4 ms·

>Things like Windows XP or older won't install or run in SATA mode without a proper driver floppy for F6'ing, that's when it's easier just to use IDE mode somet

by jaclaz 3y ago

>Things like Windows XP or older won't install or run in SATA mode without a proper driver floppy for F6'ing, that's when it's easier just to use IDE mode sometimes. Also can be more challenging to add SATA drivers after installing though, and you usually end up pointing to the same files the floppy has on it. JFYI, as long as you have the actual driver files, and the motherboard can boot from a USB stick, you can use a "virtual" floppy via Syslinux or grub4dos for loading the F6 driver during setup: http://wp.xin.at/archives/2702 http://wp.xin.at/archives/2702 https://msfn.org/board/topic/154071-f6-without-a-floppy-drive/ https://msfn.org/board/topic/154071-f6-without-a-floppy-driv...

fuzzfactor 3y ago
Thanks for this jaclaz, always good to see your messages. Might even work from a non-bootable USB stick formatted by MSDOS or Windows as a floppy (no MBR or partition table, same sector 0 as a floppy) if the BIOS recognizes it as A: (maybe also as B:) when plugged in before powerup. Assuming the PC is booted to the XP CDROM or one of the other effective ways to conventionally install XP. For XP I do like having both IDE and SATA drivers installed in the long run so it will still boot regardless of BIOS HDD mode setting. Ideally when the BIOS would be set to boot from floppy with first priority, if a floppy was in the drive but had no boot files, the next boot device would then be tried.
- jaclaz 3y ago
  It greatly depends. With USB sticks - generally speaking and particularly with older hardware - bootability is "pure madness", the BIOS may want a partitioned or unpartitioned device, may have limit on the size of the device (i.e. 2 GB boots, 4 GB or bigger doesn't), may "like" (or not like) a given MBR or bootsector code, it is a mess. In the good ol' times there was the makebootfat "special" setup, with the same stick that was at the same time partitioned and unpartitioned, then there was the "triple boot MBR" by Tinybit (one of the Authors of grub4dos) and FBinst (by Bean, another contributor to grub4dos) to workaround some of these BIOSes limitations/strange behaviours. Often a non-bootable USB stick connected to the system is not mapped at all by the BIOS, but - again it depends - the grub4dos internal USB stack or chainloading a PloP might reveal it.

by jaclaz 3y ago

fuzzfactor 3y ago

Thanks for this jaclaz, always good to see your messages. Might even work from a non-bootable USB stick formatted by MSDOS or Windows as a floppy (no MBR or partition table, same sector 0 as a floppy) if the BIOS recognizes it as A: (maybe also as B:) when plugged in before powerup. Assuming the PC is booted to the XP CDROM or one of the other effective ways to conventionally install XP. For XP I do like having both IDE and SATA drivers installed in the long run so it will still boot regardless of BIOS HDD mode setting. Ideally when the BIOS would be set to boot from floppy with first priority, if a floppy was in the drive but had no boot files, the next boot device would then be tried.

jaclaz 3y ago
It greatly depends. With USB sticks - generally speaking and particularly with older hardware - bootability is "pure madness", the BIOS may want a partitioned or unpartitioned device, may have limit on the size of the device (i.e. 2 GB boots, 4 GB or bigger doesn't), may "like" (or not like) a given MBR or bootsector code, it is a mess. In the good ol' times there was the makebootfat "special" setup, with the same stick that was at the same time partitioned and unpartitioned, then there was the "triple boot MBR" by Tinybit (one of the Authors of grub4dos) and FBinst (by Bean, another contributor to grub4dos) to workaround some of these BIOSes limitations/strange behaviours. Often a non-bootable USB stick connected to the system is not mapped at all by the BIOS, but - again it depends - the grub4dos internal USB stack or chainloading a PloP might reveal it.