XP SP2 with SATA install loops

[Breezy]

Hi

I'm trying to move my hard drive setup (XP with SP2) to a new machine that has a SATA drive and a tablet. It's a Fujitsu T4220. To that end I ghosted my existing drive, with >100gb of programs to the new hd, then I'm creating a slipstream to reinstall XP tablet over the existing XP install on the ghosted disk.

I created a simple slipstream with only the add'l SATA drivers and XP tablet edition. I also embedded the key from XP tablet in the slipstream. My problem is that it reads the slipstream, installs the textmode drivers, copies install files to a folder, then reboots. The reboots starts the whole process over.

Any ideas on what or how many things I'm doing wrong?

BTW, I read thru 8 sheets of posts and saw that many problems can be related to multiple nlite files so I started a new one each time.

[johnhc]

Breezy, did you see any error messages? You see nothing of the GUI mode? Please attach (not paste) your Last Session.ini. Make sure to always start with a fresh copy of your CD files/folders, do all your work in one nLite session and integrate only one SP. Please report when you have a solution, so others can benefit. Enjoy, John.

[Breezy]

Here's the last one I tried. I've been trying out a variety of options, especially with the unattended settings, to no avail. I wouldn't get an error message. It would just text that Windows was restarting, like it's a normal part of the install.

It seems the issue is that the SATA drivers would only work while the system was running from the install CD. After the restart it couldn't find the hard drive and asked me to touch a key to boot from the CD.

I'm going thru all this just to keep from having to reload all my stuff from many years. I did this very thing for my last few PCs except that I had a real XP install CD and the disk drivers were always IDE drives. This time though I have the XP tablet edition (no real CD for that apparently) and I'm using a SATA drive.

Oh that Windows was actually made to update, like Macs seem to be. All program files in a single folder .. reminds me of the simplicity of the DOS days .. sigh

LAST_SESSION.INI

[johnhc]

Breezy, gotta run, but please post the link to your text mode drivers and try ComputerType = Automatic. Catch you later this evening. Enjoy, John.

[Breezy]

John

Thanks for chiming in to help. I did try the automatic computer setting with no change. Also, the drivers I used are the same ones in this article ..

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=107504

I used ..

32bit_Intel_textmode_driver_v8.9.0.1023_WHQL(2).zip and

Intel_INF_Drivers_9111014_ready_for_nLite.rar

The problem seems to be that the install copies files to an install folder then starts to reboot, and then cannot boot the hard drive so it reverts back to the CD boot and the install starts all over again. Any thoughts?

[Ponch]

What exactly do you choose in the menus, as I understand you dont modify nor format any partition.

Having the message "press any key to boot from cd" means it does see the HDD so I don't think it is a driver problem.

[Breezy]

I see a choice of partition to install to, and then a choice to format partitions, which I don't do, and I choose to install to the partition with Windows already installed. The last time I tried it actually came up and warned me about installing over Windows and how it can cause problems. That was the first ite I got that however. I'm going to try the repair option in nlite and see what that gives me next.

What exactly do you choose in the menus, as I understand you dont modify nor format any partition.

Having the message "press any key to boot from cd" means it does see the HDD so I don't think it is a driver problem.

[johnhc]

Breezy, you must choose Prompt Repair in Unattended Mode to use the Repair option. If one of your previous tries started at all into install, then your old installed Windows is gone and Repair will not work, I suspect. I would like to see a link to the manufacturer's site for the computer (main board, if home build) driver download. Is your SATA drive set to AHCI mode in the BIOS? Enjoy, John.

[Breezy]

Breezy, you must choose Prompt Repair in Unattended Mode to use the Repair option. If one of your previous tries started at all into install, then your old installed Windows is gone and Repair will not work, I suspect. I would like to see a link to the manufacturer's site for the computer (main board, if home build) driver download. Is your SATA drive set to AHCI mode in the BIOS? Enjoy, John.

It seems that repair only gives me a dos prompt on the drive. It doesn't repair anything. Is this the way it's supposed to be? Also most of the folders, except for "windows" are "access denied".

[Breezy]

OK. It seems that if I skip the first repair option and choose to install Windows it will give me a choice to repair my existing Windows install. We'll see how that works ..

[johnhc]

Breezy, there is a long discussion about what 'Repair' means. If you are interested, then do a search on it here. What you got is the Recovery Console, so that you could "repair" your Windows. You did not get the Repair Reinstall. Which you may get when you skip the first one. What you got is normal. Please let us know what you learn. You did not answer my last reply. Enjoy, John.

[Breezy]

OK. It ran the full install BUT it still won't boot from the C drive. Now I THINK my problem is that I ghosted an IDE drive image to the SATA drive. Looking into that now ..

[Breezy]

I used a program called EZ Gig 2 to ghost my drive images and I was able to actually get someone on the phone about it. He said IDE to SATA is fine BUT .. before ghosting I HAVE to UNINSTALL (not just turn it off) my antivirus software or else my new SATA drive won't boot. BTW, I use AVG but it doesn't matter .. according to these guys any AV program will have to be uninstalled. Does that sound right to you guys?

[Breezy]

John

Sorry I didn't reply .. I've been posting but I guess I missed your question which was ". Is your SATA drive set to AHCI mode in the BIOS?"

The answer is yes, it is set to AHCI. What about the AV program needing to be removed to successfully ghost a drive? Have you heard of that before? BTW in my research Norton Ghost DID have problems ghosting from IDE to SATA, though I guess in later versions they fixed it ..

[johnhc]

Breezy, sorry, I know nothing about GHOST and am not a Norton fan. I have also not heard about needing to remove your AV. Try Safe Mode (F8 during boot). If it works, you can go to Add/Remove and remove AVG. Please let us know, and for your info, you can EDIT your post and add stuff to it. Enjoy, john.