New computer build with SATA HDD - help

[Deldolfan]

Experts,

My son and I have finished building another computer. This one will be used by him for homework, gaming etc. Here are the components:

Asus A8V Mobo
AMD 3500 Winchester 64 939 socket
Corsair DDRAM 1GB TWINX 1024-4000PRO Ram
Seagate SATA 200 gig HDD
ATI RAGE 9800 video card
lots of other bells and whistles!

Here's our problem: The ASUS board has a SATA 1 and 2 port and a SATA RAID ports. We connect a single drive to SATA 1, fdisked and formated it without issue. Installed Windows ME without issue. We tried to install a beta version of xp 64 pro but it couldn't find the HDD. I used an F6 "install an alternate driver" one time pulling it off of the ASUS disk but it was 32 bit not 64 bit based. Tried MS and they don't support the beta products. Tried ASUS and they don't support beta versions. Any suggestions?

Also since this will be a gamer and homework machine, do you suggest I use a different hard drive set-up? Utilize the Raid system or just go to an IDE drive.

 

[Praetor]

I used an F6 "install an alternate driver" one time pulling it off of the ASUS disk but it was 32 bit not 64 bit based. Tried MS and they don't support the beta products. Tried ASUS and they don't support beta versions. Any suggestions?

1. Why not use XP32
2. Even for XP64, the SATA drivers should work as the installer runs in 32bit mode....
3. As for RAID, dont waste your time ... if you're interested in a new drive, get a standard IDE one

 

[kof2000]

so theres no SATA raid?

 

[691175002]

You can raid SATA's but he is saying that there is no point for you (I think). I would raid SATA's myself but if it dosen't work...