trying to install XP on Maxtor SATA HD

Clarifications

When setup is loading you need to load the sata drivers for your card/motherboard (press F6 when prompted). Those should either come with the machine or be available online.

This can also happen if your SATA is set to RAID mode in the bios. (you would still need to load the drivers) Check the bios to see if you can shut it off.

You didn't identify the manufacturer of the system or mobo, but, there is probably an easy solution. First, check to see if you have a BIOS update available from the mobo or computer manufacturer. Then try again after doing the update. If there is no BIOS update available, or if the update does not change the behavior when you do the installation, go into the BIOS, and change the SATA settings, first trying the ATA/PATA simulation. You might have to try more than one setting until you find the one that enables the installation program to recognize the drive. This is a common situation with Dell Dimension 8400 series of systems from 2-3 years ago. Once the OS is installed, you simply go back into the BIOS and reset it to the preferred mode of operation. I have had to use this procedure more than once, and it has always worked, including when restoring a system from a Ghost backup image.
Adding more info since first posted at 1:20 AM: Several posts are on the right track. The XP installation disk does not have serial ATA drivers, so it does not see the serial ATA drive. So, if you temporarily reset the computer's BIOS to redirect the Serial ATA channel over to the IDE channel, the XP installation CD can see the serial ATA hard drives. Then, after completing the XP installation, while in Windows you can install the standard Intel Serial ATA driver or whichever serial ATA driver has been supplied by the manufacturer of your motherboard/system. Then, reboot and enter
the BIOS and reset it back to the original setting. It is possible that for your own system, you might need to reverse the last two steps to get a boot. Incidentally, the F6 driver option often does not work, especially if your system has no floppy drive since XP looks for the extra driver only on drive "A."
Added Jun 22 9:55 PM
I'm surprised at some of the postings. Some are way off target and others are definitely on target. Look at all the ones related to BIOS settings and whether or not you have a floppy drive that enables you to use the F6 driver addition. Put the info above and the others related to the BIOS issues and you will have an answer. The brand of the hard drive is not relevant.

Is it possible that you need to load drivers for the controller of your SATA HD? Is the controller a RAID controller? If the controller is RAID you will have to re-load the drivers at the beginning of the installation when you are asked if you have drivers to load. Just consider your re-installation as a "first time" installation, at least till you get to the point of XP recognizing that you already have an XP installation on the drive. Then you can do a repair of that installation, to salvage whatever data you wish to retain. The repair will work better if you are using the same disc the origional installation was done with or at least, the same type of Win XP. If you have Win XP "Home" installed on your HD make sure you use a Win XP "Home" disc to do the repair.

6 months ago i had the same problem, i tried installing xp on a maxtor 250g sata hd.
I had to install xp on a different hd to get things running.
Once that was done, i checked Disk Management on xp and found that the maxtor was recognized as an dynamic drive.
So i had to get myself another hd from another manufacturer, i choose a western digital 250g sata then.
I got my system installed on the WD and all went well, the maxtor now runs as a data disk.

Check with the supplier of your motherboard. I had to slow down the Maxtor harddrive with the jumper settings on the harddrive. I have an older Asus motherboard. The SATA drive was not detected untill I slowed it down by changing the jumper settings.You may also need a stiffy with the SATA drivers for you motherboards chipset and load it when Windows XP install asks you if you want to install SATA driver at the beginning of the installation process. You press F6 if I remember correctly.

maybe you need to use the setup disk that came with the hard drive to set it up

You have the BIOS settings correctly applied, I had the same problem with an A8N-SLI Deluxe, and I found that for some reason, my boot priority changed randomly, so you better check it.

Had this happen a number of times with drives that either have corrupted partition tables or a Linux partition. Putting a FAT32 partition on the drives solves this particular issue -- although it could be a number of different things.

If you are using XP 'Home', or 'Pro' 32-bit, it won't work. You need 64-bit versions to recognize SATA drives. The 32s don't contain the necessary drivers for the SATA platform. I ran into the same issue after a total crash & restoration. Started out w\ 'Home'; result: "Device not found". Then tried 'Pro' w\ the same result. Even the restoration discs that came with the PC didn't have the drivers(Media Center). Used 'XP Pro 64x', & installed w/o a hitch. Then installed 'Media'. What I ended up w\ was 'XP Pro 64x w\ Media Center'. PC is working better than new! Also, the Maxtor brand, I personally don't recommend. When building a PC, I use only WD Caviar drives, or Seagate drives. If I had to use a 3rd option, then it is Hitachi. Good Luck

You need to run MAXBLAST on the HD first before you try to install XP.

If you have an older BIOS, and your hard drive is over 137 Gb (SATA or not), you need a BIOS flash to get 48 bit-LBA, so that your system can properly address the space.

