Can I load drivers to a desktop drive from a laptop (SATA) ?)

[vanvock]

I have a desktop (Abit KN8) with an apparently dead SATA controller. I bought a SATA card (PCIE) but it seems I need to load the drivers for it before it will work. Can I connect the boot drive to the external SATA port on my laptop to load them?

 

[WoodButcher]

I think you would need to boot the system to connect to another PC. I would try a windows install disc and perform a repair install. IIRC this should ask you for the drivers.

 

[vanvock]

Thanks for the reply. If I'm following your suggestion the problem would be that the install disk would have nowhere to put the drivers since the system sees no disk.

 

[VirtualLarry]

The maker of the SATA controller card should provide a floppy disk image, or a zip file that you unzip to a floppy disk, to provide "F8 drivers" for XP install. You have to boot from the XP install CD, and then hit F8 when prompted at the bottom, then provide the drivers on floppy disc (yes, this is the only means available for XP) when asked. Then the setup program for XP should see the disks attached to the SATA controller for install.

 

[vanvock]

Ok, Thanks. It just has a cd & the "manual" is crap but I think I found the drivers. The next problem will be finding someone that still has a floppy I can use to copy them.

 

[RebateMonger]

If your OS is XP, the MS-supported way to get the disk controller driver installed is to do an XP Repair Install. If you slipstream the new disk controller driver onto your XP Install CD (using nLite is the easiest way) then you won't need a floppy drive. As the Repair Install progresses, XP will see the new disk controller and will see the appropriate driver that you've slipstreamed onto the Install CD and will be able to see the disk and perform the XP Repair Install.

You can find out how to perform a Repair Install (NOT a "Repair using the Recovery Console") by searching MS' site for "XP Repair Install".

 

[vanvock]

It is XP(Home). Thanks for the option. I should have known this wouldn't be easy.

 

[vanvock]

My XP disk is sp1 or 2 but it's sp3 on the drive so I guess I need to slipstream it to that on the cd as well? Will this make it like a fresh install, losing updates & other data or can I stop it after getting the drivers installed?

 

[WoodButcher]

The times I've used the repair install it took what it needed and left the rest, data was fine, this being the point of a repair rather than full install.

 

[RebateMonger]

My XP disk is sp1 or 2 but it's sp3 on the drive so I guess I need to slipstream it to that on the cd as well? Will this make it like a fresh install, losing updates & other data or can I stop it after getting the drivers installed?

Actually, you don't need to update the Install CD, at least not beyond SP1 (for large disk compatibility). Once the Repair Install is done, you'll have to re-apply any updates to XP to install whatever updates (or Service Packs) are missing.

Note that a Repair Install is NOT the only way to get disk drivers installed when you move a disk to a new PC. If you search a bit you'll find some other tricks that can be used. There's a free utility that can brute-force a different disk driver install and depending on the type of disk involved (IDE or SATA and "IDE emulation or AHCI" for SATA). But a Repair Install is tried and true and should work just fine.

Also, certain backup software (Acronis and StorageCraft) are capable of migrating a restore across dissimilar hardware. But you have to plan this ahead and the software isn't free.

 

[corkyg]

. . . I bought a SATA card (PCIE) but it seems I need to load the drivers for it before it will work. Can I connect the boot drive to the external SATA port on my laptop to load them?

The drivers for the specific PCIE card should have come with it. If they are on a floppy, find a floppy drive and copy them to a flash device. Otherwise, go to the PCIE SATA card's OEM website and download the drivers to a thumb drive. Go from there. Your laptop SATA drivers are probably not the right ones for the PCIE card. SATA drivers are3 not necessarily generic.

 

[vanvock]

I got the driver onto a floppy & tried to do a repair install but the only F key option was F6 to load raid which I don't want then F3 to quit since windows cant see the hard drives. Could I go ahead & load the raid stuff as a temporary workaround & change it later or maybe do a jbod setup? Or can I load the non-raid drivers at the F6 prompt?

 

[VirtualLarry]

sorry, my bad, it is F6, not F8.

 

[vanvock]

Does the repair put it back to SP2 or just look for what's older or bad to re-write?

 

[vanvock]

I tried the F6 with floppy but it says txtsetup.oem file can't be found which I confirmed is there on 2 different floppies. I also slipstreamed SP3 along with the silicon image drivers which show up on the windows setup screen as it's loading everything but then says it can't see any hard drives & only option is to quit. Am I missing a step somewhere?

 

[vanvock]

I got the drivers to load but I get a BSOD when it trys to start Windows.

 

[vanvock]

I found my mistakes but when setup loads windows & I select Enter to setup now it still can't see the HDD.

 

[mrblotto]

make sure in your BIOS that 'add in cards' or something like that is set in the boot order?

 

[RebateMonger]

I found my mistakes but when setup loads windows & I select Enter to setup now it still can't see the HDD.

You started out with an apparently dead disk controller. Is it possible your disk is dead or your cabling is bad, instead? I've installed several PCI SATA disk controllers with Silicon Image controller chips and I've never had a problem loading the drivers or seeing the disk.

 

[vanvock]

make sure in your BIOS that 'add in cards' or something like that is set in the boot order?

Yes that's set. As a matter of fact that's the only valid option since it doesn't see the sata controller.

 

[vanvock]

You started out with an apparently dead disk controller. Is it possible your disk is dead or your cabling is bad, instead? I've installed several PCI SATA disk controllers with Silicon Image controller chips and I've never had a problem loading the drivers or seeing the disk.

I guess that's possible but It seems unlikley to me that 2 drives or cables would die at the same time, that's why I figure it was the controller. I know the power to them is good & I tried all 4 channels. The add-in card sees them so I'm thinking they're ok. One thing I noticed last night I tried F4 to go into the raid utility with the add-in card & as stated both drives are shown but It can't see the logical drives, I guess because It's driver isn't loaded in Windows. I'll try a new cable next.