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General discussion

Wish to downgrade to XP-trouble finding SATA drivers

Sep 8, 2007 2:16AM PDT

I've been reading all the posts regarding the downgrade procedure from Vista to XP. Here is my present situation and problem:

Computer:
HP a6157c purchased recently from Costco
Intel Dual Core 4400 processors
System Board Chipset: Intel i945G
Southbridge (not sure what this is?): Intel 82801GH (ICH7DH)
Came pre-installed with Vista Home Premium (no original disks included)

One drive came with computer 320GB SATA drive (Hitachi HDT725032VLA380)
According to the device manager, (and BIOS), this drive is set to RAID enabled (which I thought strange as I thought RAID pertains to two or more drives?)
Device manager shows driver controller as: Intel 82801GR/GH SATA Raid Controller

Have not been able to find the appropriate driver that would be compatible with XP.

FYI, initially, I was planning on setting up a dual boot system with Vista on one partition and XP (Home) on the other. I ran into problems when installing XP and cannot get the computer to boot XP (I believe this has to do with not having the correct SATA driver.

After reading the posts here, I plan on using Dban to wipe the drive and just run Windows XP for now instead of dual boot config. (already created the Recovery disks for Vista should I wish to go back to that at some point in the future).

After drive wipe, will create a slipstream disk using Nlite and include the correct SATA driver compatible with XP (at least, that's my plan here)

In searching for drivers, I read a "Read Me" (http://downloadmirror.intel.com/13806/ENG/readme.txt) under the section entitled " Determining the system mode" on what I thought was the correct Intel driver and it said to first confirm what driver was installed for the chipset and then to check the IDE ATA/ATAPI controller. Device manager shows IDE ATA/ATAPI controller to be:
Intel 82801G (ICH7 Family) Ultra ATA Storage Controllers-27DF. According to this read me, I don't have the right ATA/ATAPI controller and have to contact HP to get the right driver. HP's support says there are no drivers for this computer for XP.

I'm confused as the BIOS says I am running in RAID but the ATA/ATAPI controller says it is an Ultra ATA controller? Sorry as I am a bit if a nube here and probably a in a bit over my head here. Still, with a little guidance, I think I can complete the downgrade to XP.

FYI, initially had to switch the BIOS to IDE when I ran the Windows XP setup in order for the disc to be identified at all. I did this, then had to switch back to SATA RAID in order to boot the computer but XP does not complete boot up (again I think due to the SATA issue)

Hope I've included all the necessary info here. If not, let me know what else I need to detail here.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions here.

Discussion is locked

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Try these on a floppy.
Sep 8, 2007 2:31AM PDT
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Thanks for the driver link
Sep 8, 2007 2:36AM PDT

Hi Proffitt,

Thanks for the link. I'm thinking instead of going the slipstream route, will probably go out and buy a USB floppy as the computer did not come with a floppy drive and then F6 during set-up and install the SATA driver. My only question is from the link you sent, which do I install first?

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another question about Intel Matrix Storage Mgr
Sep 8, 2007 2:44AM PDT

Hi Proffitt,

I read the Read Me for the Intel Matrix Storae Mgr. and as I mentioned before, it does not sound like I have the right ATA/ATAPI controller running on my computer, the read me says:

"If none of the controllers above are shown, then
your system is not in AHCI mode. No other modes are
supported by the Intel(R) Matrix Storage Manager
software and you should continue with step 7 below.

7. Your system does not appear to be running in RAID or
AHCI mode. If you feel that your system is running in
RAID or AHCI mode and you do not see any of the
controllers listed above, you may choose to contact
your system manufacturer or place of purchase for
assistance.

The statements above conflict with my BIOS which says my computer RAID is enabled.

Confused?? Any ideas?

Haystack69

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jumping through the hoops
Sep 8, 2007 2:54AM PDT

One more question, if I go the USB floppy drive F6 route for the XP compliant SATA driver, then I need to have the floppy drive as part of the install kit. My BIOS says this is not installed. Does this mean I need to upgrade the BIOS?

Is this the easiest route or should I revert to going the slipstream CD route?

Jeez, they sure don't make this simple, do they?!!

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Not easy.
Sep 8, 2007 2:57AM PDT

Since you don't have a floppy then you have to just keep trying. I learned early not to do without. What this means is I am not the right person to ask how to do without.

Bob

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thanks
Sep 8, 2007 3:08AM PDT

Hi Bob,

Thanks for your input here. Perhaps Grif will have the answers.

Regards,

Haystack69

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HayStack, USB Is Probably In The BIOS
Sep 8, 2007 4:07AM PDT

Like Bob, I also use a USB floppy to install most SATA drivers on new computer which don't contain an internal floppy drive. (I find it the easiest method overall.) You'll need to access the BIOS and check through the selection for boot order options.(Depending on your BIOS version, you usually can click though the selections and find others besides the standard hard drive, DVD/CD drive, and floppy drive boot option.).. Frequently, the USB option to boot is there, it just wasn't selected as an initial option..

In you're interested in others that have worked around the HP SATA driver issues, see the "downgrade" thread at the top of the Vista forum page. Below is a link to one of the "sub-threads" which discuss SATA driver installation.

http://forums.cnet.com/5208-12546_102-0.html?forumID=133&threadID=243153&messageID=2542936#2542936

Hope this helps.

Grif

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BIOS does not seem to support floppy
Sep 8, 2007 4:20AM PDT

Hi Grif,

Thanks for your reply. I checked the BIOS with the intent of going the floppy/F6 route to install the SATA driver but my BIOS shows the following when I access Boot Device Priority:

1st boot device: Floppy Group
2nd boot device: CD-Rom Group
3rd boot device: HDD Group
4th boot device: Network Boot Group

It then shows the following:

Floppy Group Boot Priority [Not installed] (this is grayed out)
CD-ROM Group Boot Priority [TSSTcorpCD/DV] (this is shown in blue)
HDD Group Boot Priority [Hitachi HDT72] (shown in blue)
Network Group Boot Priority [Not installed] (shown grayed out)

This indicates to me that I cannot use a USB floppy on this computer. Is this a correct assumption? If so, do I need to change or upgrade the BIOS to have floppy capability?

Thanks in advance for your help/suggestions

Haystack69

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I'll write no.
Sep 8, 2007 5:10AM PDT

I'm using my USB floppy drive all over the place. I don't find such settings to deter it's use during the F6 setup phase.

While I haven't tried it, another member has me researching F6FLOPPY.EXE (look on google.com). Seems that many support calls are having the makers try to make it easier to create that diskette.

Bob

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It's Not Listed As 'Floppy' Device But "USB Device"....And..
Sep 8, 2007 7:44AM PDT

...I haven't found any new computers, especially laptops, that don't have the option to boot from a USB device.. You might need to "enable" it in the BIOS... It will generally be on the "Boot" category tab at the top of the screen and is listed as a separate item from "Boot Device Priority". Once you've "enabled "USB Boot", then you should be able to allow it to be first in the "Boot Device Priority" section.

http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=28700158&pgno=2&queryText=

If the machine's is too old to have the "USB Boot" option, then a BIOS update may, or may not be an option.. You'll have to check.

Hope this helps.

Grif