Operating System / Software Installation Guide

[bdj470]

Thanks. I will try this.

Originally posted by Mr Steveo
From the blue setup screen where you can set up partitions:
Set up a single partition on any drive you have. Then once you set up that first partition, follow the instrucions on the screen to dlelete that partition you just created. Now recreate it again and create any other hard drive partitions you want. You do not reboot between any of these steps.

For some reason, creating a primary partition, then deleting it, then recreating it will put all the hard drive letters in succession and the optical drives at the end.

HTH

[Otac]

I partitioned my harddrive as described in this manual (two partitions), i have tryed it once before and as far as i recall the second partition automaticly was assigned the letter d: once the installation was complete. Now after this installation the drive letter for the second partition is f:. Am i wrong about this....?

[jjvb]

Thanks for the great writeup Mr. Steveo. I have a question. I have a winxp cd that is supposed to include sp1. It did come from MS. Does it automatically hand sp1 issues as it installs? Also, if I do have sp1, do I need sp1a? Thanks.

[Mr Steveo]

Originally posted by jjvb
Thanks for the great writeup Mr. Steveo. I have a question. I have a winxp cd that is supposed to include sp1. It did come from MS. Does it automatically hand sp1 issues as it installs? Also, if I do have sp1, do I need sp1a? Thanks.

When you go through this Guide follow all the steps listed. Just ignore the step for installing SP1/SP1a.

If you have Sp1 you do not need SP1a. SP1a is simply SP1 minus java.

[jjvb]

Thanks for the reply Steveo.

[Funky D]

Excellent walkthrough Mr. Steveo! I've been lurking around these boards since I received my buggy P4T533 in September (3 boards and 3 months later I finally got things sorted out!). I figured I'd add my 2 cents to this thread:

1. If I'm not using the parallel and/or serial ports, I'll disable them in the BIOS before installing the OS. No sense in them taking extra resources if they won't be used!

2. It's really pretty easy to integrate SP1 into a bootable Windows CD. A nice walkthrough can be found here . This will save you the steps of installing SP1 and the USB2 drivers after installing Windows, and will probably give you newer drivers for other devices as well. You can also slipstream critical updates onto the CD, but I've found its more of a hassel than its worth!

3. You don't need to create all of your partitions before installing Windows; it's possible to create them afterwards using the Disk Manager. I've read that this is the "prefered" method, but I don't think it makes a difference (plus you'll need to change your CD drive letters if you want them to come after your hard drives).

4. The only thing I do differently after installing Windows 2000/98 is download the latest Internet Explorer before hand and burn it to a CD. Since Internet Explorer and DirectX cannot be downloaded in conjunction with any other updates in Windows Update, it helps out having them on a disk to save some time!

I'll take note of what options I install during a Windows 98 setup and try to post them in the near future. That's really the only thing that makes a 98 setup different than 2000/XP.

Paul

[Yoyodyne]

Thanks so much Mr. Steveo, what a great guide and great service to your fellow computer users.

Man, I sure wish I had this when I built my first computer!

Thanks a bunch -
Yoyodyne

[CraiginNJ]

Do you have any "new PC" WinXP install advice about:

1. I'll have an ATI All-in-Wonder card rather than separate video & TV-tuner cards. (Your install sequence seems to be 33/34. ATI video card -> 36. sound card -> 37. tuner card.) What sequence should I use (assuming XP even gives me a choice)?

2. Would it be okay to not have a floppy drive in my new PC at all, given that I have a DVD+RW/CD-RW that seems like it could serve a similar role? (Or maybe the compromise would be to keep it during the initial install and remove it later after I've made any boot CD-R's that I might need, like a boot disk for doing DriveImage backups -- would that be safe?)

3. My new Asus board has RAID ability. I won't be using it for at least a year, if ever. Should I install the RAID driver(s) now, or is it safe to wait until I know that I really will use that before installing the RAID driver(s)?

4. Elsewhere "BigToe" (re: P4G8X / AGP 8x problem) recommended doing a reboot/defrag during a few particular points in your OS install steps. Do you think it could be a good thing to do, or could it just be a random coincidence that led BigToe to believe it made a difference for him?

