SATA driver question

[AVITRY]

I'd like to post a question that I submitted at the microsoft forum without any results. I hope someone here may have experimented with what I'd like to do and can offer a bit of guidance.

I hope someone can help me with a driver problem that I don't fully understand and hesitate pulling the trigger on doing.

I've been struggling here with my limited knowledge regarding the install of XP Pro on a new computer build using an Asus P8Z68-V Pro GEN/3 motherboard. I have a few specific questions that have stymied me. Please if you could, understand that I'm not really up on all the tech terms and acronyms so don't assume I'm smart, cause I'm not. LOL.

I want to eventually install a second hard drive with Win 7 64 bit. so I can dual boot. I'd like my BIOS set to AHCI to take advantage of its features. I will not be using RAID, but I would like my original install of XP to recognize SATA in AHCI MODE. This motherboard doesn't have a floppy controller, so F6 is not an option. Here are my questions.

1. I know of NLite and slipstreaming the SATA drivers in upon the original install. This is a great solution, seems simple enough, except that NO ONE has ever specified WHAT are the driver names????

I went to the mfg website, downloaded the SATA driver .ZIP file. extracted it to a folder on my other PC. When I tried to use NLite, and point it to the 32 bit Driver folder, about a zillion drivers became listed in the NLite program ... it then prompted to exclude the ones I didn't need.

I have absolutely NO idea what SATA controller is on the Z68 chip. It used to say ICH 10 or 9 or whatever, this list on NLite had tons of drivers shown, none of them suggested Z68 chipset. Any internet search I did came up with solutions prior to this new Z68 chipset. I don't want to botch up the XP install with a ton of conflicting drivers. So, first question.... what are the ACTUAL file names I need to include in the slipstream on NLite for the Z68 motherboard to have XP recognize my SATA HD in AHCI MODE?


2.Will this idea work. I fear the BSOD if I try without asking. First set my BIOS to IDE MODE, install XP, then install the SATA drivers from the ASUS CD, Then, shut down the PC, change the BIOS to AHCI mode and reboot? This sounds too easy and if it worked I'm sure a ton of folks wouldn't be struggling with this issue.


Thank you in advance

[Chris B]

I can't help you with drivers/slipstreaming except to say can you use a USB stick to install drivers off of at boot time (with F6?)

However there are (at least for win7 and I think for XP as well) two versions of the Windows Kernel - one with AHCI and one with IDE. Once installed you can't change so you have to install with the kernel that you're going to use (you can' choose this - it just chooses on install automatically based on the bios/drive settings at install.)

[AVITRY]

Chris, after laboring with this idea for a few days, I decided to scrap the entire thought. I'm not going to use XP at all. I returned my 4 gigs of memory for a 16 gig set of Corsair. I'm going with Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit and I'll play with Virtual PC and XP Mode.

The videos at the bottom of this page convinced me. LOL

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtua ... fault.aspx

Who knows, maybe these old programs will do just fine there. More to come.

thanks again for helping!

joe

[Bob]

Personally, I agree with your Windows 7 64-bit decision. XP Mode won't handle every old program, but hopefully it will work for what you want to do.

Windows 7 includes the AHCI text mode SATA drivers, so you will not need to use the F6 install drivers step. There is only one OS kernal. Whether the IDE drivers or the AHCI drivers are installed depends on how you configured the bios prior to the installation. If you want to use AHCI and are not creating a RAID configuration, set the SATA configuration to "AHCI Mode". Then do the installation.

XP Mode is a separate download and install. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/download.aspx

[Chris B]

I wholeheartedly second the Windows 7 decision. My advice - give it a few days before you start installing your "old favourites" Windows 7 does an awful lot more out of the box than XP did. You may well find that the stuff you needed before is already built in.

[AVITRY]

Alright I have an update that may be interesting to some. At the risk of jinxing myself, I got my new build up and running. Its been running for about 5 hrs. ( knock on wood) everything running OK so far.

I have some things that happened both hardware and software related, and also version related to PE, but it's all kind of sprinkled around the real topic of upgrading.

My homemade benchmark test of PE now complete, I'll recap. These first 3 tests are using PE 3.0.2

I took a 15 minute clip of timeline video from a VHS capture, and I encoded it to MPEG2 on my Pentium 4 3ghz, with 3 gigs memory running Windows XP Pro 32bit. It took 13 minutes (plus or minus a second or two) to encode.

I took that same video clip to my friends house who has a socket 775 dual core Wolfdale chip 3.2ghz. 4 gigs memory, Windows XP Pro 32 bit. It took 4.5 minutes to encode.

I loaded PE 3.0.2 on my new build ( small issue, I'll explain later) It is an i5 2500k with 16 gigs of DDR3 1600mhz. Running Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit. It took 2.5 minutes to encode.

Next, I loaded PE 10 on my new build, same video, it took 1.5 minutes to encode

PE3 loaded fine, but after clicking on "NEW PROJECT" it wouldn't let me type in the box to name the project. I closed the program, right clicked on its icon on the Windows 7 desktop, chose test compatibility, windows did something, and it seemed to be OK.

I'll post a question regarding PE 10 in that forum.

Bottom line .... holy cow, going from a 13 minute time to encode a 15 minute clip on my old PC to a minute and a half, that's nice. I'll get more videos transferred and burned now for sure. Yippie!

[John 'twosheds' McDonald]