Help - reinstalling xp, puzzled, REFORMAT/REINSTALL XP Options

[ddevicente]

Hello everyone. This is most probably an obvious question.
Heres my situation. I have been trying to reformat/reinstall windows xp on a friends computer. The windows cd itself wont recognize the Hard drive, most probably because it has some kind of RAID, SATA or SCSI configuration. The UBCD4WIN definitely DOES recognize the HDD, because I must have added the drivers file in correctly. I dont have the drivers cd for his motherboard, so I cant make a floppy for external drivers. I hope all I need to get this to work is this UBCD, in other words.

All I want to do is reformat the drive and do a fresh install of Windows XP. If someone could give me a step-by-stepper on this, it would be much appreciated.

Thanks
Daniel DeVicente

[wrc1944]

Hello everyone. This is most probably an obvious question.
Heres my situation. I have been trying to reformat/reinstall windows xp on a friends computer. The windows cd itself wont recognize the Hard drive, most probably because it has some kind of RAID, SATA or SCSI configuration. The UBCD4WIN definitely DOES recognize the HDD, because I must have added the drivers file in correctly. I dont have the drivers cd for his motherboard, so I cant make a floppy for external drivers. I hope all I need to get this to work is this UBCD, in other words.

All I want to do is reformat the drive and do a fresh install of Windows XP. If someone could give me a step-by-stepper on this, it would be much appreciated.

Thanks
Daniel DeVicente

What kind of winXP cd does your friend have?

What does the UBCD4WIN cd report the partitions are on your friends box?

IIRC, you need an XPsp2 install cd to recognize SATA, so if he only has the original winXP disk, or a crappy XP "recovery disk" from the PC manufacturer, that probably won't work. You'll need to slipstream sp2 if he has an SATA drive you're trying to reinstall XP onto.

However, it would seem if you're using the winxp disk that came with the computer (if one did), it should at least allow you to recognize the drive, and reformat/reinstall.

[rdsok]

ddevicente,

Another suggestion, visit the support website for the motherboard. Look up the model and they should have copies of the drivers you will need. You can then create a floppy disk for the drivers and when the XP setup prompts you.. press F6 with the floppy disk in drive a:

[ddevicente]

right well, I have no idea actually what the configuration is on his computer. the motherboard has an onboard raid controller, but Im not sure that the computer is using this... how do I tell if it has a Raid or sata config? If I disable the raid controller on the bios, the win xp cd still doesnt recognize the HDD.

The website contains no files to make a floppy drivers diskette. It only has a manual and a regular drivers installation, whatever that means.

Hmm Im not really sure what to do, as I was just figuring on reformatting the drive from the UBCD, possibly disabling anything that would cause it to not recognize the drive, and then installing windows.

This was a custom built computer, so it comes with a regular version of Windows Xp with Sp1. Whoever built it left no instructions as how to reformat or tinker with it, nor the specifications or model numbers of any of the components.

The hard drive has 2 big NFTS partitions, and thats all it says I think.
What I was asking originally was this: since UBCD is a mock version of windows loaded from a CD, would it be possible to reformat the HDD, and then load the win xp cd and do a clean install, all from within the shell of UBCD? I am not familiar with any of the programs on the disk, and was wondering if this was possible. If not, how do I get the cd to recognize the hard drive automatically?

I will look into slipstreaming for now, I hope i can fix this.

[rdsok]

Maybe this will help you identify your motherboard and/or the type of hard drive controller (HDC) so you can get more informtion.

Go into your UBCD4Win directory... mine is at C:\ubcd4win but yours will be where you made it at. Then go to the folder plugin\SysInfo and run SIW.EXE... it should be able to tell you the Motherboard manufacturer and the model number. It can also list the Windows system devices so you can lookup your HDC info. Next find and visit their website and look for any info there that may help.

Personally, I prefer to use Everest Home edition for this which can be found at http://www.lavalys.com/products/overview.php?pid=1&lang=en ... but SysInfo is included with UBCD4Win so you wouldn't need to install anything new.

The info for slipstreaming can be found in http://www.ubcd4win.com/howto.htm .. its pretty easy and may be the best solution if the SP2 includes the drivers for your system you are working with.

[wrc1944]

What exactly happens when you try and boot with the winXPsp1 cd? You should be able to at least get a few screens into the install process, assuming your winXP cd is good. Maybe try booting that cd on another machine and see if it begins the install process, just to verify it's functional. If it works on another box, suspect a hardware problem.

When you boot the UBCD4WIN cd, is it fully functional, or have you still got problems? If you can access your drive, open files, etc, and everything seems to work normally (monitor, etc.), your hardware is OK.

If not, have you tried checking the hard drive connector cable and replugging both ends in, and reseating your ram and any other pci/video cards? I would try removing everything except the hard drive, ram, and video card, and see if you can boot normally, or in safe mode. If not, can you run a memtest?

Is this the same cd that the current OS was installed with on this computer, and has it got a valid key so you can do the installation from it?

[ddevicente]

What exactly happens when you try and boot with the winXPsp1 cd? You should be able to at least get a few screens into the install process, assuming your winXP cd is good. Maybe try booting that cd on another machine and see if it begins the install process, just to verify it's functional. If it works on another box, suspect a hardware problem.

When you boot the UBCD4WIN cd, is it fully functional, or have you still got problems? If you can access your drive, open files, etc, and everything seems to work normally (monitor, etc.), your hardware is OK.

If not, have you tried checking the hard drive connector cable and replugging both ends in, and reseating your ram and any other pci/video cards? I would try removing everything except the hard drive, ram, and video card, and see if you can boot normally, or in safe mode. If not, can you run a memtest?

Is this the same cd that the current OS was installed with on this computer, and has it got a valid key so you can do the installation from it?

