Fernando 1

@ quaternary: Thanks for the detailed informations. I assume, that the mainboard of your Dell Desktop has an Intel ICH6R Southbridge. This is what I recommend for you: Preparations: 1. Download and unzip >this< already prepared textmode driver. 2. Enter the BIOS, search for the "HARD DISK BOOT PRIORITY" option and make sure, that the hard drive, where you want to boot off, is on top of the list. 3. Insert the original (untouched) XP SP2 or SP3 CD and boot off it. Don't hit F6. After having loaded some in-box drivers, the XP Setup will come to the point of the decision, where the OS should be installed. There are 2 possibilities: a ) Your hard disk drives will be detected by Windows Setup. Consequence: You will not need to load or integrate any Intel textmode driver. b ) Your hard disk drives will not be detected. Reason: Your SATA hdd(s) are running in AHCI or RAID Mode. Consequence; You have to load or - better - to integrate a suitable Intel textmode driver. Integration procedure: Create a bootable XP CD with integrated Intel textmode driver according to my giuide. Special advices: 1. Integrate just the special textmode driver I have linked to above (contrary to the actual ones it will support Intel ICH6R RAID and AHCI systems). 2. When you get the textmode driver popup window with the list of different Intel SATA Controllers, check the ones with an "ICH6" within the name. Good luck! Fernando

Maybe I was wrong with my last post. After having done a deeper look into the TXTSETUP.OEM and AHCIx86.INF file of the 32bit AMD/ATI textmode driver for Windows XP I found out, that AMD/ATI obviously has put the word "RAID" into the names of all "AHCI" devices (Controllers and Console). This is strange and absolutely misleading. @ Volt: I think, that you really are running your SATA hdd in AHCI Mode (as your BIOS settings verify) and can be sure, that the AHCI features (hot plugging and NCQ) are supported. S.M.A.R.T. is no AHCI feature. If the used SATA drivers do not give you the S.M.A.R.T. informations although it has been enabled within the BIOS, you can get the informations nevertheless by using the tool CrystalDiskInfo. You can get it here: http://crystalmark.info/software/CrystalDi...fo/index-e.html

@ quaternary: Welcome at MSFN Forums! Please give some informations regarding your pc system (name of the vendor and name of the mainboard/notebook/desktop). Are you just running a Linux OS now?

The picture of your Device Manager shows, that you are running the AMD/ATI SATA Controller in RAID Mode (and not in AHCI Mode). You should make sure, that RAID is disabled and S.M.A.R.T. enabled within the BIOS.

@ duanvcd: Welcome at MSFN Forums! If you want to integrate them into a Windows XP (32bit) CD, you may download the already prepaired AMD/ATI SATA AHCI driver from here. It can easily be done similar to my guide for Intel's textmode drivers (first post of this thread).Regards Fernando

Maybe I misunderstood your post, but you wrote the following: Where did you find any .REG file within my guide (= start post of this thread)?

@ soepkip: Please look into my last post, because I have added an information.

@ soepkip: Welcome at MSFN Forums! Fine, that you succeeded with the installation of Windows XP and that you are able to run your SATA Controller in AHCI Mode. You are not able to get the Intel Matrix Storage Manager Console installed, because your Intel ICH8 SATA Controller is not supported by Intel's official driverpack. By the way: You will not get much profit by using the Intel Matrix Storage Manager Console, because you are not using RAID. If your mainboard has the BIOS option to set the SATA Controller to "AHCI Mode", you can be sure to get the AHCI features after having enabled the option and successfully installed the modified Intel SATA AHCI driver. Additionally you may look into the "IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers" section of the Device Manager, if the Intel® ICH8 SATA AHCI Controller is listed.EDIT: Can't you get these settings by opening the "Properties" of your hdd within the Device Manager?

@ ChiefZeke: This is the thread about how to integrate the Intel SATA AHCI and RAD drivers into a Windows XP CD and not a thread about how to repair different running Windows Operation Systems after having changed the BIOS settings regarding the SATA Controller from IDE to AHCI mode. @ cdob: Nevertheless I want to thank you for your post, which answers some of ChiefZeke's questions.

This only works, if you have the AHCI Mode SATA hdd outside the active hdd (with the boot sector and the OS). The latter is correct (see above). You will not able to get Windows XP installed onto your SATA hdd running in AHCI Mode, unless you load (F6) or integrate the needed AHCI driver.

I suspect, that it's an issue of your SATA connected optical CD drive, which has boot problems while running in AHCI Mode. You may search for a firmware update to solve the problem. So you got XP running at least? This would verify, that you took the correct AHCI textmode driver.

Yes.

What does mean "it didn't work"? Has your hdd not been detected by the Setup or did you just get a BSOD? Did the amended XP source content the Intel textmode driver? It is wellknown, that the USB connection is much faster than the optical drive one. Even much faster is the OS installation off an eSATA drive.