Craig in NJ

[CraiginNJ]

And one more:

5. Where do special Imega Zip and DVD+RW drivers fit in the install sequence? At the end in any order? Or when Windows prompts me for their CD-ROM's?

Thanks,

Craig in NJ

[Mr Steveo]

Originally posted by Funky D
I figured I'd add my 2 cents to this thread:

1. If I'm not using the parallel and/or serial ports, I'll disable them in the BIOS before installing the OS. No sense in them taking extra resources if they won't be used!

2. It's really pretty easy to integrate SP1 into a bootable Windows CD.

I'll take note of what options I install during a Windows 98 setup and try to post them in the near future. Paul

Paul,

Welcome and thanks for the contribution!

On point 1: I have seen some motherboards where the disabling of devices below an IRQ of 16 (APIC) can sometimes cause unwelcome shifting of the remaining IRQs. This does not happen with all boards or all systems. But because I have seen it happen, Im reluctant to recommend that everyone disable serial, parallel, unused IDE, etc.

On point 2: Slipstreaming is indeed a nice way to go for many people. And once a slipstream is made it can add convenience. However, keep in mind the Step by Step Procedure in this Guide was written for the first time novice. Adding the steps needed and walking people through the burning software to use on another PC prior to installing anything on their new Asus system would likely add confusion and mistakes into the mix.

As with my comments on your point 1, remember that there are lots of great tweaks and individual methods to setting up a system. The goal of this Guide was not to address all possibilities or more advanced methods. It was simply designed as a method that could be useful and easy to follow for even the most basic beginner. As stated at the very beginning, if someone has their own methods they prefer for installing their software, by all means use the method you prefer.

============

As for contribitutions to a future Windows 98 Guide, that would be greatly appreciated. You might want to find one of our members named Cogar. Initially he said he was working on a Windows 98 setup Guide. but Im sure he would appreciate collaborating. So maybe you two can work together on that.

Again, welcome to Asusboards!

[Mr Steveo]

Originally posted by CraiginNJ
Do you have any "new PC" WinXP install advice about:

1. I'll have an ATI All-in-Wonder card rather than separate video & TV-tuner cards.

2. Would it be okay to not have a floppy drive in my new PC at all, given that I have a DVD+RW/CD-RW that seems like it could serve a similar role?

3. My new Asus board has RAID ability. I won't be using it for at least a year, if ever. Should I install the RAID driver(s) now, or is it safe to wait until I know that I really will use that before installing the RAID driver(s)?

4. Elsewhere "BigToe" (re: P4G8X / AGP 8x problem) recommended doing a reboot/defrag during a few particular points in your OS install steps. Do you think it could be a good thing to do, or could it just be a random coincidence that led BigToe to believe it made a difference for him?

5. Where do special Imega Zip and DVD+RW drivers fit in the install sequence? At the end in any order? Or when Windows prompts me for their CD-ROM's?
Craig in NJ

1. I would install the AIW software after you have your basic video and audio software laoded
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2. Im not sure what this new fascination is with getting rid of floppy drives But if you want to keep it or get rid of it, it shouldnt make any difference either way. Not having a flopy can make loading RAID drivers cumbersome, and might make it difficult to run programs like memtest. But other than that you probably wont miss the floppy too often. Just do whatever you prefer.

EDIT: depending on how someone likes to flash a BIOS, floppys can be handy here too .
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3. No. Loading drivers for a device you dont have doesnt seem to make sense. Plus if you are not going to use RAID for a year, worry about it then. There are likely to be newer drivers by that time anyhow.
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4. I read that comment by Bigtoe. Frankly Im still not sure what specific problem he was trying to address. And I doubt that a defrag would clear up a non disk error. I think the gist of what he was trying to do as a side thought was to defrag the drive in hopes of improving a benchmark.

Defragging after you setup your OS and drivers wont hurt anything if you want to do that. Though after a few days Windows will begin to defrag itself. Again, this is another area where its an individual decision. Just do what you prefer.
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5. Zip drives and DVDRW drives are hardware that run off the drivers in Windows with a correlation to the Intel INF drivers. These devices require no special steps in an Intel based system.

