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kaspar139

12 Posts

159152

March 26th, 2005 21:00

Windows Server 2003 install cannot see my SATA hard drive

Currently, I have XP Home installed on my Dimension 8400 with 160gb SATA hard drive.  I wanted to upgrade to Windows 2003 Server.  I was going to do a fresh install.  The setup for 2003 said it cannot see any hard disks.  I assume this has something to do with the SATA hard drive...  I need to know how to get the setup to see my hard drive.  Server 2003 didn't work, so I put the XP Pro cd I have in to see if it could see the hard drive, and same result. 
 
What can I do to get the setup to see my hard drive?  Is it a configuration in the Bios?  It is set to auto recognize the drive... 
 
Thanks in advance!

Daddyjaxx

1.1K Posts

March 26th, 2005 22:00

You need the SATA drivers on a floppy.  Look in the downloads section for the drivers.  Windows setup asks if you need to add a SCSI driver.  When it asks, press F6 with the driver floppy in.

 

kaspar139

12 Posts

March 26th, 2005 23:00

Great, thanks DaddyJax

ericholtman

2 Posts

April 5th, 2005 16:00

Ok, this is going to seem like a stupid question..... do I *have* to have a floppy disk to get this to work (I also have an 8400 that the 2003 CDs can't see disks on), or can I burn a CD?

If I *need* a floppy, can I just cannibalize one from an older machine here (i.e. is there somewhere on that motherboard to plug one in?

Thanks,

Eric.

kaspar139

12 Posts

April 5th, 2005 17:00

It would seem so, Eric.  It specifically asked for a disk in the A: drive, no option to browse to another location (which makes sense since you are not in Windows yet).  Anyway, I had to cannibalize my old floppy drive from another pc.  It worked, and all is well.
 
Also, I had to call Dell and have them ship me a drivers disk, because that didn't come with my pc!
 
Hope this helps!

ericholtman

2 Posts

April 6th, 2005 12:00

OK.... before cannibalizing another machine, I went and looked through the Setup menu on my Dimension 8400. In the Drives section, under SATA operation, there's a choice for "Raid if signed, otherwise AHCI" or "Raid if signed, otherwise ATA". I changed it to ATA instead of AHCI, and now Win 2K3 sees the drives happily during setup.

Am I giving up anything performance-wise by doing this? Seems easier than messing around with installing a floppy drive just to get the OS installed.


Thanks,

Eric.

kaspar139

12 Posts

April 6th, 2005 14:00

I cannibalized because it was my understanding that you need the AHCI enabled for RAID configuration.  If you are NOT going to use a RAID array, then to my knowledge, you didn't lose anything...  that is the ultimate question I was trying to determine before.  The Dell support group told me for "floppyless"... ah heck, here's the link :smileyhappy:

 

Anyway, hope this helps!

d-rick

136 Posts

May 21st, 2005 16:00

i have the same problem, but don't have a floppy drive? what should i do?

kaspar139

12 Posts

May 21st, 2005 21:00

It seemed as though no floppy was a major roadblock.  So, I "hijacked" a floppy from one of my older pcs and used it.
 
The install specifically asked for drive A for the driver disk, it did not allow a selection or browse capability (or dos type of interface).  So, beyond that I don't know what to tell you.

d-rick

136 Posts

May 21st, 2005 22:00

i went and bought a usb floppy. after a LOT of messing around, i got all the files needed and put them on the floppy, worked great.

 

 

Honeygem

1 Message

October 31st, 2017 22:00

Yep this is the answer use ATA for 2003 server on dell laptops

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