SATA Problem

[sujump]

Just built a new computer, the motherboard is an ASUS [A8N-VM CSM] got a single Seagate sata-150 300gb. Tried to load Windows XP and everything worked fine. I used the sata raid drivers that came with the motherboard and the entire setup goes well. Can see all 300gb and install proceeds well. After all is installed windows starts for the first time, I even get the windows logo progress bar. But a split second after that I get a blue screen with the error: unmountable boot…..

How do I get a fresh install in a single sata drive with out these problems, any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[ski]

The boot.ini file is probably corrupted.

To fix it, boot from the XP CD(make sure the CD-ROM drive is listed ahead of the HD as a boot device in BIOS), at the Welcome screen press the R key, at the command prompt type chkdsk /p and press Enter. If no luck, then type chkdsk /r

If the above does not work, then select Enter at the Welcome screen, and do a repair install.

 

[wolluf]

I used the sata raid drivers that came with the motherboard

So you put them on a floppy - pressed F6 at start of install then install process prompted for and successfully read the drivers from the floppy?

If you've done all this successfully, then sounds like there might be something wrong with the driver you supplied, when its used for windows to boot, outside the install process. Could try visiting asus site (or the actual SATA supplier's site) and see if there is a more recent version of the drivers. If there is, could try a new clean install or a repair reinstall using said upgraded drivers.

 

[sujump]

I havn't gotten back home to try these suggestions, but I'll give you a little more detail. I used both the latest drivers from seagate & Asus, updated to latest bios, installed drivers from floppy just fine. No go. I will get back to you and report on what the result is after I try these solutions. Thanks in advance.

 

[Frank4d]

Go into BIOS and set the SATA mode to IDE (not RAID) before installing XP.

 

[ski]

The drive may also be bad.

 

[sujump]

Nope, nothing doing. Tried all the above and same blue screen of death. I even booted up using a MS-DOS disk and ran fdisk, deleted all partitions and recreated the primary dos partition and even formated the drive. So sad, and I thought I was pretty good at building computers. I'm stuck on this one. What now.

 

[wolluf]

Have you tried the Asus forum?

http://vip.asus.com/forum/bbs.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&model=A8N-VM CSM

 

[firewolfrl]

I bet it is a bad stick of ram....sure sounds like it from the symptoms

 

[sujump]

Nope not a ram problem, changed out the ram with three different brands. Booted up fine.....but same stincking results. Still looking for any hints or tips to try.

 

[firewolfrl]

I wonder if you have a bad HD?

 

[RICHINMINN]

Why are you installing the RAID drivers on this system? RAID cannot be installed on a single hard-drive configuration. It is designed specifically to be used with multiple hard drives, in a variety of configurations (data striping, drive mirroring, etc.)

Try it without the RAID drivers.

Rich (in Minn.)

 

[sujump]

Sorry about the misuderstanding, I am not trying to install it using raid drivers specificly because of the single drive being used, although I do have to use the storage capacity drives so that during the windows install it will recognize all of 300gb. I thought of that too but I'm still having the same problem.

 

[sujump]

PROBLEM SOLVED",
Could it of been that easy……I finally resolved the whole issue. I was using my original Windows XP CD that I’ve had for…….huummmm, years. But then it hit me, I borrowed a Windows XP CD form one of my buddies and used it to load Windows XP OS………difference was that his cd had the service pack 2 bundled into it. And, to my silly surprise it all work “just fine”. Boy, do I feel ridiculous. So there you go use the latest cd out to take care of most of any problems resulting from using old cd’s. Thanks to all for the suggestions and help.

 

[chun1913]

I upgraded my computer from MS-DOS to Windows XP. Now I keep getting the message that my disk space is low. I tried to use disk clean up but the only thing to clean up is microsoft office and print shop. It is still using MS-DOS(C drive is there any way to change the drivers over

 

[theudc]

hi

onthe asus a8n-vm csm do you find that ncq (command queue) is enabled for the drive?

device manager> ids ata/atapi controller
select nvidia mcp51 sata (which ever one the drive is
attached
checked boxws:
let bios select transfer
enable read cache
enable write cache
grayed enable command queue

press speed button
on my a8n-vm csm i find:

seagate st3250824as sata ii 3 g:

burst mode about 170 mbytes/sec
sustained transfer 67 mbytes/sec

whzt does your board report on speed test ?

thanks