New system

S

standin wave

New member
System #3 has new mobo Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe and SATA drive. Just a quick query - I only had 90 minutes sleep, so I can't think straight - can this mobo operate with just ONE SATA drive and no IDE, cos the BIOS cant find it and Win XP cant either??

sw
 
standin wave said:
should I have been able to find it in the BIOS?

sw
Click to expand...

No, you need a driver off the cd that comes with the motherboard - stick that on a floppy disk and when you come to install XP it asks you if you want to install additional drivers (ie SCSI) so you hit F6 and follow the prompts.
 
thanks for your advice, Phil. I have had a load of probs lately

Wireless networking still won't work with AP as wireless repeater

System 1 has big issues with graphics card forcing VPU recover

System 2 awaiting X800XT (salvation)

System 3 mobo and HDD frazzed

System 4 run out of coal, so steam pressure down - I'm amazed it even can manage XP Pro

Other than that ....

Will try yr suggestion tonight, but when we win I might just get the Harveys Bristol Cream out

sw
 
oh what a night! did wot phil said, but win xp disc takes no notice of F6 (reacts to F2 for ASR) so I cant install SATA drive? any ideas folks?

sw
 
umm, strange, its F6 on mine, windows will say press F6 to install third party drivers, I just hold it down until it asks for a disc.
 
well that is weird - some things to check - what keyboard are you using? Is it a wired keyboard or a wireless one? Some keyboards (like the logitech wired USB) require an extra key to be pressed before you can access the F keys! I've had this problem myself where F6 isnt recognised - but it doesnt explain why F2 works???

Make sure you hit F6 firmly and keep it pressed whilst this option appears. The only other way round this AFAIK is to slipstream all the drivers into a Win XP cd. I've just done this with SP1a and a few other service packs. It saves time on installation.
 
sorry to thread hijack but when installing raid and such like do you inseret a floppy or a cd? I have no floppy...
 
name='Phil Stanbridge' said:
You have to insert a floppy, unless you can slipstream it on to the cd prior to installation.
Click to expand...
for some reason the FDD seems to have failed on this system!. I tried wired keyboard, same result! F1 worked to go into RAID config util, F2 works in Windows setup for ASR, but F6 still doesn't

getting hammer ready :mad:

sw
 
Changed FDD, now OK. Tried 3 different Win XP discs, using wired keyboard, and tho BIOS SATA bit sees the 160GB drive, pressing F6 when asked by Windows setup just does nothing. The SATA link is enabled on mobo and other Func keys work (there isnt a func lock or anything on wired keyboard) F1, F2, F3 for instance. Any ideas or back to mobo supplier? It is diff to tell if this is h/w or s/w issue!

sw
 
I have searched web for 'asus sata F6 problem' and found loads of issues with XP and SATA (only) drives. I can't tell from asus site whether this mobo will def work with just a single SATA drive, so I have contacted them with the problem. I might try using an IDE drive to get going first, then take it from there. I have BIOS 1008 and latest is 1011, but the changes don't mention SATA. Will try anything! btw, sorted graphics issue on system 1 - got a beefier PSU and cheap nVidia card.

sw
 
Things looking up!

A m8 at work told me about when he installed a SATA drive and pressed F6 - nothing happens WHEN you press the key, but a message comes up a couple of minutes LATER after the Windows Setup has loaded some files ... GGGRRRRR !!

I have sorted out the machine now with IDE 40GB drive and will have another go at SATA tonight. He also said on his mobo, you had to use the RAID software to setup a mirrored or striped array EVEN when there was only 1 SATA drive - how dumb is that?

sw
 
at last .....

standin wave said:
A m8 at work told me about when he installed a SATA drive and pressed F6 - nothing happens WHEN you press the key, but a message comes up a couple of minutes LATER after the Windows Setup has loaded some files ... GGGRRRRR !!

I have sorted out the machine now with IDE 40GB drive and will have another go at SATA tonight.

sw
Click to expand...
Blimey, what a ball-ache! Copied all SATA files from CD (where txtsetup.oem file is) onto floppy. Pressed F6 during Windows setup. Waited til the end and pressed 'S'. Put in floppy with SATA files. Continued to do a new installation and it found the IDE AND SATA drives. Created a new partition on the SATA, then F3 quit and rebooted into Windows that was already on the IDE drive. Opened Explorer and the SATA drive was there as E, but raw. Formatted the drive whilst in Explorer.

Now I just have to archive 8 hours of digital tapes of the kids swimming onto the drive and it'll be full and I can start messing about again ....

This was a useful link btw, http://www.tek-tips.com/gfaqs.cfm/lev2/67/lev3/70/pid/779/fid/4641

sw
 
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