AHCI and XP without a floppy drive

[#1]

I am in the processing of sorting out my next build which will still be running on XP.
I wasn’t intending to add a floppy drive but I have just been checking on the difficulties of using the AHCI (Advanced Host Controller Interface) on the SATA drive. Other than creating a special slipstreamed XP CD it would seem that a floppy drive is needed –OK it’s only about £5 but it’s the principle. For some reason XP won’t pull the drivers from a CD.
Is there a way round this.

[#2]

He's talking about SATA support not floppy drive support, i believe he's saying XP won't install on a SATA hard drive without drivers being installed via a floppy disk 
Why no go with Vista? The Vista Home 32bit OEM version costs the same as XP Home OEM Version and you just bung in the CD and everything SATA is taken care of for you 
www.scan.co.uk about £50

[#3]

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Why no go with Vista? The Vista Home 32bit OEM version costs the same as XP Home OEM Version and you just bung in the CD and everything SATA is taken care of for you

Isn't that shooting yourself in the head to stop your foot from hurting?

[#4]

How about buying a floppy drive, sorting out the driver installation, then take the floppy drive back the next day and say you don't need it and would like a refund?

[#5]

I can always borrow a floppy drive from my existing PC  but I was hoping there was a workaround so that I could use a CD instead. It's just an example of Microsoft staying with really old technology 

[#6]

If it can't look at a CD for the drivers, I don't suppose it will look on a USB drive? Can't think of much else other than using the floppy drive otherwise.

[#7]

Found a solution here But it is even messier than putting in a temporary floppy

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When installation, this only applies to WinXP, since Vista already include necessary drivers for installing in AHCI or RAID Mode. However, the described method is also useful when WinXP or Vista is installed in IDE Mode and you want to change to AHCI or RAID Mode. When you are going to install WinXP in AHCI or RAID Mode, you will normally need an internal Floppy Drive and use the 'F6 Install Method'. In the following it's shown how to avoid using a Floppy Drive and the F6 install method. This board ( P5B Deluxe[/WiFi-AP] ) has two SATA HDD Controllers, Intel ICH8R and JMicron JMB363. - The Intel ICH8R Controller has 6 SATA 3.0Gb ports, SATA1-6, which can be configured for IDE/AHCI/RAID Mode. - The JMicron JMB363 Controller has 2 SATA 3.0Gb ports, the internal SATA_RAID and the external eSATA, which also can be configured for IDE/AHCI/RAID Mode.   JMB363 also has 1 IDE (PATA) channel for up to 2 IDE (PATA) devices. This instruction shows how to install in AHCI/RAID Mode on a drive with final location on the ICH8R Controller. This is done by taking a detour via the JMB363 Controller. Although this instruction shows how to install on ICH8R, the principle also is valid for how to install on the JMB363 Controller. Preparation We can eliminate the need for an internal Floppy Drive by taking a detour via the JMB363 Controller. For that we need to prepare for the AHCI/RAID install by getting the AHCI/RAID driver. The driver is extracted from the installer like this: - Download the Intel Matrix Storage Manager 7.6.0.1011 to Desktop.   http://downloadcenter.intel.com/scripts-df-external/Product_Filter.aspx?ProductID=2101&lang=eng - In Start Menu - Run ..., type this (or better still, browse for the file and then add the switches): "C:\Documents and Settings\Your Username\Desktop\iata76_enu.exe" -A -A -PF:   (Do not forget the quotation marks!) - Replace 'Your Username' with your own Username. - the first '-A' switch unzips the file. - the second  '-A' switch extracts the driver. - the '-P' switch points to where the driver is stored. - F: is an example of an USB Flash Disk (note that there is no space between P and the storage location). When the command ís run, it looks exactly as if the driver is installed, but it is in fact only the driver that is extracted and stored. This only takes a couple of seconds. If you have access to a PC with a Floppy Drive, you can use the 32-bit/64bit Floppy Configuration Utility 7.6.0.1011 to create a driver floppy and then copy all the files on the floppy to an USB Flash Disk. - Install WinXP in IDE Mode on a drive connected to JMB363, port SATA_RAID.   (If the OS already is installed on a drive connected to ICH8R, move the SATA cable to port SATA_RAID on JMB363). - Boot into BIOS and under 'IDE Configuration' set 'Configure SATA as' to 'RAID'   (Recommended even if you are not planning for RAID right now (single non-RAID drive(s) will work in AHCI Mode). The result is a 'RAID Ready' system. - Save the setting (press <F10>). When the system is up again, go to the Device Manager and - select the ICH8R Controller (82801) - right click 'Update Driver ...' In the Hardware Update Wizard - select 'No, not this time' - Next - select 'Install from a list or specific location (Advanced)' - Next - select 'Don't search. I will choose the driver to install' - Next - select 'Have Disk' - type where the driver is stored (for instance F: ) - select 'OK'   (the driver 'Intel(R) ICH8R/ICH9R SATA RAID Controller' is shown) - select the driver - Next   (the driver is installed) - select 'Finish' Now power down and move the SATA cable from SATA_RAID to SATA1 on ICH8R Ready! The 'RAID Ready' system can later be migrated to, for example, a RAID 0 or a RAID 1 Volume without reinstalling the OS. You can at any time add a RAID Volume for data storage.

[#8]

If you had DOS 5 you could read both diskettes and CD's

[#9]

What has that remark got to do with installing XP

[#10]

SATA came out after XP that's why it's not there by default.
I don't feel Vista is shooting yourself it will leave you with a more saleable PC when you come to get rid of it in a couple of years
Another annoying thing with an XP install is if you have USB keyboard and mouse and you have to go borrow a ps/2 one from somwere

[#11]

It isn't the SATA bit I am objecting to ( Note that RAID was out long before XP) it's the fact that XP won't accept an input from a CD despite the fact that it is installing from one.

[#12]

Well, absolutely nothing - except - according to Wikipedia:

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Windows XP contained a copy of the core MS-DOS 8 files from Windows Millennium, accessible only by formatting a floppy as an "MS-DOS startup disk".

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With Windows Vista the files on the startup disk are dated 18th April 2005 but are otherwise unchanged, including the string "MS-DOS Version 8 (C) Copyright 1981-1999 Microsoft Corp" inside COMMAND.COM.

[#13]

The problem here is not whether the XP install sees a CD or not.
In fact it does as an upgrade requests you to insert the Windows 98/Me CD to validate that it is an upgrade.
But it won't allow drivers to be installed from a CD during the install process.