Dell Precision 390 - Intalling XP

I've got a Dell Precision 390 running Windows XP. It's my 'garage'
machine. I loaded XP on it in February 2010, and it's running kind of
buggy now. It locks up alot, and I've tried to diagnose, but I can't. I
want to install XP fresh, but...

When I put the Dell XP cd in the cd drive, and turn the machine on, the
cd is recognized, and XP starts examining the system, etc. When finished
examining, it says press Enter to install XP, but then it says there is
no hard drive installed. However, I do have the SATA0 turned on in the
bios. If I just let the OS come up without the XP cd in the cd drive, it
comes up fine to the desktop.

This happens even if I install any other hard drive in the machine. XP
examines the system, and then says press Enter to install XP, but then
immediately says no hard can be found.

Any ideas?

TIA

Is your install disc SP3? Possibly you are missing the SATA drivers on the disk...

Bob_Villa wrote in
:

Is your install disc SP3? Possibly you are missing the SATA drivers on
the disk...


Hmmm...very good question. No it's not SP3, and when the install disc is
running, it does, at one point, ask if I need to install any third party
disc drivers (press F3 if yes), and I by-pass this. I'll have to
investigate some more.

Thanks, Bob.

Boris wrote in
. 116:

Bob_Villa wrote in
:

Is your install disc SP3? Possibly you are missing the SATA drivers
on the disk...


Hmmm...very good question. No it's not SP3, and when the install disc
is running, it does, at one point, ask if I need to install any third
party disc drivers (press F3 if yes), and I by-pass this. I'll have
to investigate some more.

Thanks, Bob.


in the interest of accuracy, make that 'press F6'

On Tuesday, September 30, 2014 10:29:20 AM UTC-5, Boris wrote:
Boris wrote in

. 116:



Bob_Villa wrote in

:



Is your install disc SP3? Possibly you are missing the SATA drivers

on the disk...





Hmmm...very good question. No it's not SP3, and when the install disc

is running, it does, at one point, ask if I need to install any third

party disc drivers (press F3 if yes), and I by-pass this. I'll have

to investigate some more.



Thanks, Bob.





in the interest of accuracy, make that 'press F6'

I used nLite to merge the drivers to an SP1 Dell OS disc http://i1065.photobucket.com/albums/...rigmodflow.jpg
(If I can use it...anyone can!)

On Monday, September 29, 2014 9:24:50 PM UTC-4, Boris wrote:
I've got a Dell Precision 390 running Windows XP. It's my 'garage'

machine. I loaded XP on it in February 2010, and it's running kind of

buggy now. It locks up alot, and I've tried to diagnose, but I can't. I

want to install XP fresh, but...



When I put the Dell XP cd in the cd drive, and turn the machine on, the

cd is recognized, and XP starts examining the system, etc. When finished

examining, it says press Enter to install XP, but then it says there is

no hard drive installed. However, I do have the SATA0 turned on in the

bios. If I just let the OS come up without the XP cd in the cd drive, it

comes up fine to the desktop.



This happens even if I install any other hard drive in the machine. XP

examines the system, and then says press Enter to install XP, but then

immediately says no hard can be found.



Any ideas?



TIA

Boris,

Two possibilities, one simple and the other dire.

Power up the 390, press F2 to change BIOS settings, and set the SATA interface so it is old-style ATA, not AHCI and not RAID. Pre-SP3 Windows XP did not support the newer and improved AHCI. Or you can add Intel's AHCI driver pressing F6. The install CD DOES have vanilla SATA drivers. which are the same as the IDE ones.

The dire possibility? Open up the case and inspect the motherboard for bulging or leaking capacitors, the little barrel-shaped gizmos with a silver top. I have scrapped a few 380 and 390 systems due to bad capacitors.

But if I had to place a bet, I'd put my money on BIOS settings... Ben Myers

On Tuesday, September 30, 2014 10:19:21 AM UTC-5, Boris wrote:
Bob_Villa wrote in

:



Is your install disc SP3? Possibly you are missing the SATA drivers on

the disk...





Hmmm...very good question. No it's not SP3, and when the install disc is

running, it does, at one point, ask if I need to install any third party

disc drivers (press F3 if yes), and I by-pass this. I'll have to

investigate some more.



