[SOLVED] An unorthodox approach, I need help with Windows XP

[tke1now]

I recently installed fedora 9 and joined this forum for help with a couple of issues. I got very useful advice and was able to solve all of my problems
I know this is the Linux Forum, but I have a problem with Windows XP and I am not having much luck finding answers, so I thought I might try an unorthodox approach and post in here as it seems a lot of people use both Windows and Linux on the same machine.

I just installed a SATA drive on my machine, running an AMD 3200 on a A8V deluxe board. Drive is recognized in the bios, but Windows XP (svc pk2) is not recognizing the drive.
I have the bios set to run the drive in IDE imulation mode.
I read somewhere that I needed to install some SATA drivers from a floppy.
I haven't used a floppy drive in 5 years.
(I've got one but it isn't installed on my system, does anyone still use floppy drives???)
Can anyone offer me some advice on how to get XP to recognize the drive?
I have the CD that came with my MOBO, and I guess I could use the drivers on that to create a floppy drive.
Just seems rediculous to me that I have to install a floppy drive and make a diskette to install a SATA drive.
Any advice?

Thanks for taking the time.

BTW, I haven't tried it yet, but will Fedora recognize my SATA drive??

[techieMoe]

I have a similar motherboard/harddrive setup on one of my computers (Rig 2). The last time I had to install Windows XP I ended up having to dig a floppy drive (and disk) out of mothballs, boot from another XP computer, download the driver disk utility program from the harddrive manufacturer and run it, then pop the disk in when the XP installer says "Load driver from a disk."

I agree, it's a serious pain in the rear and no modern OS should force you to use a floppy disk during the installation. Unfortunately that was the only way I was able to accomplish getting XP on the drive. If someone else has a better solution please do speak up.

On that last note, yes, any relatively new Linux distribution will detect your SATA no sweat.

[HROAdmin26]

No, XP does not have support for many (most?) SATA chipsets, so it won't find your HDD.

You can:

A) Hit F6 during install and insert a floppy with the driver on it.
B) Use a USB stick that's "emulating" a floppy - BIOS must support it, blah, blah.
C) "Slipstream" the driver into your XP CD image.

This.info.is.all.over.the.interwebs.and.Google.

[tke1now]

Can you guys clarify something for me please?
I'm not installing XP.
I've installed a SATA drive on an existing XP box for additional storage.
I don't want to reinstall XP.
Are you guys saying that is that my only option?
I have a floppy drive and can install it in my box, I just never thought I'd need it for anything ever again (guess it's good I didn't throw it out).
I just can't believe that is my only option.
What's the bit about slipstreaming drivers in on a CD?

I searched through numerous links on google on this, and they are all refering to installing XP on a SATA drive.
Again, I'm not installing and I don't want to reinstall.

[HROAdmin26]

If the OS is booted off an existing drive and you added a SATA controller, then in Device Manager you should have a new/unknown device - the SATA controller.

Install the driver for the SATA card from CD/driver download/whatever and that's it.

If the SATA controller is onboard, did you ever install the driver for it? Can you use the SATA and PATA ports at the same time? Is the SATA controller definitely *enabled* in the BIOS? Is the disk definitely not listed in Device Manager and/or Disk Management?

Why is this posted on Linux Forums again?

[tke1now]

I know, I know.
It's posted here because to be perfectly honest, I believe the people on this forum have a lot more "computer know how" than I have found on windows forums.

[br_prashant]

so.. did you get it fixed?

[tke1now]

Got it fixed last night.
I fixed it by putting in the CD that came with the motherboard and going into device manager, manually updating the driver for SCSI devices to the SATA driver that was on the CD.
After a reboot, my drive was found.
Went into disk management, initialized and did a quick format to the drive.

thanks for the time and interest.