Need to reinstall Windows XP Pro a Dell 9100 that's running with an Intel SATA RAID controller - not a problem as the PC has a floppy disk and I know to go and get the drivers from Dell's website and load them using F6 during the boot process, sounds so simple doesn't it?
Well, 2 hours in and no joy
- The Intel drivers on the Dell website for the specific machine don't include the ICH7R drivers so wasted time trying the ones it did list.
- Off to Intel and download there version of the drivers which do list the ICH7R, but no setup crashes with a blue screen having loaded the drivers in both RAID and AHCI modes, this is getting frustrationg now.
The solution:
- Download the drivers from INTEL and not Dell
- Go to http://www.nliteos.com/nlite.html for a program called nLite. This program is free and allows you to slipstream service packs into a cd and slipstream driver installs and more tweaks before install.
- You could go the whole hog and fully automate the whole installation - go to http://unattended.msfn.org/unattended.xp/ and follow all of the guides there.
According to that site when you do the F6 method of installing SATA drivers and RAID drivers XP ends up still using the wrong ones. You have to slipstream the Drivers into the XP disk for it to work. When using Nlite you can slipstream all of your extra drivers for install without modifiying any files. Nlite does it all and saves the day!
