[Cthonix]

Hello everyone, this is my first post here and im a bit of a newbie when it comes to PCs.
Ok so i've had my PC for just over a year now and the spyware among other things has really built up, it is sluggish and sometimes wont even start up, it gets to the windows screen then just goes black :/. So I thought "Hey, theres an idea, reformat the hard drive" and so i found this forum and a handy link: http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sg_clean.asp
and ive followed those steps but when i get to number 3 and hit ENTER it says that it cant find my hard drive and that there is no hard drive installed :|. Not good. Any help would be much apreciated.

Some hardware information:
Intel pentium 4 processor, 3 GHZ
XP
Hard drive- 160gb serial ATA hard Drive with 8mb Databurst cache
and no floppy drive...

 

[Cthonix]

Hate to double post but i wanna add that it is a Dell PC...in case that helps...

 

[linderman]

the problem you are having is when you reformat the computer the OS and drivers are then gone>>>> but thats ok too

your sata controller which is intergrated onto the motherboard has no drivers installed just yet, therefore it can run and write to your boot drive.

you need to enter the bios; change the controller settings to IDE mode

this will make your sata drive run like an IDE drive until you have the OS installed

then you will need to go to the Dell website and download the drivers for your motherboard (they are INF files) then your sata controller will be able to function, they you can change the mode to SATA mode in the bios and live happily ever after. dont forget that part :laugh:

you will also need to install all drivers found on the dell site for your board, there is a sticker that looks like a bar code that has a number code, thats what you use to get to your dell page and get your drivers

 

[Cthonix]

Thanks...erm if i can work that all out then this shouldn't take too long *sobs quietly* why cant PCs be simpler...

 

[Cthonix]

Damn.
Sorry Joe but can you please walk me through how i change the controller settings to IDE...(like i said, a real noob at pcs)

 

[Doby]

What model dell?

 

[Cthonix]

Dimension 9100 (D09915)

 

[linderman]

at boot-up you repeatedly press "F2" about every 2 seconds until entering the bios


then you should be able to prowl around in the settings until you can find the sata controller mode, its usually in the advanced section or controller

I am not real up on dell bios anymore, but you will find it


or antother path you can take:

go to the dell webiste for your board copy the motherbord driver or sata controller driver to a floppy disk

then boot the computer with the windows cd, once you see the windows boot cd fire up, you will see info like Press F6 to load third party SCSI Raid drivers" do this! press the F6

then push in the floppy disk that will see the sata drivers and install them and then windows will proceed.


go to this link

and download the Intel Matrix Storage Manager
download the upper one >>>> it states (use this one during OS install only)

http://support.dell.com/support/dow..._P4_9100&os=WW1&osl=en&deviceid=8615&libid=41

 

[Cthonix]

Sorry to keep pestering you, you're very helpful but would this work with a USB pen aswell...i have no floppy drive

 

[dai]

yes it should

 

[Cthonix]

Ok...aparently it would not...unless i can convince my Computer that the USB pen is in drive A...anyone ideas?
In regards to the other method, ive browsed around the bios for a while and fond only the SATA operation which has no mention of IDE just:
autodetect raid, if not signed AHCI (or something like that
autodetect raid, if not signed ATA
raid on
combination SATA/PATA

...gah!

 

[dai]

scroll down to bootable usb drive
http://wincom.wordpress.com/

 

[Cthonix]

need a floppy drive
"2. Make a bootable floppy > My Computer > A: > Format (right click) > Create an MS-Dos Startup Disk"
...oh the irony "nah lets not include the floppy drive, waste of 20 quid, not like ill ever use it or anything"...

 

[dai]

has a friend a computer you can do it on or slipstream it into the xp disk with nlite
http://www.nliteos.com/

 

[Cthonix]

Thanks Dai but im not sure if i know where to begin with that :/. i can get a floppy drive from a friend, itll take longer than i had hoped though. oh well, such is life.
Any alternative soloutions are welcome, thanks for your help everyone.

 

[Cthonix]

Hai everyone, sorry for the wait. I managed to get a floppy drive from a friend and after a little confusion managed to get it to work. I downloaded the Intel Matrix Storage Manager(the one that says OS install only) jabbed it on a floppy, rebooted, pressed F6 when it told me to then hit enter after inserting floppy when it told me to. I got this message "could not find txtsetup.oem" (it could have been setuptxt.oem but i think its the first way round)
Any ideas?

 

[hazard365]

i am in sorta the same thing here, i posted a new topic about it but then i serched and found this one, i dunot have a flopy drive or know anybody with one to use, so any one know of a tool like alcohol for flopys?

 

[Cthonix]

i am in sorta the same thing here, i posted a new topic about it but then i serched and found this one, i dunot have a flopy drive or know anybody with one to use, so any one know of a tool like alcohol for flopys?

I think you'll have to buy one, the program you would use to create the virtual drive would be wiped in the format, at least i think that would be how it would work.
Can anyone help, please? i dont want to have to buy a new hard drive just because dell put in some stupid things in their hard drive...

 

[hazard365]

ive fixed all the problems i ran into. i used nlite to create a custom install disk with the intel matrix storage manager drivers installled use the flopy pack from the intell site and grab the files nlite sees from the floppy drive if you still dont have a flopy drive download a virtual drive then grab the files from the virtual drives and put them somewhere and find them with n lite and create your disk then but the iso and there it is, it will install the driver when the xp setup starts up

 

[Kalim]

Hai everyone, sorry for the wait. I managed to get a floppy drive from a friend and after a little confusion managed to get it to work. I downloaded the Intel Matrix Storage Manager(the one that says OS install only) jabbed it on a floppy, rebooted, pressed F6 when it told me to then hit enter after inserting floppy when it told me to. I got this message "could not find txtsetup.oem" (it could have been setuptxt.oem but i think its the first way round)
Any ideas?

Yes the file is needed but included with external drivers for hardware with instructions and reg files etc. Download it from here: http://support.dell.com/support/dow...2&vercnt=1&formatcnt=1&libid=41&fileid=128971

Custom Instructions for R99740.exe:

This is a self extracting utility and will extract its contents (Windows XP driver files) to a folder in the following location c:\Dell\Drivers\. You must copy the content to a floppy diskette. These drivers are only to be used at OS installation (operating setup time) time.

At the beginning of the operating system setup, press F6 to install a third party SCSI or RAID driver.

1. When prompted, select 'S' to Specify Additional Device.

2. When prompted, insert the floppy disk you created and press Enter.

3. At this point you should be presented with a selection for one of the following depending on you hardware version and configuration:

- Intel(R) 82801GR SATA RAID Controller
- Intel(R) 82801GR SATA AHCI Controller
- Intel(R) 82801FR SATA RAID Controller
- Intel(R) 82801FR SATA AHCI Controller

4. Highlight the selection that is appropriate for the hardware in your system and press Enter.

5. Press Enter again to continue. Leave the floppy disk in the system until the next reboot as the software will need to be copied from the floppy disk again when setup is copying files.