New system on the way, need some help

[EagleClaw]

My new system (ASUS A8V DELUXE K8T800PRO,AMD 64 3500+ ATHLON 64 939)
is on the way and should be here Thrusday.

I want to format and put XP Pro on when I get it. (comes with xp home).

It will have "2" SATA drives but not in any raid configuration. My question is do I need to download any drivers for XP's setup to see my drives?

Any other tips I may need to know about with this board during install or in general please let me know.


TIA

[DaRk_fIbRE]

Hi to your answer ..

If you are installing Windows XP on a system where you only have Serial ATA Drives you might encounter a problem where Windows does not seem to detect your Hard Drive and reports "No mass storage device found" during an installation (this occurs in Windows NT and Windows 2000 as well). This is because there are no SATA HD drivers in Windows XP/2K/NT and you need to load 3rd party drivers (just like with many SCSI drives).

To do this do the following:

First make sure that the drive is actually detected by the SATA controller. You should see something either in BIOS, or on bootup that indicates the drive is detected.

With the Windows XP install disk is in the CD-ROM drive turn on your system and go into the Windows XP installation

Now at the installation screen, which is blue, note very carefully at the bottom of the screen for the text that asks you to press F6. You MUST press F6 and then provide drivers for your SATA drive. These drivers usually come from your manufacturer or motherboard on a floppy disk. Make sure you load up the drivers before you continue!!

Installation should continue as normal now. remember to take out the floppy disk containing the drivers so that Windows XP setup can reboot.