this forum and in the Windows forum.

That said the easiest thing to do is to just use a floppy drive out of an old machine or borrow a mates if you are installing Windows onto the new Raptor. If you want the Raptor as a slave to the Maxtor then you can install the drivers in Windows.