P4SCI Problems

Just got a barebones system with a Supermicro P4SCI, Celeron 2.8, 350W
PS, and 1 GB memory from a well-known supplier with a good reputation.
This is my first time buying a system from them.

This is the only second system I've set up with SATA, so I'm a bit of a
novice.

I'm having trouble with lockups. It seems to be happening randomly.

I'm trying to install W2K using my usual procedure of booting with a W98
floppy, setting up the 80GB sata drive with a single 80GB FAT32
partition using fdisk, formatting, copying the i386 folder from the W2K
CD, and running winnt from the i386 folder on the hard disk.

The lockups have happened while copying the setup files from the CD, and
at various stages of the W2K install. I've never been able to complete a
basic install.

I'm not trying to set up raid.

I ran memtest for a couple of hours when I first received the system,
after installing only a DVD drive and a floppy drive. No errors.

After having the lockups, I removed the 80 GB sata drive and installed
it in the only other SATA system I've built. The install went perfectly.
The drive appears to be OK.

So I called the supplier and talked to tech support. He told me I need
to install the SATA drivers from the motherboard CD. He said he couldn't
help me any more because they don't support software, only the hardware.
Fair enough.

The SATA drivers are only needed for raid, right?

On Sat, 27 Aug 2005 09:40:49 -0400, Joe wrote:

> Just got a barebones system with a Supermicro P4SCI, Celeron 2.8, 350W
> PS, and 1 GB memory from a well-known supplier with a good reputation.
> This is my first time buying a system from them.
>
> This is the only second system I've set up with SATA, so I'm a bit of a
> novice.
>
> I'm having trouble with lockups. It seems to be happening randomly.
>
> I'm trying to install W2K using my usual procedure of booting with a W98
> floppy, setting up the 80GB sata drive with a single 80GB FAT32
> partition using fdisk, formatting, copying the i386 folder from the W2K
> CD, and running winnt from the i386 folder on the hard disk.
>
> The lockups have happened while copying the setup files from the CD, and
> at various stages of the W2K install. I've never been able to complete a
> basic install.
>
> I'm not trying to set up raid.
>
> I ran memtest for a couple of hours when I first received the system,
> after installing only a DVD drive and a floppy drive. No errors.
>
> After having the lockups, I removed the 80 GB sata drive and installed
> it in the only other SATA system I've built. The install went perfectly.
> The drive appears to be OK.
>
> So I called the supplier and talked to tech support. He told me I need
> to install the SATA drivers from the motherboard CD. He said he couldn't
> help me any more because they don't support software, only the hardware.
> Fair enough.
>
> The SATA drivers are only needed for raid, right?

IIRC, they are needed RAID, or no RAID.

In addition, can't you boot off the CD drive and install W2K that way,
instead of messing around with DOS and boot discs?

In article <1wj6n9gxwhu98.ai04jaoiv2z9$.>,
says...
> On Sat, 27 Aug 2005 09:40:49 -0400, Joe wrote:
>
> > Just got a barebones system with a Supermicro P4SCI, Celeron 2.8, 350W
> > PS, and 1 GB memory from a well-known supplier with a good reputation.
> > This is my first time buying a system from them.
> >
> > This is the only second system I've set up with SATA, so I'm a bit of a
> > novice.
> >
> > I'm having trouble with lockups. It seems to be happening randomly.
> >
> > I'm trying to install W2K using my usual procedure of booting with a W98
> > floppy, setting up the 80GB sata drive with a single 80GB FAT32
> > partition using fdisk, formatting, copying the i386 folder from the W2K
> > CD, and running winnt from the i386 folder on the hard disk.
> >
> > The lockups have happened while copying the setup files from the CD, and
> > at various stages of the W2K install. I've never been able to complete a
> > basic install.
> >
> > I'm not trying to set up raid.
> >
> > I ran memtest for a couple of hours when I first received the system,
> > after installing only a DVD drive and a floppy drive. No errors.
> >
> > After having the lockups, I removed the 80 GB sata drive and installed
> > it in the only other SATA system I've built. The install went perfectly.
> > The drive appears to be OK.
> >
> > So I called the supplier and talked to tech support. He told me I need
> > to install the SATA drivers from the motherboard CD. He said he couldn't
> > help me any more because they don't support software, only the hardware.
> > Fair enough.
> >
> > The SATA drivers are only needed for raid, right?
>
> IIRC, they are needed RAID, or no RAID.
>
> In addition, can't you boot off the CD drive and install W2K that way,
> instead of messing around with DOS and boot discs?
>
Yes, and that probably would be easier.

But, I guess my question boils down to this: Is there any reason why I
should not be able to run DOS on this motherboard? Are SATA drivers
necessary to do that?

In article < >,
says...
> Just got a barebones system with a Supermicro P4SCI, Celeron 2.8, 350W
> PS, and 1 GB memory from a well-known supplier with a good reputation.
> This is my first time buying a system from them.
>
> This is the only second system I've set up with SATA, so I'm a bit of a
> novice.
>
> I'm having trouble with lockups. It seems to be happening randomly.
>
> I'm trying to install W2K using my usual procedure of booting with a W98
> floppy, setting up the 80GB sata drive with a single 80GB FAT32
> partition using fdisk, formatting, copying the i386 folder from the W2K
> CD, and running winnt from the i386 folder on the hard disk.
>
> The lockups have happened while copying the setup files from the CD, and
> at various stages of the W2K install. I've never been able to complete a
> basic install.
>
> I'm not trying to set up raid.
>
> I ran memtest for a couple of hours when I first received the system,
> after installing only a DVD drive and a floppy drive. No errors.
>
> After having the lockups, I removed the 80 GB sata drive and installed
> it in the only other SATA system I've built. The install went perfectly.
> The drive appears to be OK.
>
> So I called the supplier and talked to tech support. He told me I need
> to install the SATA drivers from the motherboard CD. He said he couldn't
> help me any more because they don't support software, only the hardware.
> Fair enough.
>
> The SATA drivers are only needed for raid, right?
>
You can install W2K the way you describe on a PATA drive. For SATA, boot
from the W2K install disc. When I did it, I did not need to load any F6
drivers. I loaded the drivers from the drivers disc that came with the
mobo after a basic W2K install.