XP refuses to install on Win7 system

Hi,

I'm new here. Sorry if this has been answered elsewhere. I read the FAQ, "Installing XP after Vista" and "Troubleshooting Windows XP" and couldn't find the answer to my issue.

I have a Win7 64-bit system. I created a new partition to add XP, booted into the XP install disc (32-bit XP Pro) and started the install procedure. It finds the partition fine and seems to be working, but at the 1st reboot, after the "push any key to boot from cd/dvd" message, I push nothing and immediately get a "could not find operating system" error (might have said "error" finding OS) and it hangs.

After being unable to boot into anything and panicking, the "Recovering Vista Bootloader" guide saved my ass and got me back into Win7. (the DVD recovery didn't work and I had to enter the manual commands at the command prompt.)

I'm wondering if it might be that I have a SATA HDD? The "Installing XP after Vista" guide said to hit F6 during the XP install if you have SATA, which I did, but it seemed to be looking for a SCSI drive when I did. Not sure if this has anything to do with my problem.

Please help. Thanks.
 
Hi Fuzzmaster,

Either configure your BIOS to use ATA instead of AHCI (or it may be simply an On/Off option for AHCI) or use a SP3-slipstreamed Windows XP CD.
 
I'll check my BIOS and see if the ATA/AHCI is set incorrectly.

I haven't had any luck with slipstream installs in the past, but I might have to try again.

Thanks for the ideas!
 
Do you have a floppy drive ?
If you get the SATA drivers from your mobo site, F6 can be used to pre-load them from a floppy.
 
Or borrow a floppy from an older PC.
(I put one in my latest PC though I almost never use it because you never know when it might be handy (BIOS flash e.g) and it was so cheap.)
Mine is part of a floppy/USB/6-way card reader combo and cost about
 
No. Windows XP SP3 includes the SATA drivers by default, so you won't need to use F6 or provide the drivers manually by floppy.
 
OK, so the BIOS setup is as follows:

"JMicron eSATA/PATA controller - Enabled"
"Controller mode - IDE"

Mode options are RAID, IDE or AHCI

Is this correct?
 
Oh. I see. Your problem isn't the AHCI, it's the SATA controller itself which is the JMicron. You'll need to do the slip stream.
 
OK. I did the slipstream and the install hung at the same point with the slipstream disc as the install disc. Only this time there was no error message. After the 1st reboot, it says "press any key to boot from cd....." and then nothing. Stayed there overnight.
 
You may need to clear the MBR on your disk. If you have access to a Linux Live CD, I would use it to run this command:

Code:
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev=sda bs=446 count=1
 
Is there a way to make a bootable EasyBCD disc? Otherwise I'm going to have to repair the MBR by hand again just to get into Win7 so I can run EasyBCD.

If I could make a bootable EasyBCD disc on another computer...
 
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