XP + SATA Drivers

dss · 1 Oct 2008 at 17:02

Hey, i'm wanting to install XP (SP2) on my pc due to the fact that my pc isn't very powerful and vista is hogging recourses.

When i try usually, XP installer cannot recognise any of my HDDs (WD160AAJS - the OS/Programs). I know this is most likely due to it not having drivers for the HDD, but i have no clue how to fix it. Thanks

rpstewart · 1 Oct 2008 at 17:06

I assume this is a SATA drive?

You'll either have to supply the correct SATA controller drivers to the XP install via the usual F6 route or preferably set the appropriate SATA channel to run in IDE / legacy mode. This has no performance impact but will allow XP to be installed without extra drivers.

dss · 1 Oct 2008 at 17:10

Thanks, yeh it is a SATA drive.

How would i 'set the appropriate SATA channel to run in IDE / legacy mode', and would this mean i would need to install the drivers once i have installed XP?

rpstewart · 2 Oct 2008 at 10:22

You should be able to change the controller mode in the system BIOS. You'll still have to install the controller drivers once XP is installed, they're normally bundled into the motherboard chipset driver package.

bledd · 2 Oct 2008 at 10:23

what motherboard do you have?

will help us help you

t31os · 2 Oct 2008 at 10:56

If it's not picked up from the get go, chances are it's an older board, you just need to stick the sata drivers onto a floppy and have that in when you boot from the XP installation CD, then when it starts loading up, it will say press F6 if you need to load additional drivers, so hit F6 and point it at the floppy disk.

Should be good to go from there.

Alternatively if you know how to slipstream your XP CD then you could just add them onto the CD, of course this would mean you need another PC to do that on... and burning a CD. If you don't know what i mean by that, just use the floppy drive method.