Thanks, Bob.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/g...reg_R1002_USEN

Ben Myers wrote in
:

On Monday, September 29, 2014 9:24:50 PM UTC-4, Boris wrote:
I've got a Dell Precision 390 running Windows XP. It's my 'garage'

machine. I loaded XP on it in February 2010, and it's running kind
of

buggy now. It locks up alot, and I've tried to diagnose, but I
can't. I


want to install XP fresh, but...



When I put the Dell XP cd in the cd drive, and turn the machine on,
the


cd is recognized, and XP starts examining the system, etc. When
finished


examining, it says press Enter to install XP, but then it says there
is


no hard drive installed. However, I do have the SATA0 turned on in
the


bios. If I just let the OS come up without the XP cd in the cd
drive, it


comes up fine to the desktop.



This happens even if I install any other hard drive in the machine.
XP


examines the system, and then says press Enter to install XP, but
then

immediately says no hard can be found.



Any ideas?



TIA

Boris,

Two possibilities, one simple and the other dire.

Power up the 390, press F2 to change BIOS settings, and set the SATA
interface so it is old-style ATA, not AHCI and not RAID. Pre-SP3
Windows XP did not support the newer and improved AHCI. Or you can
add Intel's AHCI driver pressing F6. The install CD DOES have vanilla
SATA drivers. which are the same as the IDE ones.

The dire possibility? Open up the case and inspect the motherboard
for bulging or leaking capacitors, the little barrel-shaped gizmos
with a silver top. I have scrapped a few 380 and 390 systems due to
bad capacitors.

But if I had to place a bet, I'd put my money on BIOS settings... Ben
Myers

Setting the drive interface to ATA did the trick, and I was able to do a
clean install of XPHome on C:, aka 'SATA0'. I also connected the original
XP harddrive (that was installed long ago as SATA) on 'SATA1', and I copied
the Dell drivers (chipset, video, sound, ethernet) from it to C: and
installed in order. I then installed SP3 from a CD, and now have a
multitude of other updates waiting in the yellow Automatic Updates icon.

All caps are fine.

Thanks much.

Bob_Villa wrote in
:

On Tuesday, September 30, 2014 10:19:21 AM UTC-5, Boris wrote:
Bob_Villa wrote in

:



Is your install disc SP3? Possibly you are missing the SATA drivers
on

the disk...





Hmmm...very good question. No it's not SP3, and when the install
disc is

running, it does, at one point, ask if I need to install any third
party

disc drivers (press F3 if yes), and I by-pass this. I'll have to

investigate some more.



Thanks, Bob.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/g...dIndex?cc=us&d
lc=en&lc=en&softwareitem=ob-51521-1&jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN

I checked out the site, and the instructions, and yes, it looks like even
I could do it. I'm going to try and see if it works for me.

Thanks.

Boris wrote in
. 116:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/g...adIndex?cc=us&
d lc=en&lc=en&softwareitem=ob-51521-1&jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN

I checked out the site, and the instructions, and yes, it looks like
even I could do it. I'm going to try and see if it works for me.


Be aware that AHCI is an either/or proposition. If XP is installed in
ATA mode (as you've now done) it will not boot if the BIOS is
subsequently switched to AHCI mode. If XP is installed in AHCI mode it
will not boot if the BIOS is subsequently switched to ATA mode. You have
to choose one or the other at the time of installation and then stick
with it.

Many of the improvements in the AHCI spec aren't of much use with XP, so
now that you've installed XP in ATA mode there's not much harm in leaving
it that way. But if you do wish to try AHCI, it will involve starting
over with another clean install, this time with the BIOS set to AHCI
mode.

(FTR, it is technically possible to change an existing installation, but
it's not altogether easy and generally more trouble than it's worth.)

Note that Dell also has the AHCI driver on their site. Go to
support.dell.com, find the drivers download page for the Precision 390,
select XP as the OS, scroll down and expand the "Serial ATA" subsection,
and find "Intel Matrix Storage Manager" (R158601.exe). Here's a direct
link:
http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/...riversDetails?
driverId=9X3P4&fileId=2731098868&osCode=WW1&produc tCode=precision-390
&languageCode=EN&categoryId=SA

Download R158601 and copy the extracted files to a floppy. When doing a
clean install of XP, press F6 when prompted and feed the floppy to the
Setup routine.