Bluescreen when installing XP SP3 on Dell Precision 490

Question

I am trying to install Windows XP slipstreamed with SP3 on a Dell Precision 490 WS. The BIOS setting for SATA is set to the default RAID/AHCI. Have tried with single 250GB drive and dual 250GB drive. Each time I get a blue screen.

I checked various posts, and it appears that I may need a driver to install with F6 for the RAID controller. However, the driver .exes on the DELL site are over 15MB. I cannot install these through a floppy as there are no .inf files in the archive.

I would like to ideally install XP/SP3 on the this machine to a 1TB Toshiba drive. Would appreciate some guidance on the following:

1. Where I can find drivers for the machine that can be installed with F6?

2. Do I need to have 2 drives in the machine? What BIOS setting should I use. The drives I am trying to install are SATA.

3. Is there a configuration utility for the controller that I need to run off a bootable CD before installing the XP OS?

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

rdunnill · Answer

Intel's download site should have the drivers if they're supporting this chipset for XP. If you're not creating a RAID array, you shouldn't need two drives.

A quick way to get past this problem is to use a third party SATA card for installing XP; once all the chipset drivers are installed, the SATA card can be removed.

krmdusa · Answer

Thank you for the suggestion. Will give the third party SATA card a try.

How do I find the chipset information on the machine to download the appropriate drivers from Intel's site? Since I am not able to get past the bios boot, I am not sure how to do this.

RoHe · Answer

I just checked the 490 manual, and RAID AutoDetect/ATA is an option for SATA operation mode, so you know what you need to do... :emotion-5:

RoHe · Answer

BIOS needs to be set to RAID AutoDetect/ATA before you can install XP. Otherwise you'll get a 7B BSOD. You also have to install the SATA drivers for XP from a floppy diskette early during the XP install, or you should 'slipstream' the drivers into XP SP3 and create a new bootable CD or DVD to run the install. During the very first reboot after installing XP and SATA drivers, you have to intercept the reboot by pressing F2 to open BIOS setup again. Now change the SATA setting back to RAID/AHCI, save the change and let it reboot. If you don't change BIOS back to RAID/AHCI again, you'll get another 7B BSOD.

RoHe · Answer

You don't need a chipset driver until after you install XP and SATA drivers. Use the chipset driver that Dell offers for this model to get all the other drivers installed. Chipset should be first driver installed after XP and SATA drivers. You can then go to the Intel site and let it scan your system for an updated driver.

krmdusa · Answer

Thank you Ron. Your suggestion worked like a charm :)

For others that may find this useful:

1. I downloaded and created a diskette of of the SATA driver from http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/04/DriverDetails/Product/precision-490-dt?driverId=CVM50&osCode=WW1&fileId=3328295004&languageCode=EN&categoryId=SA

2. Set the BIOS setting to RAID/ATA

3. Started the XP/SP3 install ... which magically proceeded to full install.

4. Am now in the process of getting the NIC driver installed so I can proceed with updates from the DELL and MICROSOFT sites.

Appreciate the timely help.

krmdusa · Answer

Thank you rdunhill.  Now that I am past the XP install stage, I should be able to find and update the drivers.  Appreciate your suggestions and help very much.

rdunnill · Answer

Thank you for the suggestion. Will give the third party SATA card a try.

How do I find the chipset information on the machine to download the appropriate drivers from Intel's site? Since I am not able to get past the bios boot, I am not sure how to do this.

Intel has chipset driver packages covering multiple popular chipsets, and they also offer an online chipset identification utility.

speedstep · Answer

You cannot EVER do AHCI on XP without F6 Drivers.

Intel Matrix Storage Manager

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?DwnldID=17412

This driver provides support for high-capacity & fault-tolerant Serial ATA (SATA) RAID 5 arrays and high-performance & fault-tolerant SATA RAID 10 arrays on select Intel® 4 Series, 3 Series, 965, 975X, 955X and 945 chipset-based platforms. It provides support for high-performance SATA RAID 0 arrays & redundant SATA RAID 1 arrays on select Intel® 4 Series, 3 Series, 965, 975X, 955X, 945, 925, 915 chipset-based platforms. It also provides AHCI support on select Intel® 4 Series, 3 Series, 965, 975X, 955X, 945, 925 and 915 chipset-based platforms, as well as on Mobile Intel® 915/910 chipset-based platforms.

Note: Intel® RAID Technology requires the Intel® ICH9R/ICH9M-E/ICH10R SATA RAID controller hub, Intel® 82801HR I/O controller hub (ICH8R), Intel® 631xESB/632xESB I/O controller hub, Intel® 82801GR/GH I/O controller hub (ICH7R/DH), Intel® 82801FR I/O controller hub (ICH6R).

RoHe · Answer

Thank you Ron.  Your suggestion worked like a charm :) :emotion-21: :emotion-21:

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Bluescreen when installing XP SP3 on Dell Precision 490

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