When this is happening, it gives WEIRD problems...the drive set up may see the drive, and even seem to setup correctly, but it simply WON'T WORK, or XP setup will get to the very end and fail.

If you do a bios flash, BEFORE YOU START, MAKE CERTAIN it is the CORRECT one, and that the flash in question is made either to "enable 48 bit LBA" or "exceed 137 Gb". The wrong BIOS flash can/will effectively destroy your hardware!

Many times I have come accross similar problems.
Try this:from the c:/ prompt type
c:/fdisk (go and remove all partitions)
then: c:/fdisk MBR
This removes the Master Boot Record.
XP will then consider this a clean hard drive and you can set it up.
Hope this helps.
Tom

Hi! I've had close situation. IMO the problem is that WinXP can't recognize real SATA HDD at install time. SATA HDD should be set at BIOS to act as "Primary IDE". Check your motherboard BIOS for such settings. Have in mind that SATA-as-IDE overwrites the real IDE0 HDD. This means that if you already have real IDE HDD connected-it will be unreachable until moved to another free IDE port. Hope this helps you.

hi
i think you are installing xp in desktop machine i think, if yes then do one thing check the motherboard goto that site or check which chipset of your mother board and download sata (raid controler)drivers you can type in google.com you will get easily,download drivers save in floppy. when you start xp setup keep pressing F6 upto 30 secens when you see press F6 to install aditional drivers, after that you leave F6 after that you will do same instalation procesure at certain point it will ask u to install scsci drivers to install press S then immidiatly it will ask u to enter floppy, please insert the floppy which u have drivers then it will take the drivers then you can install windows

Hi There,

i Went through Your post, The Issue Does Have a Solution. A Setting Sholud Be changed from the BIOS.Thats all
For that:
1. i would require the computer manufacturer name that you are using, Whether its (HP,DELL,Toshioba...etc)
why I require the name is,Different manufacturers use different keys to enter the BIOS Setup.

Either try to figure out the key to enter the BIOS setup [ you can find the key to enter BIOS setup while the computer
boots-up ]

Or

Tell Me Whats The |Computer Manufacturer's Name].

Note: Press F6 to enter BIOS Setup (Hp PC's)

2. Then the next step is Disable SATA HardDisk option from the configuration menu (HP PC's)

Note:-this option is for HP Computers

Save And Exit.

3. Change The Boot Order - Boot From CD

Go Ahead.. The Installation will Start normally.

If Any Problem Occurs Still, Feel Free To Get Back. Solutions Will Be Provided Accordingly.

Good Luck. Farewell.

I just install 2 sata drives and although the boot up and bios seen the 2 drives windows refused to acknowledge the 2nd drive ,so I went to my computer,right click it then click on manange and then go down the menu til u find disk management and click on that then assign the hard drive a letter now it recognizes my 2nd harddrive,as yet I havent recieved a satisifactory answer as to why it wouldnt cept every one saying cause its a sata drive??!!

If this is the first time setting up SATA on your computer. Check your connections. Undo them and reconnect, while disconnected make sure that none of the pins are damaged (scarred, marred, or scratched).
Make sure that they?re put back in the correct way, and that your power supply is plugged in all the way.

I ran into this when I built my system with a SATA RAID Array. The Win XP setup does not recognize the SATA Controller. You need to use another system to make a driver disk for you SATA Controller. The catch with this is that a floppy is the only drive that will work for this. After making the driver disk you need a floppy drive in your system. Then boot from the Windows XP CD. Watch the boot up looking for the "Hit F6 to Load SCSI or RAID drivers." on the bottom of the screen. Then Hit F6 and it will ask for the floppy you made earlier. Insert the disk and hit enter. Windows will load the driver from the disk with all the included drivers then you can finish the setup as usual because with the driver you supplied Windows setup can see the controller and through the controller it can see your drive or drives. Please Note that these instructions are for a system that only has SATA Drives in it at the time of The Windows install. If you have a IDE Drive installed when you install windows, windows setup will put just enough of the boot sequence on the IDE drive to see the Controller and the rest on the SATA drive. This would mean that both drives would be required to boot the system. If installed with just SATA drives it forces the system to use the Bios to see the Controller, Something Windows XP won't do if you give it the choice by leaving an IDE drive in the system. If you wish to use both drive types with SATA as the boot drive do not install the IDE drive or drives untill windows is installed and bootable.

You Have to Enable Sata Support in the BIOS.

You have to Enable the SATA Support in the Mother Board ......

(awdsin)

Trying to under why a problem exists with installing XP onto any brand of SATA Hard Disk Drive, and after reading many of the these responses it is clear that many a installation process lacks sufficient research on any of today?s hard drives whether SATA or PATA (formerly IDE).

