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Sager 9860 Raid and XP install problems

post #1 of 7
2/18/07 at 3:49am
Thread Starter 
I hope this hasn't been discussed millions of times already here, ( I searched and didn't find what I am looking for). I just purchased a used Sager 9860. The previous owner wiped the hard drives (2 60GB hard drives). I have entered entered into BIOS and made sure that it is set to RAID (enabled) I hit the Ctrl f button and configured the raid for RAID 0 Striping (performance). It shows all is good there. When I start to load Windows XP Pro, I hit the F6 button and load the specific XP driver. All is well, then I except the user agreement, format the Hard drives, (as one) then it asks me to Insert the disk labeled: Promise FastTrak 376/378 Driver diskette into drive. At this point everything seems to just lock up. I have been searching into this a bit on google and some have said that with using the wrong kind of USB floppy drive, that the hardware may not be compatable. I am wondering what kind of Floppy drive comes with the Sager, and is this possible to be the problem? If not then what?

Thaks for the help,

Stan Sabick
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post #2 of 7
2/18/07 at 12:11pm
I would think all USB floppy drives would work. Sager ships an inexpensive generic external floppy drive with their XP laptops. Is it possible you disabled the USB ports in the bios and that is why it the computer freezes. I think also that you are supposed to disable the card reader before installation otherwise those drives will show as your C-D-E drives.

Also try putting the floppy drive into another USB port, if you haven't done so already.
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post #3 of 7
2/18/07 at 12:25pm
I believe the floppy drive has to be in the top, back usb port.
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post #4 of 7
2/18/07 at 1:01pm
Thread Starter 
I don't think that I have any USB ports on the back of this computer. All four of them are on the left side. I have tried all four different ports. It recognises the floppy the first time that it asks to put the disc in, and the second time after the format, it just seems to lock up. I tried a friends software disc and it did the same thing, so it isn't the software. It dosen't recognise the floppy exists in the BIOS, and it dosen't recognise it in the DOS mode either. However when I put the drive in the USB port on the Dell that it came with is shows up every where. Am i missing something, how can I reenable the USB in the BIOS, to recognise it as the A: drive? Does any one have a floppy drive besides the one that comes standard with their computer? Will an off the Wal-Mart shelf USB Floppy drive work for this, or even better the Dell one that I have. Any links, or brand names to search for on ebay, or google would be helpful.

Thanks,

Stan Sabick

PS: It looks like after some long searching last night, that this may be best put into the (Tech problems only) forum. If it can be moved there please do so.
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post #5 of 7
2/18/07 at 4:42pm
The USB FD that works with my 9860 is the Y-E Data YD-8U10. The floppy drive is recognized automatically by the BIOS and reported at boot time. It doesn't matter what USB port I have it plugged into or what position it's set to in BIOS, it's still reported as long as it is plugged in at boot time. Are you removing the floppy disk after it loads the drivers? Try leaving the disk in throughout the install process until it reboots for the first time. If that doesnt work, try it in non-raid mode.
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post #6 of 7
2/18/07 at 11:10pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by trailrydr9
I hope this hasn't been discussed millions of times already here, ( I searched and didn't find what I am looking for). I just purchased a used Sager 9860. The previous owner wiped the hard drives (2 60GB hard drives). I have entered entered into BIOS and made sure that it is set to RAID (enabled) I hit the Ctrl f button and configured the raid for RAID 0 Striping (performance). It shows all is good there. When I start to load Windows XP Pro, I hit the F6 button and load the specific XP driver. All is well, then I except the user agreement, format the Hard drives, (as one) then it asks me to Insert the disk labeled: Promise FastTrak 376/378 Driver diskette into drive. At this point everything seems to just lock up. I have been searching into this a bit on google and some have said that with using the wrong kind of USB floppy drive, that the hardware may not be compatable. I am wondering what kind of Floppy drive comes with the Sager, and is this possible to be the problem? If not then what? Thaks for the help, Stan Sabick
Hi Stan - I ran into a similar problem a couple of weeks ago when I got my laptop back from Sager. The 9860 does not come with a floppy drive and as far as I know never did. I purchased a usb drive at Fry's and was able to load ata drivers but haven't gone back to raid yet. I'll post the exact model drive when I get into work tomorrow. The symptoms you're having are very like mine and were due to not having the promise driver. I found it interesting that a diskette drive (NOT CD) was the only way to get the info in so XP could be loaded. I guess the floppy might not be quite as dead as it is said. - never tried USB flash for it though. Dave
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post #7 of 7
2/19/07 at 1:16am
Thread Starter 
Just as an update...I went to Wal-Mart and bought the only available Floppy drive. The name is Smart Disc. It is a High Speed 2X Floppy Drive, it is Microsoft, and Mac compatible, and I figured that Wal-Mart would take the Drive back if it didn't work, so why not give it a try. Well it did work. I could not belive that Dell could have a USB Drive, and have it only work for Dell computers. What a joke. So, now I have a $35 USB Floppy drive that will sit around and collect dust untill I decide to upgrade, or clean the hard drives for whatever reason. I dare not get rid of it, as soon Floppy drives may be extinct, and hard to find. At least I have a working computer finally. Thanks to all who helped along the way.

Stan Sabick
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