Installing Win2k onto a SCSI drive

GargGarg Purveyor of Lincoln Nightmares Icrontian
edited November 2004 in Science & Tech
The Win2k CD I have is not bootable. When I use a Win98 boot floppy and run winnt.exe on the CD, it doesn't find any hard drives. The only HD hooked up is on the Adaptec AIC-7895 onboard SCSI controller. Is there any way I can get it to look for the SCSI drive? WinXP doesn't have a problem finding the SCSI device, but the install locks up as soon as it's finished loading the files at the beginning of the setup.

Thanks :thumbsup:

Comments

  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited November 2004
    I can tell you how to make your Win2k CD bootable if that's a solution you'd like to pursue.
  • GargGarg Purveyor of Lincoln Nightmares Icrontian
    edited November 2004
    Well, I'm not sure that would solve the problem, but I guess it's worth a shot. Surely there must be a way of telling win2000 that it needs to install to a SCSI device. Would there be any way of doing this with an unattended install? I've never done one before, but since everything has to be specified beforehand, maybe there would be a command of some kind?
  • ShortyShorty Manchester, UK Icrontian
    edited November 2004
    Download the four Windows 2000 bootdisks (it's the floppy version of the text part of a Win2K installation) from:

    http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm
  • EQuitoEQuito SoCal, USA
    edited November 2004
    I'd say load the driver for the SCSI card by pressing F6 during the first screen of installation and that should solve your problem.
  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    edited November 2004
    Yes, and the floppy install boot set can have a SCSI driver added if needed for embedded SCSI on motherboards. Basicly, for Win2K Pro, you will need a SCSI driver for some embedded devices, especially SCSI RAID.
  • GargGarg Purveyor of Lincoln Nightmares Icrontian
    edited November 2004
    Cool, thanks guys. How would I embed a SCSI driver on the boot disk?

    WinXP already had the driver, but the install always froze after it finished loading all the components at the beginning. I'm hoping to get 2k installed and upgrade to XP from there.
  • GargGarg Purveyor of Lincoln Nightmares Icrontian
    edited November 2004
    I've got to do this tonight, does anybody have any idea how to get Win2k to load a storage controller driver?

    Can't press F6 like in the XP install (there are no prompts in the Win2k install that I've seen).
  • EQuitoEQuito SoCal, USA
    edited November 2004
    Gargoyle wrote:
    Can't press F6 like in the XP install (there are no prompts in the Win2k install that I've seen).
    W2K shows the F6 prompt right at the start of installation just like XP
    I've been trying to find the right driver for you to no avail but I found this:
    The Adaptec AIC-7895 is a new component. The Windows NT version 4.0 CDROM was created before the new Adaptec AIC-7895 and it's associated drivers were available. Therefore, the drivers required for the Adaptec AIC-7895 are not on the CDROM.

    The installation problem is encountered because the Microsoft installation process interprets the Adaptec AIC-7895 hardware as an older version of Adaptec controller. This incorrect hardware detection leads the installation software to install an older driver without providing an option to the operator for loading the correct driver. The result of installing the incorrect driver is system lockup ("Blue Screen") due to an INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE error. At this time we do not know of any solution which can correct the installation process executed from the installation CDROM.

    Work Around: There is a procedure which can be used to install Windows NT version 4.0 from the bootable CDROM. This process involves booting the system from a floppy diskette. Once the system is booted from the floppy diskette (CDROM must NOT be inserted in the CD drive at boot time!), the installation procedure can be executed from the Windows NT version 4.0 installation diskette. The installation procedure on the diskette is unaware of the CDROM and will not automatically install the Adaptec drivers. This process allows the operator to load the correct Adaptec AIC-7895 driver prior to completing the installation from the CDROM.
  • GargGarg Purveyor of Lincoln Nightmares Icrontian
    edited November 2004
    I think I found the driver after prowling all over Adaptec's site last night. It corresponds to a set with the AHA-3400 series, I think. I left that info at home though.

    I wonder if my Win2k cd is wierd or something, becuase it doesn't show the F6 thing. Then again, I'm running the setup by executing Winnt.exe in the I386 directory. If I used those boot disks, maybe that would make the difference (haven't had a chance to try yet).
  • EQuitoEQuito SoCal, USA
    edited November 2004
    Yeah, you should give the floppies a try.
    Somethig interesting to consider also, if you boot with a W98 boot disk and select CDROM support the drivers (AIC-78xx) will load automatically.
    That might give W2K the chance to see the controller.

    This is the file on the W98 floppy that contains the AIC-78xx driver. I'm don't know if it'll be enough for W2K to load a driver from it.
  • GargGarg Purveyor of Lincoln Nightmares Icrontian
    edited November 2004
    Ok guys, this is wierd. The disks worked, in that I was able to specifiy the SCSI controller driver and go through the initial loading process, but at the part when the screen starts to look a little different (the screen where you can hit enter to install, R to repair, or F3 to quit), it stops responding, just like in the XP install. Except this time, the PC speaker started making ambulance siren noises.

    WTF mate?

    So, my next question: this is a dual pentium 2 computer. Win98 would only see one of the processors. If I installed 98, and then upgraded to XP or 2000, would it see both of the processors then, or be stuck with one, because that's all that 98 saw?
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited November 2004
    It would see both processors provided you selected an SMP HAL by hitting F5 along with F6.
  • GargGarg Purveyor of Lincoln Nightmares Icrontian
    edited November 2004
    Would I have that option from the GUI upgrade install (run from inside Win98)?
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited November 2004
    I've never done an upgrade install, as it's really a bad idea, so I don't know.
  • EQuitoEQuito SoCal, USA
    edited November 2004
    I don't know abut your board but on Abit boards the siren usually means CPU overheating. I've seen that same scenario many times as the install process is very CPU intensive.

    I've never used dual CPU but I'd think the moment you upgrade to either W2K or XP the second CPU should show.
  • GargGarg Purveyor of Lincoln Nightmares Icrontian
    edited November 2004
    I think the BIOS is set to alarm at 65 or 70 degrees C. But, these are older and hotter P2s, so I guess it's possible. Might mean I should rethink installing folding :)

    At any rate, I'll give Win98 a try and go from there. Thanks guys.
  • GargGarg Purveyor of Lincoln Nightmares Icrontian
    edited November 2004
    Thrax wrote:
    I've never done an upgrade install, as it's really a bad idea, so I don't know.

    Yeah, I'm not very enthusiastic about it. It just needs to run for a few months under the abuse of a pretty uninformed user that I'm building it for.

    ... it's screwed :D
  • GargGarg Purveyor of Lincoln Nightmares Icrontian
    edited November 2004
    Bah! I've been screwing with the drivers still instead of trying the Win98 approach, and I've just been getting more frustrated. When googling, I've found that I'm not the only one who has had this problem, but the few solutions people have found haven't worked for me.

    I just realized I've got a SCSI card laying around that I've successfully installed Windows on before, so I'll just do that. Wish I would have remembered that earlier :banghead:
  • GargGarg Purveyor of Lincoln Nightmares Icrontian
    edited November 2004
    :banghead:
    The setup locks up at the same point even when I use the other controller card.

    There is still a WinXP install on the drive, which will load now that I have it back on its original controller card. But, the keyboard and mouse don't work once I get into Windows.

    For all I know, the setup isn't locking up, the keyboard may just be ceasing to function. But, end result is the same. Looks like this motherboard is more trouble than it's worth.
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