Member Avatar for marceta

Hey guys. Im trying to format/reinstall XP pro and when i attempt to reinstall the computer finds no Hard Disk Drives, where i have 2 (only 1 is powered atm though). I have downloaded the Seagate Disc Wizard (i have a Seagate Barracuda 120 gig) and made the floppys i thought i need for the drivers, but they didnt work. What do i need to get so that my windows disc recognises the drives?

note: I lost the discs that came with the ASUS P5GD1 mobo...
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P4 3.0G 800FSB 1mb cache LGA775 CPU (@3700 [250x15]) cooled by Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 | Asus P5GD1 mobo | 2x512mb Elixir Pc3200 DDR RAM | Albatron 128mb 6600GT PCI-E (570/1160) | 120GB Seagate Barracuda 7.5k | Raidmax Cobra Black | Logitech X-530 5.1 Satellite Speakers | 8 Channel Sound Card

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by marceta

Dani AI

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Short summary and practical fixes that complement the replies from , and others: Windows XP’s text‑mode installer only sees storage controllers that have a matching “text‑mode” driver available during the early F6 prompt. There are three reliable ways to get the installer to see the drive: supply the text‑mode driver on a real floppy at F6/S, slipstream the text‑mode driver into a new XP install CD, or set the controller to a legacy/IDE compatibility mode in the BIOS so XP’s built‑in driver will work.

Key steps (compact):

  • Make an F6 floppy: obtain the motherboard/chipset storage driver package, extract the text‑mode INF/SYS/CAT files onto a formatted 1.44MB floppy (a real internal floppy drive required). During XP text‑mode setup press F6 early, then when prompted press S and insert the floppy to load the driver. (USB floppies generally won’t work at this stage.)

  • Slipstream into the XP CD: extract the same text‑mode driver files and use a tool such as nLite to integrate (“textmode”) the driver into the Windows installation source, build an ISO and burn a new bootable CD. This avoids the F6 floppy step entirely.

  • BIOS compatibility fallback: change the SATA mode to “IDE/Compatibility/Legacy” (or disable AHCI/RAID) in the BIOS so the drive appears to XP without extra drivers. After installation the proper AHCI/RAID driver can be installed inside Windows if AHCI is required.

Additional troubleshooting: verify the drive is detected in BIOS, try a different SATA port/cable and ensure power is connected. If the board’s driver package includes a “create floppy” utility on its support CD, it can simplify making the F6 disk. The thread shows vendor support took time; obtaining the chipset/text‑mode driver from the board or chipset vendor is the correct source (drive vendors rarely supply the controller’s text‑mode driver).

Recommended Answers

All 12 Replies

Member Avatar for Stoned_coder

is it a serial ata drive?
Usually when loading xp you need to press f6 pretty early on in the setup and have a serial ata driver disk from your motherboard manufactorer. Then your hard disks will show up as long as they are not faulty. If its ide then maybe your disc is dead.

Member Avatar for marceta

it is a SATA hard drive. But i havent got the discs, and fogot what file to put on that floppy (after i press F6)...i dont think its on the ASUS site, or the seagate site.

Member Avatar for chrisbliss18

Seagate will not have that driver.

I tried to find the driver you need on the Asus site, but I did not find it. Use to send a driver disk request to Asus. You won't be able to get anywhere unless you have a disk with the driver you need.

Member Avatar for DaMaGe

This is the same problem im having, with my seagate sata 200gb hard drive.

Please let me know how you sort this out if you do.

Member Avatar for marceta

thanks chris, i just filled that form out and told them what goin on!

ill let you know how it goes!

Member Avatar for DaMaGe

cheers

Member Avatar for marceta

well ASUS SUCK! after wating 48 hours i got nothing. then the pricks deleted my urgent forward link thingy (which worked before). So anyone else know what i need?

thanks

Member Avatar for Stoned_coder

Sometimes with an Asus board, if you boot from the motherboard CD it often offers to make a serial ata floppy for you.

Member Avatar for goldeagle2005

Here's a link to the drivers download page for your mobo. Download the sata drivers from here.

Member Avatar for marceta

thanks, but theres nothing relevant there (as chrisbliss can back me up, he couldnt find it either)!

@Stonded_Coder
didnt do it man! thanks anyway!

Member Avatar for Stoned_coder

might be a stupid question but if asus dont post a driver then serial ata is probably done by the bios. Have you checked the bios and made sure that the serial ata controllers are switched on?

Member Avatar for marceta

not a stupid question! thanks for askin it! and yes i have!!!

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