[salut]

Hi MSFN people,

I have read a lot (well, till headache was too much... if u think not enough, gimme some pointer(s)) about people trying to install from hard disk but i didn't manage to understand and adapt all that to my situation..

Let's explain what my aim is :

I would like to be able to install my XP without the CD , which would result in something like "e:\I386" ("e:\" is on SATA Maxtor 6B300S0) hierarchy being the source for all my future reinstallations ; having "tuned" BOOT.INI in such a way that, at the boot loader prompt i can choose between : "WinXP" and "Recover WinXP" (which would allow me to reinstall clean and come up with fully functionnal and ready to use environement).

Here about my hardware environement :
IDE0=WDC WD800JB-00CRA1 (actual system drive, 2 NTFS partitions, no space left)
IDE1=Maxtor 7Y250P0 (my GNU disk)
SATA0=Maxtor 6B300S0 (my data disk, 1 NTFS partition, no space left ; i have set it as active while trying to get it all work)

Here a sample of my BOOT.INI on %systemdrive% :

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professionnel" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\I386="multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)"

I tried to simply copy and past all files from %systemdrive% to "e:\" (i mean ntldr, ntdetect, io.sys, msdos.sys, bootfont.bin, etc ...) and it didn't work (i thought that simply adding those files would make the "e:\i386" work).

I have tried by simply copy/paste my XP CD on "e:\i386" and also to use setupmgr.exe to build a distribution tree, none worked.

I really must be missing something obvious about BOOT.INI parameters or something about the SATA driver.

Here is (from memory, i don't exactly remember) the error i got at boot time when choosing "Recover WinXP" option in boot loader :

Windows cannot start because it cannot read or access the disk ... blabla... I think it talked about drivers and documentation (no specific information that would be helpfull, it looks like pretty generic error message).

I may have forgoten something in my problem explanation, tell me what if so.

Many thanks in advance, since i probably will have more headaches doing this alone as doing it with the help of thoose smart looking (writing) people out there ...

Bye

This post has been edited by salut: 15 October 2006 - 05:13 PM

[salut]

So someone there can help ? ... Or just point me to some generic (but detailed, if possible)
information about the boot process, that may help i think.

I didn't tell you : i don't have floppy disk

I mean, i would really PRAISE people who may want to help me, so please

Perhaps i posted in the wrong place, tell if so

And i have an intel d865perl MB, sorry for omission

I will try tomorrow, many thanks

This post has been edited by salut: 16 October 2006 - 12:33 PM

[pmshah]

See if you can set your sata channel to ide mode. It depends on chipset & bios.

On original intel motherboards with ati chipset you have to choose sata or pata. Set ir to sata & you have errors. Set it to pata & the system works but is practically dead.

However on my asus board with phoenix or ami bios & intel 945 chipset I could set it as combination - with support for both. The installation went on without a hitch.