Geek Essential

Got new laptop? nice… trying to install Win XP? hmm… well you might have fallen into issue with the installation not recognizing the hard drive for some reason. Issue? HDD setting in the BIOS. By default, new laptops are setup to run in AHCI. Problem: Windows XP usually don’t understand AHCI until SP3 (even then, some issues there depending on the model).

There are work around it by:

- slipstream correct driver in a new WinXP CD

- use F6 / floppy drive – if you only have floppy drive hanging around somewhere

Is that it? Well you can install Windows XP (which ever version) in ATA mode rather than AHCI in BIOS.

But wait… is it this simple? Well… no… there’s a bit tinkering to do, other wise you’ll be faced with BSOD.

Here’s how to avoid BSOD:

1) Download the HDD driver from laptop manufacturer’s site.

2) Once you download the file, run it with a -a switch:

IE: iata76_enu.exe -a

This will NOT install the Matrix Storage Manager. What this will do is run the installer, and ONLY EXTRACT the files to C:\Program Files\Intel\Intel Matrix Storage Manager. Again, this does NOT install anything.

3) Your drivers are now located in somewhere you have designated. They will be found in either \Driver, or \Driver64, depending on whether you’re running a 32-bit or 64-bit OS.

4) Go to Device Manager –> IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers. Double-click on the “Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller” (this would be the typical IDE controller installed with ATA enabled.

5) Go to Driver tab, and choose to Update Driver.

6) Tell the Wizard prompts:

- No, not this time

- Install from a list or specific location (Advanced)

- Don’t Search. I will choose the driver to install.

- Click the “Have Disk” button. Point it to your correct driver location.

- After you install the driver and click OK out of every menu, reboot the laptop.

7) During reboot, go into BIOS and turn on AHCI mode and Flash Module

Voila! WinXP will boot up with no BSOD!