Dimension 8400: Vista RC1 Install Gone Wrong...

Dimension 8400 currently running XP Pro.

Tried to install Vista RC1 to my second SATA hard drive. Got to the
screen where you select the drive to install Vista. Selected the drive
and formatted it. When I try to click Next to install Vista it says
that no suitable drive can be found for the install. I exited out of
Vista setup and restarted. Now Windows XP will not load unless I hit
F12 and select the hard drive from the boot menu.

I assume that somehow the Master Boot Record has become corrupt. Am I
correct and can I use the original Windows XP CD to correct the problem?

Also, does anyone have any thoughts on why the Vista installer cannot
find any suitable hard drive to install on? Could it be that there are
no SATA drivers installed? I can't find any Vista drivers for the 8400
on Dell's web site and Intel lists nothing on their download page for
the 925 chipset.

Mike

Mike, what is the error message when WinXP won't boot?




"M. Hale" wrote in message
.. .
Dimension 8400 currently running XP Pro.

Tried to install Vista RC1 to my second SATA hard drive. Got to the
screen where you select the drive to install Vista. Selected the drive
and formatted it. When I try to click Next to install Vista it says
that no suitable drive can be found for the install. I exited out of
Vista setup and restarted. Now Windows XP will not load unless I hit
F12 and select the hard drive from the boot menu.

I assume that somehow the Master Boot Record has become corrupt. Am I
correct and can I use the original Windows XP CD to correct the problem?

Also, does anyone have any thoughts on why the Vista installer cannot
find any suitable hard drive to install on? Could it be that there are
no SATA drivers installed? I can't find any Vista drivers for the 8400
on Dell's web site and Intel lists nothing on their download page for
the 925 chipset.

Mike

Google and install VistaBootPro. It is free and will fix your boot problem
in a snap.

As for Vista itself, you need the SATA drivers for the 8400's controller.
Hope you have the floppy drive

Tom
"M. Hale" wrote in message
.. .
Dimension 8400 currently running XP Pro.

Tried to install Vista RC1 to my second SATA hard drive. Got to the
screen where you select the drive to install Vista. Selected the drive
and formatted it. When I try to click Next to install Vista it says
that no suitable drive can be found for the install. I exited out of
Vista setup and restarted. Now Windows XP will not load unless I hit
F12 and select the hard drive from the boot menu.

I assume that somehow the Master Boot Record has become corrupt. Am I
correct and can I use the original Windows XP CD to correct the problem?

Also, does anyone have any thoughts on why the Vista installer cannot
find any suitable hard drive to install on? Could it be that there are
no SATA drivers installed? I can't find any Vista drivers for the 8400
on Dell's web site and Intel lists nothing on their download page for
the 925 chipset.

Mike

"Tom Scales" wrote in
:

Google and install VistaBootPro. It is free and will fix your boot
problem in a snap.

Got it and fixed it! Thanks! Whew!

As for Vista itself, you need the SATA drivers for the 8400's
controller. Hope you have the floppy drive

I have the most up to date SATA drivers for the 82801FR controller card
which is in the 8400. In the Vista install, I select the option to load
drivers. It grabs them from my floppy drive and returns to the screen
where you select what drive to install to. Even with the drivers, the
Vista installer is still telling me "Windows is unable to find a system
volume that meets its criteria for installation." While I realize I'm
using a pre-release version of the software, it's really frustrating. I
was hoping that by this point Microsoft would have included the drivers
within the install program for a controller card that is recent but not
brand new. I suppose, though, a lot of this is dependent on others
writing the drivers...

Mike

"M. Hale" wrote in message
.. .
"Tom Scales" wrote in
:

Google and install VistaBootPro. It is free and will fix your boot
problem in a snap.

Got it and fixed it! Thanks! Whew!