Well It goes normally until the screen with the listed partitions comes up, in other words, the part where you select which partition you wish to install/reformat windows xp onto. There is nothing wrong with the cd. Instead of giving me options for the partitions installed, it says "no device installed on this drive", yet windows is booting normally without the cd just fine. It just has alot of junk on it and I want to reformat it. I think it has something to do with the instalation of the hard drives.... with the UBCD4win, I can access everything. It recognizes everything. I am sure it is some sort of driver that I need to install during the boot with the f6 key.... the only thing is, I need to know what that file is. How do I figure out what UBCD used?

[rdsok]

There is a way to find out what motherboard and what HDC is used from UBCD4Win.... with that information you should be able to visit the support website for the manufacturer of the motherboard and download the driver needed. The driver disk that is needed, requires more than just a single driver file for WinXP to be able to use it and recognize it... basically you can't just copy a file and expect it to work.

Boot into UBCD4Win the click Start->Programs->System Information->Info & Diag Tools->System Info for Windows. Next go into the hardware section and locate Motherboard.. write down the Manfacturer, the Model and version. Next go to the Devices section and expand it so you can locate the IDE,SCSI or RAID area and write down what you find.

Now armed with that information you should be able to find out where the motherboard manufacturer's website is located and locate the drivers you need to create the drivers disk. You may also be able to locate a manual that may be helpful in creating a driver disk that you can use.

[dirkgently42]

Step-by-step guides for reinstalling xp can be found at theldergeek.com (top left under "Install/Remove").

Links to other guides can be found at bootdisk.com under "HOW TO GUIDES FOR WINDOWS XP".

... and see cleanxpinstall

archive of blackviper.com

I'm sure there are others... :)

[wrc1944]

From what you have said, I think the reason must be that because the UBCD4WIN cd works (sp2 derived) and sees all the drives, you must be trying to reinstall winXPsp1 on an SATA drive, or another newer drive that your sp1 cd doesn't recognize. If you want to get a new sp2 reinstall of winXP using a regular XP install disk on an SATA drive, you'll need to slipstream sp2, and make yourself a completely new XPsp2 installer disk using AutoStreamer.

I'm not sure if you can slipstream sp2 into your current disk (and make a new winXPsp2 install disk) while only booted to UBCD4WIN. I think you need to do the AutoStreamer routine, and burn the new cd on a different fully functioning computer. I've done this, it's pretty easy- just install AutoStreamer on a different box, and follow instructions.

If you actually can create a full winXPsp2 installer disk while booted only to the UBCD4WIN disk, the instructions might be a little different, and I've never done it myself. The instructions at http://www.ubcd4win.com/howto.htm

seems to be refering to making a UBCD4WIN disk only, and not a full-fledged winXPsp2 install disk, which is what I think you are wanting to wind up with.

I'm still wondering if it is an SATA drive, and how someone got sp1 installed on it in the first place. Do we know it is an SATA drive? If it's not SATA, I see no reason you can't just reformat and reinstall XP using your sp1 disk, especially since you can see the drives contents from the UBCD4WIN disk.

Since your friend's computer isn't working, you must have created the UBCD4WIN disk on anothe box. I would use that box to slipstream a new winXPsp2 install disk, then reinstall on the other box.

This post has been edited by wrc1944: Oct 17 2005, 01:28 AM

[ddevicente]

Ok, so would Windows XP Sp2 work with Raid drives or configurations as well?
I suppose its worth a shot. I will try the suggestions you have made, and let you know how it goes. Thanks to everyone for the advice.

[wrc1944]

Ok, so would Windows XP Sp2 work with Raid drives or configurations as well?
I suppose its worth a shot.  I will try the suggestions you have made, and let you know how it goes. Thanks to everyone for the advice.

Raid shouldn't matter- the XP install disk should detect your partitions and disks OK, and give you an option of where to install XP.

Again, do you know if the drive is SATA, or not? If it's not, not having an XPsp2 install disk shouldn't matter- sp1 should detect and have drivers for virtually any non-SATA IDE drive. The first thing to do is determine if the drive is SATA, or not, so you know if you really need sp2.

Is there data on the drive you need to backup? If so, back it up from UBCD4WIN, and wipe/reformat C:\ from UBCD4WIN. I see no reason you can't do this, unless the hardware actually is having a problem. Then you can try reinstalling XP with your sp1 disk (assuming the disk isn't SATA).

[stidyup]

What's the make/model of your Mobo?

Your problem sounds like you need to be pressing F6 when the first WinXP install screen comes up asking about 3rd party raid/scsi devices. You will need these drivers on a floppy, insert the correct drivers when asked. The winxp installation should then pick up your SATA/SCSI drive.

If the above doesn't work you may need to slipstream SP2 into your installation media.

[ddevicente]

OK well here is the systems information from system info for windows on UBCD4win.

Its OS: Win Professional Sp1

The motherboard is a Soyo Dragon, model VT8367-8233A

There are no raid drivers loading when I looked, nor an array created, however, the motherboard comes with onboard RAID.

HOWEVER, I discovered today that the Hard drive is a Maxtor 6 Yo6oLo SCSI disc device. When went on maxtor.com to look for some kind of driver to go with windows, i couldnt find one.

Since it is scsi, I hope (crossing fingers) that it will load up with Sp2. The xp cd that came with the computer is an sp1, weird. I will have to slipstream it, unless someone wants to figure out for me what drivers I need or I find it on my own.
Haha but at least I think I am on to something.

Is that aspi32 or acpi or something... might be the file that runs in windows. Will do the slipstream and see what happens.
thanks for all your help.

[stidyup]

If it's connected to a raid array have you initialised the hdd within the raid setup?