How To: Load XP on E6400 w/ SATA drivers

After reading through several posts here, I was successful at loading XP onto my E6400. I am consolidating the notes I took in order to help others in loading XP without the dreaded bluescreen of death. Many thanks go to Andy and Gregory for documenting the solution via various threads on this site.

Also, I was able to accomplish the load with the default BIOS setting for SATA set to IRRT (Intel Rapid Restore Technology). I did not try the AHCI setting but I am pretty confident it will also work if you decide that setting is what you want. Of course, if you want to disable Native Command Queuing (NCQ) you can select ATA and not worry about any of these steps. Just install like normal.

Here are the steps for loading XP with the SATA drivers and what you will need:

1) Reinstallation CD for Windows XP Pro Service Pack 3 (I had the version with SP3 already bundled) or XP Pro Service Pack 2. We are also going to need another pc w/ a CD burner and internet access to accomplish our goal.

2) Download the Intel Matrix Storage Manager to the desktop. I used version 8.6.0.1007 at the time of this writing. It says floppy utility but you don't need a floppy drive to accomplish what we are doing. So go ahead and download it. http://downloadcenter.intel.com/download.aspx?url=/17061/eng/f6flpy3286.zip&DwnldId=17061&ProductID=2101&lang=eng

3) Once downloaded, right click the zip file and extract all folder/file to the desktop too.

4) Download nlite. I used version v1.4.9.1. http://www.nliteos.com/download.html

5) Install nlite.

6) Run nlite. Once prompted, put your XP disk in the drive. Create a destination directory (name it whatever you want) to store it. Run it and nlite will copy files from the CD to the directory.

7) Once completed, it will show the version, service pack, etc. Click NEXT.

8) The next screen will show four categories: Integrate, Remove, Setup, Create. Click the Drivers and Bootable ISO buttons. Click NEXT.

9) The driver window opens up. Click on Insert, Multiple Driver Folder. Select the Folder on the Desktop where the Intel Matrix files were extracted to. After, click on ALL and OK.

10) On the next screen select all the items, (Ctrl + A). After that go ahead and create the ISO file. Leave as text-mode. It should be selected as default.

11) I used Nero Express to burn my ISO image to a CD. You can use whatever you have. nlite has its own burning capabilities but I did not try it. Please report if it works.

12) Make sure your Hard Drive is completely blank (zero it out with a hard drive utility from the respective hd manufacturer). Insert the new CD and power on. Everything should install like a normal xp install.

13) Load all the Dell specific drivers from the resource CD or the Dell support site.

Here is a great summary of the nlite process with pictures. http://news.softpedia.com/news/Install-Windows-XP-On-SATA-Without-a-Floppy-F6-47807.shtml

Good Luck!

 

It is a bit offtopic but...
I know that it is also possible to enable AHCI/IRRT on Windows XP WITHOUT reinstalling Windows. There are some guides for other chipsets but none for ICH9-M that the E6400 motherboard is based on. These guides basically need you to copy the AHCI driver to System folder and add some info to registry. All we need to do is to figure out the correct addresses to add to registry (as it is different for all the southbridge chips).

Links: forums.pcper.com
on NBR
another but none of the ICH9M codes work for me

 

VERY OLD NEWS --

I did this over a year ago with a Dell 1720.

To sum it all up -- all you need to do is slipstream the SATA drivers into SP2 or SP3 and install.

Biggest issue is typically finding all of the required HW drivers for XP - but thanks to dell - they can usually be found in the download section of various machines where they still provided XP

 

Is there any way for me to install sata driver without reinstall XP on E6400? And how much difference will the AHCI mode make Vs ATA mode on overall performance?

 

Just wanted to post and say thanks for the tips on Nlite as i didn't even know it was availible and it makes slipstreaming and adding updates a lot easier!

So far I've done the same for the Dell E6400 and so far it's working IRRT mode. Was very helpful in building images for my company -