CNY findings - Part 1

During the CHinese New Year break, which is also a part of my mid semester break for this semester in UPM, I've decided to make my notebook dual booting with my Ubuntu Linux Operating System and Windows XP. At first, my notebook does not allow me to install the Windows XP operating system because of the Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI) /SATA driver defined by Intel. If the Windows XP installation CD is popped up inside your notebook which has build in ACHI/SATA driver,, then you may probably end up with the message "Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed on your computer" although actually there is Hard Disk installed on your computer.

To solve the problem, you may need the tools and the software listed below :

• Notebook PC with AHCI / SATA driver
• Windows XP installation CD
• nlite software to integrate the AHCI /SATA driver with Windows XP installation files
• Empty CD - R (700 MB)
• Burning tools - Nero , Alcohol 120 % (For Windows) Or Brasero Disc Burning Tools (For Linux) .etc...

The first step is to download your AHCI / SATA driver from your computer manufacturer's website. In my case, I own a Acer Travelmate 6291, I've downloaded the SATA driver from Acer website which allow user to download its driver. There is a previous solution that you need an external Floppy Disk to install the SATA driver on the PC but in this case, you don't need anymore. nlite software solve all its problem!!

The SATA driver file need to be extracted by using UltraISO. the SATA driver downloaded will contain two zip file (f6flpy32.zip - for 32 bit Windows XP and f6flpy64.zip - for 64 bit Windows XP). If you are using 32 bit Windows XP, choose f6flpy32.zip and extract it, and you will find f6flpy32.exe, and the file is extracted again to get temp.IMA file. The temp.IMA file is then opened using UltraISO and then extract it into a folder (In this case I put in the folder named F6_SATA_driver). The next step is then is to integrate SATA driver into Windows XP installation CD using nlite.


Then, the nlite is installed on your notebook PC. The steps below guides you on how to integrate ur Windows XP installation files with the AHCI SATA driver obtained from your computer manufacturers' website.

1. The nlite is launched, click Browse to locate your Windows XP installtion CD and the folder into which your modification saved. The nlite will copy the Windows XP installtion files into the folder that you've specified (In this case, I named the folder WinXP[SATA].

2. Then click Next two times, two skip the import step. On the task selection window, choose Drivers and Bootable ISO option and then click next.

3. Click Insert and choose Single Driver, and locate the extracted SATA driver (In my case, I locate at F6_SATA_driver folder) and choose iaahic.inf file. On the driver options window, choose Textmode driver option and select the compatible AHCI/SATA driver (can be obtained your computer manufacturer's website) as different chipset used , different AHCI/SATA driver. Then click Next to continue.

4. On Apply Changes dialog box, then click Next to start the process and click Next after the process is finished.

5. After integrating the SATA driver with the Windows XP installation files, create an image file (.ISO) for your new modification Windows XP installer. Then the image file is burned into an empty CD-R by using your selected Burning Tools software.

References

http://www.londatiga.net/it/installing-windows-xp-on-acer-travelmate-6291-laptop/


Written by
-OWJ@2010-