Changing From Ahci To Ata Or Legacy

I was asked to swap out a couple old computers that have Windows XP on them and replace them with newer computers that XP can be installed on. (i know XP is no longer supported, however the software version this company is using does not work on Windows 7 let alone windows 8 or 10 and at this time they have no intentions of upgrading the software to one that will work with 7, 8 or 10)

On to the issue at hand:
We purchased 2 refurb computers (Dell Optiplex 755) with NO OS on them since I am going to install XP.
I have done this many of times so when I ran into this problem it has me smacking my head against the wall.
First, I used XP PRo no service pack, the system blue screened after it went through the motions of inspecting the system and setup is loading files and before getting to pressing F8 to continue. Called the company that we purchased the computers from and the guy told me that I had to use a new version of XP that has SATA drivers.
I downloaded XP that has SATA drivers. Booted up the system and still received the blue screen after "setup is loading files".

In the BIOS for SATA Drives it says "this drive is controlled by the AHCI BIOS", I changed the SATA Operation from AHCI to Legacy, boot the computer and have to press F1 to continue. Nothing happens. it is like the Keyboard is not present. ok so now I went back into BIOS and change from Legacy to ATA, boot the computer again and press F1 to continue but nothing happened. Keyboard is not being recognized.

I looked online, found that if I can find out who the manufacture of the motherboard I can download the drivers for it and when i boot up in AHCI mode, press F6 to install 3rd party drives. I do not know who the manufacturer is so I can not download the drivers.

I am at a lost as to how I can installed XP on these computers. Any help would be greatly appreciated and if you need more information please let me know.

Thanks,
Robin

 

You can get the floppy-based SATA drivers from Dell downloads section for the specific model(s) you have to use during Windows install.

 

They're Both Dells and I know you know they have Service Tag numbers. The boards are Dell. Did you try the Service Tags at the Dell Support Site?

 

I did check Dell website with the service tags however I did not see anything for the motherboards.

 

Try this . x64

This. x86

Just in case they're different, the x86 file was updated more recently - allegedly.

 

Thank you for the information Satrow... I am going to give it a try shortly..

 

they did not work====webpage says Intel Matrix Storage Manager (OS Pre-Install Driver Only), v.7.8.0.1012, A12 and "This file contains a compressed (or zipped) set of files. Download the file to a folder on your hard drive, and then run (double-click) it to unzip the set of files. Follow the instructions to complete the installation".

Anyway I decided go to into BIOS one more time on one of the computers and changed the boot order to CD/DVD first and changed from AHCI to Legacy, Right now Windows XP is formating the hard drive... farther than where i got before. I will do the same with the other one once this computer is done installing XP.

Thank you for your suggestions...

 

Changing the Boot order to have the CD/DVD drive boot first worked for the second computer.. and both the of the computers have XP installed . now its on to getting them updated.

Again Thank you for your suggestions.

 

Good luck!

 

Now that I have the OS and updates on the computer I now have an issue with:
Alert! Service Mode Jumper is installed.
I can not find anything that would fix this...
On the motherboard for the SFF Dell Optiplex 755 it does not show a Service Mode jumper just PSWD and RTCRST jumpers.
I had to replace the CMOS battery because I was getting Alert! Battery Voltage low message, once the battery was replaced I am not getting that message.
Does anyone know how I can stop this Alert from coming up everytime i boot up the computer and press F1?
thanks,
Robin

 

Pretty sure it relates to the PSWD jumper, set it to the alt. position and test. (RTCRST = real time clock reset.)

 

Here's the manual for several models. Service mode jumper shows on page 55 I think. #11 in diagram. Maybe match your model. Seem's this pc is full of security and extra goodies.


http://content.etilize.com/User-Manual/1029902242.pdf

 

thank for your quick response. however the diagram of the motherboard is not the same and it is for the 760.
I found this technical guide for the 755
http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/products/optix/en/opti_755_techspecs.pdf
page 8 (ultra small form factor) has a picture of the motherboard that is in this computer. it does not show Service Mode Jumper.

 

look at the second post here by patrickthepin*. Says close to power connect and use a jumper from some where else so maybe one installed on yours.

http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/extras/f/4475/t/19524923

 

Thank you Imandy Mann. I will give that a try tomorrow and post back. This has been a pain in the butt.

 

Problem solved!!!
there are 3 jumpers one right after the other next to the battery, the one closest to the battery is the PSWD jumper with a jumper connector and the one that is furthest from the battery is the RTCRST jumper (with no connector on it), the middle one I have no clue what it is for (probably the alternate position that Satrow mentioned) , however I took the jumper connector off of the PSWD jumper and put it on the middle jumper, booted up the computer and went right into Windows.

Thank you Imandy Mann and Satrow for your help.

 

Good work and glad you're fixed. And thanks for reporting the fix as may help others!