As for Vista itself, you need the SATA drivers for the 8400's
controller. Hope you have the floppy drive

I have the most up to date SATA drivers for the 82801FR controller card
which is in the 8400. In the Vista install, I select the option to load
drivers. It grabs them from my floppy drive and returns to the screen
where you select what drive to install to. Even with the drivers, the
Vista installer is still telling me "Windows is unable to find a system
volume that meets its criteria for installation." While I realize I'm
using a pre-release version of the software, it's really frustrating. I
was hoping that by this point Microsoft would have included the drivers
within the install program for a controller card that is recent but not
brand new. I suppose, though, a lot of this is dependent on others
writing the drivers...

Mike


The challenge is that the vendor of the card/chip hasn't provided drivers to
MS (and paid to have them included).

What you're doing should work. Does the new drive have any
partitions/drives on it? Maybe try with a completely blank disk and let
Vista partition it or the other way around if it is blank.

One more thought. How is that drive formatted? Vista will NOT install on a
FAT32 partition. Has to be NTFS.

Tom

"Tom Scales" wrote in
:

What you're doing should work. Does the new drive have any
partitions/drives on it? Maybe try with a completely blank disk and
let Vista partition it or the other way around if it is blank.

One more thought. How is that drive formatted? Vista will NOT
install on a FAT32 partition. Has to be NTFS.


The new drive is completely blank now. Originally it was a single
partition formatted with NTFS. I tried to let the Vista installer
partition and format it, but no go...

Mike

"M. Hale" wrote in message
.. .
"Tom Scales" wrote in
:

What you're doing should work. Does the new drive have any
partitions/drives on it? Maybe try with a completely blank disk and
let Vista partition it or the other way around if it is blank.

One more thought. How is that drive formatted? Vista will NOT
install on a FAT32 partition. Has to be NTFS.


The new drive is completely blank now. Originally it was a single
partition formatted with NTFS. I tried to let the Vista installer
partition and format it, but no go...

Mike

Then I'd partition and format it with XP and see what happens.

Tom

Just curious as to which version of BIOS you have in the 8400?

Regards,
John O.


"M. Hale" wrote in message
.. .
Dimension 8400 currently running XP Pro.

Tried to install Vista RC1 to my second SATA hard drive. Got to the
screen where you select the drive to install Vista. Selected the drive
and formatted it. When I try to click Next to install Vista it says
that no suitable drive can be found for the install. I exited out of
Vista setup and restarted. Now Windows XP will not load unless I hit
F12 and select the hard drive from the boot menu.

I assume that somehow the Master Boot Record has become corrupt. Am I
correct and can I use the original Windows XP CD to correct the problem?

Also, does anyone have any thoughts on why the Vista installer cannot
find any suitable hard drive to install on? Could it be that there are
no SATA drivers installed? I can't find any Vista drivers for the 8400
on Dell's web site and Intel lists nothing on their download page for
the 925 chipset.

Mike

"John Ochenduszko [JJOchen]" wrote in
:

Just curious as to which version of BIOS you have in the 8400?


The latest one Dell has to offer on their web site.

I gave up trying to install Vista RC1 on my 8400. None of the suggestions
anyone here generously provided have worked as well as suggestions I read
from others in web forums. I'm thinking the problem has something to do
with the Serial ATA drivers that may or may not be a part of Vista RC1.

I may try install Vista RC1 at work on a spare computer that was just
purchased but hasn't been put into general use yet.

Mike

"M. Hale" wrote in message
.. .
"John Ochenduszko [JJOchen]" wrote in
:

Just curious as to which version of BIOS you have in the 8400?


The latest one Dell has to offer on their web site.

I gave up trying to install Vista RC1 on my 8400. None of the suggestions
anyone here generously provided have worked as well as suggestions I read
from others in web forums. I'm thinking the problem has something to do
with the Serial ATA drivers that may or may not be a part of Vista RC1.

I may try install Vista RC1 at work on a spare computer that was just
purchased but hasn't been put into general use yet.

Mike

I don't believe they are in RC1, but the XP drivers should work