[Rabnud]

I'm building a PC using the Intel DG45ID mobo, with the G45 chipset. This mobo is all SATA - no IDE connectors - which is fine, that's one reason I chose it. However, the instructions in the mobo guide for loading the SATA drivers under WinXP (my OS of choice) refer to a floppy. In fact the mobo came with a floppy disk for the RAID/AHCI driver. But how to use it? It seems contradictory that Intel would make a critical driver install dependent on a type of drive that the mobo doesn't support, and not identify any alternative.

I may be able to run the floppy data from a USB floppy drive, and I've ordered one for that purpose (even if it doesn't work for this particular situation the drive will be handy to have around).

If that doesn't work I believe I will need to load the driver from a USB flash drive. My first question, which so far I haven't been able to answer from any Intel documentation, is: does this USB drive need to be bootable? If yes, are XP-bootable flash drives commercially available (other than U3, which I don't want)? And if not, how do I make a USB drive bootable in WinXP? I've seen some descriptions, but most of them are more than 2 years old and don't always sparkle with clarity.

I'm aware that I could also load the drivers from a CD, but the same issues of bootability may also apply. An article by member crjdriver on 10-July-07 addressed this to a fair extent.

Would appreciate any words of wisdom on this matter.

[Elvandil]

There is no floppy connector on that board? Floppies are not IDE devices (though they exist).

The medium containing the driver does not need to be bootable. But an external floppy probably will not work since it has no drivers loaded itself on boot, so no way to access it. The same with USB flash drives.

To get around this issue, many people just create a custom installation CD with the driver included.

Installing XP on a SATA drive


"Many newer BIOS allow an Alternate method for SATA . . Go into the BIOS and check the 'Sata Operation' setting, change it to 'Raid Autodetect/ATA' if it is not already. Now try to install XP (Verbiage will vary by manufacturer)" - Courtesy of simpswr.

[Rabnud]

Thanks Elvandil

I querried Intel about the contradiction in their setup for the DG45ID mobo: must load from a floppy but the mobo has no floppy support. Got back a list of knowledge base links, one of which has a buried section that addresses that very issue. It says that an external USB floppy drive will work as long as it has the right PnP capability, and then listed several such products. But the article, and therefore the product listing, is 3 yrs old. I had already ordered a Teac USB FDD (due to arrive on 01/07); but the tech data available from Amazon did not address PnP in much detail. So we'll see what happens.

The all-SATA DG45ID mobo has no physical legacy support, which is fine. That's one reason I chose it. But I fault Intel for requiring the use of a floppy disk, which comes with the mobo, to get to the point where you can then install the OS. The product guide should clearly explain how to deal with this conflict. Since no-legacy systems are likely to become the norm, it follows that many others will have the same problem I'm having.