This is not strange at all, if you let the machine boot on its own.You have to hit any key when prompted, if you want to boot off the XP CD. Usually this s not necessary. Once the hdd is detected by the XP Setup, you can choose the partition, where you want to get XP installed, and format it by using the NTFS file system.

You hopefully know, that the actual XP version is the one with integrated SP3. Why don't you slipstream SP3 instead of SP2? Any reason why it wont work with XP SP2 though? I guess I could try my SP2 source and slipstream SP3 into it as well.Ok, I thought that you didn't know the actually available SP version. There is just 1 driver named IASTOR.SYS, but this driver s supporting a couple of different Intel® SATA Controllers. Yes, it will (unless the SATA hdd is not connected to any of the supported SATA Controllers). AFAIK this information is not correct.

Take the v6.99 ones. The actual v10.x.xx series nForce IDE drivers do not run with NF4 systems. You should never integrate the LEGACY driver folder, if you are going to additionally integrate the SATA_IDE driver folder. So the options area ) just LEGACY (as textmode driver) or b ) SATARAID (textmode) and SATA_DE (PnP). I always prefered the SATARAID + SATA_IDE combination, because only this way you will get WHQL certified drivers installed. No, these are HDAudio drivers. What you need are the Realtek AC'97 Audio Codec drivers. You will get the latest ones from here: http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downlo...etDown=false#AC

So you will succeed, if you just follow my guide.Some advices: 1. Don't integrate anything else than the 32bit Intel textmode driver v8.9.0.1023 (WHQL). 2. When you get the textmode driver popup, just choose the Intel® ICH8M-E/M SATA AHCI Controller. 3. If you should get any problems while installing Windows XP, yo may need to remove 1 RAM stick prior to the OS installation procedure. Good luck! Fernando

No, that is a wrong conclusion of my post. It is no problem to get Windows 2000 installed onto such system, but the AMD/ATI SATA Controllers should be set to "IDE Mode". That means, that the AHCI support of the SATA Controllers have to be turned off within the BIOS. No, my post is just a logical conclusion of the fact, that no AHCI supporting W2k drivers are availble. W2k is an OS, which was developed at a time where AHCI support was not actual at all. Double answer: Yes.

You hopefully know, that the actual XP version is the one with integrated SP3. Why don't you slipstream SP3 instead of SP2?

Why that? The Intel Matrix Storage Manager drivers are the same as the Intel textmode driver you have already integrated. It's just another name for them.

So your hdd has been detected by Windows Setup and you could choose the partition where you want to get XP installed? If yes, you obviously have integrated the correct textmode driver and enabled the suitable Intel SATA Controller.Now to your BSOD: If it happens at last reboot, you should try to reboot this time in safe mode (F8). You will see the detailed error message, if you hit F8 and choose the F8 option "Don't reboot at system failure". Further questions: 1. Which options of nLite have you used and which drivers did you integrate besides the Intel textmode ones? 2. How much RAM does your system have? 3. Is there another hdd connected? If yes, did you check the "HARD DISK BOOT PRIORITY" BIOS settings?

Yes, since the hdd of your system obviously is connected to an Intel SATA AHCI Controller, you should follow my Intel textmode driver integration guide (= first post of this thread).

I dont know how to get the details since i cant access device manager and i cant find anymore info in the documentation that i have DL'd from the dell web site.This is what you have written about your system: Dell has never produced such notebook. The correct name probably will be Vostro 1510.As long as you don't know the vendor of the SATA Controller chip, where your hdd is connected, it is not easy to help you. If you don't succed by integrating the drivers I have linked within my guide (start post of this thread), I recommend to choose the "ATA" BIOS option. After having done that you will be able to get Windows XP installed by booting off the original (=untouched) Windows CD.

Which "SATA driver" did you integrate and which of the listed Controllers did you enable? All textmode drivers usable for Windows XP contain a file named TXTSETUP.OEM. You obviously have integrated the wrong driver or checked the wrong SATA AHCI/RAID Controller while integrating it. You either took the wrong driver or did not check the appropriate Controller.It is impossible to give you any advice unless you give us some details regarding your mainboard/notebook (vendor, name, chipset and Southbridge chip) and the textmode driver you have integrated (vendor and version). No, if you have integrated the driver, you should not press F6 when prompted. Otherwise Windows Setup will not find the path to the needed textmode driver.

@ spnmn: Welcome at MSFN Forums! Please give me some details about the Southbridge (not the system management chipset) of your laptop and the drivers you have integrated. You can choose any INF file and nLite will copy them all.By the way: The INF files you have mentioned are part of the Intel chipset drivers, which are ot needed at all to get Windows XP installed. Wht you probably need are suitable textmode drivers (AHCI or RAID) depending on the Southbridge chip, where your SATA hdd is connected. Usually not, unless you used a tool which broke the unvisible track 0 settings. You need to take 32bit drivers (64bit ones will not work with any 32bit OS), but you won't need any chipset driver.I repeat: The only driver you probably have to integrate is the suitable 32bit textmode driver. The correct driver depends on your Southbridge chip and the SATA Controllers BIOS settings (SATA or RAID Mode).