The major problems that effects everyone is the BIOS of YOUR MOTHERBOARD's (MB), many MB?s do not support 48bit LBA mode options that allows accurate drive recognitions higher than 137Gb, and can not be FLASHED to get it. If they were, NO One would buy a replacement board. I am a cheap man that does a lot of research. In the old days Cylinders ? Heads and Sectors (CHS) rained supreme, but NO MORE. Minimal SATA drives start at 160Gb and go upwards in size from there. Every brand of manufacturer normally do not have to supply a driver?s CD with their drives. (P.S. the diskette days are OVER). Go to any store online or storefront to buy a hard drive, the drives are normally sold without a box or book or a CD, because the drive setup label contains all the available info needed to properly configured a drive. All new drives are ALWAYS shipped ?Jumpered AS Master? or ?Cable Select?. but there a many willing to spend an extra $15 plus dollars for the box and cellophane that gets throne away any way.

Also All New Motherboards are primarily designed to support SATA drives and additionally offer at least 1 IDE (PATA) controller for 2 drives.
Nowadays 300Gb HDD is almost cheaper than a 80 or 120Gb, it is human nature that we jump for the most bang for the buck and then find that our system just will not recognize the FULL Banana. We want to blame the mfg but it our fault for not researching and reading the fine print of the motherboard manual.

Another suggestion is to invest into the purchase of a Partition Creation application there are many excellent apps that offer BOOT CD?s that will boot to the HDD to allow partition creation and fast format implementation thus giving YOU the M O S T possible capacity from that DRIVE. My favorites are Partition Magic (formerly PowerQuest) now Symantec and Partition Commander.

Stop Blaming Selective Manufacturing Brands, it is an equal playing field

and buy an add-in sata controller

The solution is, when you are doing the install, one of the messages that comes up is something like "Press F6 to install...". That's when you insert the MAXTOR (or maybe even the Western Digital drivers will work) SATA driver floppy in and the SATA drives are now RECOGNIZED. I'm running XP Pro SP2 with 2 WD SATA drives. Pop out to Maxtor and look for the driver.

normally if the mother-board has couple of built-in SATA ports for the hard drives, then you usually donot need to use the F^ option. as the "UATA" drivers in XP takes good care of your SATA needs. "U" in UATA stands for universal, meaning fit for all.

in your BIOS the sequence should (according to my knowledge)be
1. Floppy Drive.
2. CD drive.
3. Hard-Drive.

i did many times lost my seagate SATA hard-drive 160-GB.

why and when ?

when it needed cleaning.

so if you bought a used hard-drive, even if it looks almost new, then have it cleaned out.

usually the elctronics circuit-plate needs to be removed and the contacts under-neath needs to be washed and cleaned "professionaly"

also, in some of the hard-drives, there is a multi-pin contact type "spring-loaded, top-loaded type connector, that is used to make electronic-signal connection between the inside of the hard-disk and the external electronic circuit plate.

i when was cleaning this specific multi-pin socket type of contact, had to squeeze out alcohol-swabs (avilable from your pharmacy) and then using a transparent small plastic foot-ruler had to keep on pressing and releasing the pressure of transparent flat plastic foot-ruler several times to make possible for the alcohol to seep thru the spring loaded contacts and clean the under-neath to make possible for the electronic signals to be transfered from circuit plate to the inside of the hard-drive.

why such a mess ?

i could have lost everything on it, if i wouldn't have been able to clean the hard-drive myself.

if you cannot do it by your own-self, then ask some professional for help.

this was the only reason why my intel mother-board started to miss-out the hard-drive.

another reason.

low-wattage power-supply unit that runs your machine.

i was having several problems including the hard-drives getting non-workable every-other day. until i installed a new DELL 400 watts power-supply rather than the original 250 watts as showing up to be 300 watts.

the effect of the more power is now seen as reduced temperatures at different points on the machine as well as with-out a hardware fault since the day i changed the power-supply box.

.

Change SATA operation to ATA. It will work.

I was curious as to the endorsement as I hadn't read your contribution. My only two comments were to the guy with the problem and the one that said "throw money at it"! :)
I congratulate you on your extensive response. Now, if you can help me figure out a way out of my "The Source is Not available..." when I attempt to update office 2003 (any updates) and Word Perfect. I think I even get that when I try to run "Detect and Repair" under Outook 2003.
Feel free to give advice!

If you have a valid license number for Office, uninstall all existing MS Office apps and then after rebooting, do a clean installation of your licensed copy, choosing "Custom" installation instead of "Typical" or "Default." Then choose the features you want. Many useful features are not included in the default installation. If you cannot uninstall all existing MS Office apps, just Google the term "Microsoft Office eraser tool' and you will find links to Microsoft tools that will get rid of most versions of MS Office before you do your clean installation. Good luck.

There are two modes in BIOS for accessing SATA HDD, change the settings to compatibility mode or something like this.

I had the same problem, and that fixed it.