IamtheGTIguy

I am writing this as a reference so others don't have to go through what I did to figure all this out. I see this as a growing issue as more people buy new computers that ship with Vista.

THE PROBLEM Some new computers, most noteably Dell Dimension 9200's that have shipped since Vista was released, will not allow a user to reformat the harddrive or install Windows XP.

Even tried and true boot & erase disks like Ultimate Boot CD won't work. Trying to boot from a Windows XP disk gives a Blue Screen of Death. Using any other boot utility reports bad sectors. But the computer runs fine on Vista.

THE SOLUTION

Step 1) Boot the Bios (On a DImension 9200, tap F12 immediately after turning on the computer)

Step 2) Go to "Device Setup"

Step 3 Scroll down to the "Sata" Heading and go to "Sata Operation."

Step 4 Change the setting to "RAID Autodetect/ATA."

Done. Now reformat and install Windows XP (Or Linux, or what have you) without a hitch.

This process should work on any new computer that comes with Raid Autodetect/ATA turned off.

Thanks for the all help everyone, and please spread this knowledge if a similar thread pops up in here sometime soon!

el_ricko

You rule man. I registered just to say you this:

THANKS!

IamtheGTIguy

Any time!

ENTERPRISE

Nice. Welcome to Overclock.net el ricko

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marcojetpilot

Hi, Here i have the same problem.
Setup:
Dimension 9200 with RAID on 2 - 250GB drives.
I did the AUTO detect on the RAID option in the BIOS.
I still receive the BSOD while doing the install. I do not have a floppy drive installed, is there a way to avoid installing the SATA drivers from the floppy drive?

Rgrds,
Marco

psun786

First, try to see if your computer let you load driver from USB disk (you might have to turn it on in bios). If not, you need to slipstream RAID driver into your XP installation disc. Here is a guide.

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/How...P-installation

p0p3y31

thank you, i have been racking my brain for the last 8 hours trying to slipstream the drivers into the xp pro disk with 3 failed attempts!!!


AWSOME!!!

Grim

Very nice and straightforward tidbit of info.


I've had a friend who had the problem - will foward this. )

(doesn't he deserver a +rep now ^_^)

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This Forum has big brother.

mcc99

Thanks!! Almost gave up on this entire machine, then one simple setting... ashamed I didn't just play and find it myself.