bearsfolks

Thanks, again, Fernando1.

Thanks, Fernando 1, for your extremely detailed response! I thought that the reasons for the changes was probably what you had said, but I was just guessing, and it is reassuring to have it confirmed. Also, after I had posted my question, I did stumble across the issue regarding Flash Drive Mode. I had updated all the drivers, after installation, using the updated drivers on Dell's site as well as Intel's Driver Update Utility before I found this thread. I will probably be repeating this kind of reinstallation on my desktop, and have bookmarked your guide for that time. Just one last question, which is why do you think there were 2 Primary IDE Channels in the original installation? Again, thanks for your guide, and for your response to my question.

Need help with specific issues in reinstalling XP Pro SP2 w SATA for Vostro 1500 I’m trying to reinstall XP Pro on a 3-year old Vostro 1500 that was running Xp Pro, Sp3. I’m using the Dell XP SP2 disk. Despite the fact that the Dell disk contained the SATA drivers, when I looked in Device Manager, I found that the HD was seen as an IDE drive, and not a SATA drive. So, using nLite, I added the file "iaahci.inf" from the Dell driver R154200. When nLite asked me which textmode driver to pick, I selected the 2 that had “ICH8m” in their names, i.e, “Intel® 82801HEM SATA RAID Controller (Mobile ICH8M-E)” and “Intel® 82801HEM/HBM SATA AHCI Controller (Mobile ICH8M-E/m)”. One more thing—I also changed the SATA Operation settings in BIOS from ATA to AHCI. The installation went smoothly, although I haven't checked all the components. However, I noticed a change in Device Manager. The old Device Manager showed the following information: , while the new one shows: Should I be concerned about, and what should I do to fix: 1. The loss of 1 Primary IDE channel. 2. The first entry used to be "Intel® ICH8M 3 port Serial ATA Storage Controller - 2828", and is now "Intel® 82801HEM/HBM SATA AHCI Controller". 2 more issues: 1. Should I change the "SATA Operation" in BIOS back to ATA? 2. Also, the "Flash Cache Module" is "Off". Should I enable it? I have found Intel drivers that seem to be appropriate for the ICH8M 3 port on the Internet, but don't know if I should also include them if I have to do a new slipstream. I must confess that when it comes to chipsets, their drivers, etc., I have a (somewhat intelligent?) monkey-see-monkey-do approach. Thanks in advance for any help, particularly, as a friend reminded me today of a saying attributed to Confucious: There are few rewards but many disadvantages to fixing/upgrading a spouse's computer