nf7-s

Peter Singer · Oct 29, 2003

I've got an nf7-s enroute along with the following:

VGA GIGABYTE|RADEON 9200 128M
HD 120GB|MAXTOR 6Y120M0 SATA
CPU AMD|2800/333 ATHLON XP BARTON CDRW/DVD 48X24X48X16|LITEON BLACK FD 1.44MB|SAMSUNG SFD-321B/LBL1
CASE ANTEC|MINI TOWER SX635BII

My question is in getting Windows 2000/XP on to the SATA drive as the nf7-s manual is real vague about the process. Do I initially hook up the drive using the SATA cable or do I need to use an adapter (is it serallel or is that in going from an IDE drive to the SATA interface?) to hook it up to the IDE interface? Once I've got it all together do I need to boot off of a floppy w/FDISK and FORMAT on it or can I boot off of a Windows 2000/XP CD? Next, do I need a driver in order to see the SATA drive to install Windows on it? I'd appreciate any clarification on this process. Thanks.

Thudd · Oct 29, 2003

"Peter Singer" wrote:

I've got an nf7-s enroute along with the following:

I have a pci adaptec sata card, I install the operating system with the drives hooked to the card and then remove the card and hook the drives to the board sata. The card comes with a floppy so i can load the card drivers when win ask for it. My board is a jetway.

Fishface · Oct 30, 2003

Boot from the Windows installation CD. When it asks if you need to install a driver or something, hit the key (F6?). The board comes with a SATA driver floppy. My version 2.0 board came with the latest version, 1.21. www.abit-usa.com/downloads/driver/drivers.php?categories=1&model=6

Peter Singer · Oct 30, 2003

Would the drive (maxtor 120gb SATA) be FDISKed and FORMATted when it arrives or do I need to boot off of a floppy and do that first?

"Fishface" <?> wrote:

Boot from the Windows installation CD. When it asks if you need to install a driver or something, hit the key (F6?). The board comes with a SATA driver floppy. My version 2.0 board came with the latest version, 1.21. www.abit-usa.com/downloads/driver/drivers.php?categories=1&model=6

Avenger · Oct 30, 2003

Normally, a new drive is NOT formatted, you'll have to set it up.

On 30 Oct 2003 09:03:06 -0800, (Peter Singer)
wrote:

Would the drive (maxtor 120gb SATA) be FDISKed and FORMATted when it arrives or do I need to boot off of a floppy and do that first?

"Fishface" <?> wrote:
Boot from the Windows installation CD. When it asks if you need to install a driver or something, hit the key (F6?). The board comes with a SATA driver floppy. My version 2.0 board came with the latest version, 1.21.
www.abit-usa.com/downloads/driver/drivers.php?categories=1&model=6

Peter Singer · Oct 31, 2003

So once everything is connected do the following?

1) Boot off of a floppy with FDISK and FORMAT on it. Do I need a driver on the floppy in order to see the HD or will FDISK and FORMAT be able to see the SATA drive?

2) Boot off of a Windows CD and when prompted press F6 and use the HD supplied driver floppy to get Windows to use the SATA driver.

3) Install Windows.

Is this correct?

Avengerï¿½ wrote:

Normally, a new drive is NOT formatted, you'll have to set it up.

On 30 Oct 2003 09:03:06 -0800, (Peter Singer)
wrote:

Would the drive (maxtor 120gb SATA) be FDISKed and FORMATted when it
arrives or do I need to boot off of a floppy and do that first?

"Fishface" <?> wrote:
Boot from the Windows installation CD. When it asks if you need
to install a driver or something, hit the key (F6?). The board ...

Fishface · Oct 31, 2003

Peter Singer wrote:

So once everything is connected do the following?

1) Boot off of a floppy with FDISK and FORMAT on it. Do I need a driver on the floppy in order to see the HD or will FDISK and FORMAT be able to see the SATA drive?

No, skip that. The Windows setup program will happily do that for you. I don't think you even need the driver on a boot floppy. There is a bios boot option for SATA, you should probably set that? I only did it once, and switched to SATA from PATA afterward. I can't easily check at the moment as I'm actually still using my old computer because I haven't installed my apps and other hardware yet. I sure could have used the speed last night, though, encoding video for DVD...

Andy Bell · Nov 3, 2003

"Peter Singer" wrote:

So once everything is connected do the following?

1) Boot off of a floppy with FDISK and FORMAT on it. Do I need a driver on the floppy in order to see the HD or will FDISK and FORMAT be able to see the SATA drive?

2) Boot off of a Windows CD and when prompted press F6 and use the HD supplied driver floppy to get Windows to use the SATA driver.

3) Install Windows.

Is this correct?

I had a similar setup to you (NF7-S, Maxtor SATA disk), and you don't need step 1. Once you load the SATA driver, Windows will format your HD as part of the installation. The only problem I had was that both times I installed Windows (2nd time was when I bought another HD for a RAID-0 setup), it ignored me when I pressed F6 (may have been too slow, I don't know). However, after going through it's initial setup stage, the install program informed me that it didn't have any HD drivers and did I want to install any. That's when I used the SATA driver floppy, and everything went smoothly after that.

Andy

Fishface · Nov 4, 2003

Andy Bell wrote:

The only problem I had was that both times I installed Windows (2nd time was when I bought another HD for a RAID-0 setup), it ignored me when I pressed F6 (may have been too slow, I don't know).

There's no feedback, only a small window, and no second chance. Stupid installer, I can't tell you how many times I've missed the window. You must have hit the key in time, or you'd be back to square one, a little older, a little wiser...