=====================================
If I may make a comment: Youre talking here about Zips, DVDRW drives, RAID etc. It sounds like youre trying to fill up every possible slot on your computer Keep in mind that you can add too much to the mix and end up with performance, resource, or power supply issues.

If you have tons of drives for a non server based system, you might be better served by building a second computer rather than trying to overload up a single one. Also you may want to rethink using a Zip drive. Some people have problems with zip drives and some people love them. Its JMHO, but if you can live without Zips, give it a try. That way you can start with something simple. Then add the Zip later and see how you like it.


HTH

[CraiginNJ]

Thank you very much for those answers -- and so fast, too! And thank you for your overall installation guide -- I'm getting a P4G8x-Deluxe and an ATI AIW 9700 which are known to have conflicts for many (but not all), so I need to be extra careful and follow your steps to the letter.

A couple of specific comments:

Originally posted by Mr Steveo
1. I would install the AIW software after you have your basic video and audio software loaded

I'm still confused. The AIW is a combined video & tuner card -- single card. How do I stop its software install in the middle so I can install the audio? How to I make sure the video software is loaded before the tuner software?

If I may make a comment: Youre talking here about Zips, DVDRW drives, RAID etc. It sounds like you're trying to fill up every possible slot on your computer ...<snip>... if you can live without Zips, give it a try.[/B]

I spared you the details before, but the motherboard comes with a lot of that built in. SATA Raid, audio, even a GigE port (talk about overkill!) don't take up slots. And the Zip is only there until I move all my old Zip disks to DVD+R / CD-R, but I don't have a burner on the old PC and the DVD+RW drive I bought requires Win98se or later (I have first edition), so I'm stuck with the Zip until after the new PC is set up and the files are moved.

So in about 2 months I should reach my targeted configuration:
- ATA100 Hard disk
- Periodically a SerialATA hard disk (hot-plugged to do backups, then unplugged). Until SATA drives become available, I'll be doing this with a 2nd ATA100 HD, except I'll have reboot when added/removed.
- DVD+RW (HP dvd300i & software)
- ATI AIW 9700pro combo video+tuner card (in AGP 8x slot)
- dial modem
- maybe someday an extra USB2.0 card or other add-ins
- built-in audio, NIC, USB2.0, etc.
- nothing that uses old serial or parallel interfaces

Not as overloaded as you thought? My overload comes in the attached devices department -- several USB & PS/2 devices, some with supplemental power.

Craig in NJ

[Mr Steveo]

I havent used the AIW 9700 Pro. If what you are saying is that all its software downloa and installs as one bundle, then install it as a single bundle. If ATI is offering it as a single downlaod its safe to assume its tested to install all at one time. Just go ahead and install the bundle where the Guide suggest the video driver installation.

Swappable drives huh? Sounds fun!. Are you gonna use some of those sweet looking swappable drive bays with the internal fans?

[CraiginNJ]

Originally posted by Mr Steveo
Swappable drives huh? Sounds fun!. Are you gonna use some of those sweet looking swappable drive bays with the internal fans?

Thank you again.

I've been using swappable drives for years as a fast backup method. Sure beats anything else for speed. Yes, I've got those frame/carrier thingy's, but no extra fans -- the weren't necessary. And now with the hot-swappability of the new serial ATA HD's, I can just leave the backup drive inside disconnected and periodically open the side to connect the cord (single cord for data & power) when I want to do a backup. Or I could rig the cord to reach outside, and just connect outside when I need to (sitting the drive out in the open until the backup is done). Maybe someday soon someone will invent a "switch" that I could mount on the outside of the PC somewhere.

Craig in NJ

[AHLnut]

Craig, I'm glad to hear you are happy with the swappable drive. I have been think of using one one.I live in 2 different places, soon to be with 2 diferent computers (instead of taking the computer back and forth, which I do now). A swappable data drive would really be nice to transfer files. I am new to swappable drives. Is there any advice you could give me. Such as, what brand to get or stay away from or any features that I should get?
Any input is appreciated.
Thanks!!