Will XPCreate solve my SATA Problem?

[Spoke Lee]

Here is my problem (taken from my topic on the andandtech.com forums):

So I finally get my system setup, but I can't install windows cause it wont detect my hard drive. So I call tyan and I find out I gotta put in the IDE disk that has the sata drivers on it at the setup by hitting f6. But it wont read the disk. I fixed this by flipping the ide ribbon over. So everything is going good untill the **** thing says the file si3114.sys cant be copied, retry, skip, or cancel. I skipped it and there were a bunch of other files it say the same thing about. So I skipped, and it reboot to start installing windows after partitioning, and I got a bsod telling me the drive isnt gonna work and crap.

I know the disk isnt corrupted because I even made my own disk and it didnt work. I read around online and found that the disk may not be set up right as you have to put certain files in the root of the floppy and some in a folder. But the files on mine are all in the root. Just in case this is the problem, here is a copy of the txtsetup.oem file:

; This file installs the SiI 3114 non-RAID serial ATA driver as part

; of text mode setup on Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP,

; and Windows Server 2003.

;

; Copyright © 2003 by Silicon Image, Inc.

; All rights reserved

[Disks]

disk1 = "Silicon Image SiI 3114 SATALink Driver Installation Disk",\si3114.sys,

[Defaults]

SCSI = Si3114_XP

[sCSI] ; HwComponent section

Si3114_XP = "Silicon Image SiI 3114 SATALink Controller for Windows XP/Server 2003"

Si3114_NT = "Silicon Image SiI 3114 SATALink Controller for Windows NT 4.0 and 2000"

[Files.SCSI.Si3114_XP]

driver = disk1,si3114.sys, Si3114

driver = disk1,SiWinAcc.sys, SiFilter

inf = disk1,SI3114.inf

dll = disk1,SilSupp.cpl

catalog = disk1, Si3114.cat

[Files.SCSI.Si3114_NT]

driver = disk1,si3114.sys, Si3114

inf = disk1,SI3114.inf

dll = disk1,SilSupp.cpl

catalog = disk1, Si3114.cat

[HardwareIds.SCSI.Si3114_XP]

id = "PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_31141095", "Si3114"

[HardwareIds.SCSI.Si3114_NT]

id = "PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3114&SUBSYS_31141095", "Si3114"

[Config.Si3114]

value = ProblemDevices, "", REG_SZ, ""

value = ProblemDevices, "Maxtor 4D060H3 DAK05GK0", REG_SZ, "MaxMode = UDMA-5"

and here are all the files on the floppy:

readme.txt, si3114.sys, sisupp.cpl, si3114.inf, txtsetup.oem, si3114.cat, driverlanguagemap.xml, si3114.mpd, sisupp.vxd, and siwinacc.sys

The os im trying to install is xp pro and my system stats are as follows:

Tiger K8W S2875 dual atx mobo

2 opteron 250 processors

2 gigs (1gbx2) of pqi turbo reg ecc pc3200 ram

bfg geforce 6800 ultra oc vid card

74 gig raptor drive

300 gig 16mb cache maxtor

poineer 108 dvd burner

Anyone have any ideas?

thanks

update - I've been rearranging the files on the disk, no luck so far.

update -tried a floppy I made using the Sil3114 RAID Disk creation utility from asus.com, same problem

update -Im on the phone with tyan and so far I have switched the ribbon cable and the cdrom its attached to, plugged it into the primary ide, and used different ram, still no luck.

update - Ok I just got off the phone with tech support, and I tried a usb floppy drive, and set it to raid instead of ultra in the bios and used the other driver disc, and no luck. They told me to call back monday, and they will look into it further after talking to some people at their lab.

[BaTLeZone]

1-what kind of mb is it

2-looks like one of the SATA the XPC has biult into.

d/l XPCREATE and try making a auto install cd with your OS and your SATA drivers. I made one with win2000 and it work 1st time round. Read through this forum SATA has been talked about quite abit u should be able to find the info u need to do it.

[brelfielfan]

spoke lee,

i just spent all weekend pretty much doing the same thing you did. I got the exact same errors bsods and all that stuff. I have the ASUS A7N8X-dx mobo. The way I finally got it to work was by switching a jumper on my motherboard to allow raid. Then I did a Bios reset to defaults after flashing the bios. Then I hit F6 during xp install and used the sata drivers provided by asus on the cd, and put them on a floppy. it found the drive, installed drivers, and formatted 200gb seagate sata, then installed windows with no problem. (I say no problem, but this was the 30th try) I think one of the main things is that I was using an unattended XP Pro SP2 CD. I went back to using just a plain winxpsp2 cd and then it seemed to work.

So it was the combination of one or 2 of those things that actually allowed it to boot.

Now windows is much faster on a 7200rpm sata instead of that 5400 ide i had on there!

I know that wasn't a good explaination but if you need me to elaborate on more details let me know.

[GreenMachine]

@Spoke Lee: Any updates?

@brelfielfan: That sounds like quite a bit of work! Good job getting it going, and thanks for adding that!