New Rig - XP sees SATA. Hardy doesn't.

Jayce · 10-09-2008, 09:25 AM

I bought a new rig.

Q8200 Intel Quad Core 2.33ghz LGA775
ASUS P5ql Pro Motherboard
4gb DDR2 800 G. Skill RAM
650w Antec PSU
500gb Seagate SATA HDD
500gb Seagate SATA HDD
250gb WD SATA HDD
250gb WD SATA HDD

I installed Windows XP Professional SP2 just fine. I had zero issues. However, once I booted to my Ubuntu Live CD (Hardy Heron 32 bit) it showed nothing in the partition editor. I opened g-parted and it said the same thing. Sudo fdisk -l came back blank.

So, we know XP works fine. It boots fine, it installed fine, it's just.. fine? Ha. So there's some reason that Ubuntu isn't happy. I'm assuming it's a BIOS setting or else something I have to run in terminal on the Live CD to kick Ubuntu into a good mood.

Any ideas?

EDIT - Would AHCI be it? I did an internship where we had over 400 laptops come in and we cloned them all. In order for the laptops to boot, we needed to turn off AHCI and enable compatibility mode. Because of that, once I saw AHCI in my BIOS, I just ignored it. But somebody just suggested on Ubuntu forums that I enable that.

Any thoughts on the matter? Or any information as to what AHCI really is?

Mak213 · 10-09-2008, 01:33 PM

Advanced Host Controller Interface - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

ACHI - Advanced Host Controller Interface.

I know from experience with my Dell Dimension 8400 that i had this issue with Ubuntu 7.10 as well. As soon as i turned off ACHI and use IDE mode Ubuntu installed and worked flawlessly. I would suggest you try that.

Jayce · 10-09-2008, 06:45 PM

The thing is, Mak, I'm pretty sure it's off by default. I'm not home to check it but I'm almost positive I had 2 options... AHCI and IDE Legacy, or something of that nature... and the pre-set one was IDE Legacy, I believe.

I may be wrong, but I'm limited right now without being in front of it. But I'm almost certain that it wasn't on AHCI already.

The thing I'm questioning is, regardless of whether or not it's on AHCI, I wonder how XP worked while Ubuntu is having an issue with it.

Mak213 · 10-09-2008, 08:50 PM

It could be that Windows had the drivers necessary? I dont know without knowing if you used a XP Disc you created or one that wasnt modified.

Jayce · 10-09-2008, 10:19 PM

I enabled AHCI. Now when I boot to my Ubuntu Live CD, I see the hard drive.

Problem is, my XP partition blue screens.

If I freshly installed XP with AHCI installed, would it be okay then? I installed XP based on my old settings, THEN switched BIOS to AHCI. Think that's the problem?

Mak213 · 10-10-2008, 12:01 AM

I think i might have the fix. Disable AHCI and go thru these steps to get XP to see the AHCI and then install Ubuntu.

HOWTO: enable AHCI mode after installing Windows - PC Perspective Forums
How to enable AHCI : Windows XP Expertester

The 2nd link is the one that should work for you. After that turn on AHCI and try to boot into Windows. It should work. Then you can go back and install Ubuntu and have your dual boot setup.

Jayce · 10-10-2008, 08:04 AM

I ran the setup file, and it ended up putting a folder in my program files. I followed the directions in the link you gave me, and when I tried to tag the inf file as the updated driver for the ide controller, it said "The specified location does not contain information about your hardware."

Any other input, anybody?

Edit - I read somewhere that people were suggesting on just installing XP from scratch as AHCI. Well, I installed as IDE Legacy, but it's a base install. Okay fine. So I decided to see if I could install as AHCI. And when it was booting up, it didn't pick up my hard drives.

I was reading somebody was saying about using a floppy disk and pressing F6 during XP's install to slip in the drivers XP needs to communicate with the SATA controller. Well, I found a floppy drive, but I have no floppy disks. If I can find a floppy disk, would this be the quickest way for me to get this fixed?

Also - If anybody wants to do a little research, that'd be a big help. I have an ASUS P5QL Pro motherboard. I looked for the SATA drivers, but their web site only contains 1 thing under SATA. Is that exactly what I need? I tried running that, as I said above, and I came back with nothing.

BTW - Does SP3 for XP support the SATA drivers in question? My copy if SP2, but if I can somehow load SP3 with it and re-burn a copy, that'd be a possibility.

Mak213 · 10-10-2008, 09:07 AM

XP setup doesnt support any SATA Drivers at all. SP3 included.

Give me a link to the SATA Drivers you have downloaded. I want to try something out and see if it works.

Also you made mention in PM that you installed them and it created a folder. Check in that fodler for the .inf file. I will take the EXE file and try something to hopefully prevent you from having to install Windows over.

Jayce · 10-10-2008, 09:55 AM

Mak-

Oddly enough I can't give you a direct link. It seems just like a generic link, regardless of what product I'm looking at. Best I can do is this.

ASUSTeK Computer Inc.-Support-

Motherboard
LGA775
P5QL Pro
WinXP

About SP3 - are you sure? I've heard from so many sources that a lot of SATA drivers are packaged with SP3.

BTW - I've been reading a lot more about nLite. What are your thoughts on it? Some people were explaining to me that I can basically create a personalized version of Windows XP Pro for myself, with the drivers I need pre-installed (since I would have installed them initially) along with the fact that my SATA drivers would be there too. Would you suggest I try that?

Note - There is absolutely no problem with me doing a fresh install of XP Pro. All I did was install it. I don't even have drivers on it.

Mak213 · 10-10-2008, 12:22 PM

SP3 the full IT Version that you would have to use for slipstreaming has some new drivers in it. But it still hasnt worked on my Dell with a disc right from Microsoft.

Alright i tried my trick but it wont work. I was trying to extract the exe file with a archive program. I have used this trick in the past to get the .inf files to use for install.

I have used nlite in the past to create a custom disk. But be away of what you remove from the install. Some services are tied into other things as well. Main one being the printer spool. That is tied into several other services and disabling one can disable the prniter spool and stop all printing.

But if you just add things like SP3 and drivers, yeah the disc made will be a DVD now but it will be worth it. I have several created already. Home, Pro, just used EricB's method to create a MCE one as well. So it is worth while if you wish to go that route and reinstall XP.

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