Win2k help please

[Helevitia]

This is the third post in the last couple of weeks that I've asked for help on. I'm losing my edge

I'm trying to install Win2k Server. Upon installing, win2k does not recognize any bootable hdd. This seems weird to me since I have 3 hdd's and 4 partitions. The first drive, as you already know is the primary drive with an active partition that boots WinME. The second drive on the same cable is the new drive and it has been fdisked and formatted. Both of the above drives are hanging off my ata/100 promise controller(built in to A7V). The BIOS loads before win2k setup starts so the drives should be seen. I also have a third drive that is on a regular ata/66 with 8+ gigs free and it doesn't see that one either. hmmm? What am I missing here? I'm thinking it has somethign to do with the active partition but I'm not sure what at this point. Anybody else with and A7V that has installed Win2k?

Thanks in advance,

Dave

[MultimediaMan]

You need to boot with floppies:

Have you pressed F6 to load your proprietary device (SCSI, RAID, also any 3rd. party controllers, of which your Promise definitely is) at the prompt on Disk #1?

[Helevitia]

I did press F6 and ti asks for a file called txtsetup.oem of which I don't have for the promise controller. I personally don't think that is the problem because I can see the drive in DOS and/or WinME. Plus, why can't I see any of the other HDD's not on the promise controller?

Dave

[The PIT]

I think thats your problem. The file should be with your motherboard CD's. You may to copy it to a floppy disk or download the latest drivers from the web site. I'm presuming it's an Ultra 100 controller.

[MultimediaMan]

Win2k doesn't use DOS to install. The reason your promise controller works in DOS is because the Controller's BIOS allows it to using DOS commands, but in an NT environment, it has to be kernel driven.

[Rick]

The easiest way to get around this problem is too connect your drives to the ATA-66 channels for the install. Once you've got Win2k loaded and running, load the ATA100 drivers. Then switch the cables back to the ATA100 slots and restart. Otherwise, here's a tip I got from the Asus newsgroup.

Extract the zip file and copy the Win2000 folder on a floppy disk
(a:\win2000). It MUST be on a floppy and with that path!
When you start Windows setup it will ask you to press F6 to specify SCSI
adapters. Press F6 and insert the floppy disk. Select the Win2k Promise
controller and here you go!

Hope it helps.

[Helevitia]

First of all, thanks for all of the replies.....

The Pit, I have the latest Win2k Promise drivers already on the floppy. There are 3 files and win2k doesn't see anything. Win2k complains that it can't find the txtosetup.oem file. I actually renamed the driver file to that hoping it would work but it errored out.

MMM, That would make sense as to why it doesn't see the drive, but one thing that confuses me is the fact that it diesn't see my third hdd on the regular IDE controller? Explain that?

Rick, I may try that. I still don't understand why it won't see my other hdd that is NOT on the promise controller. Thanks for the tip. The one thing it says that I am not doing is to make a path(a:/win2000). Maybe that is what I need to do.

Thanks everyone, keep it coming

Dave

[Helevitia]

Dave sticks foot in mouth....I'm an idiot. I was trying to extract the win2k promise drivers form the actual folder instead of letting the entire promise driver package get nzipped to floppy which has all of the necessary files for win2k. All is well now. Thanks everone for your input, as always, meuch appreciated

Dave