Installing OEM Storage Drivers During Setup
Last Updated: 19 Mar 2004
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*** PLEASE NOTE: Link(s), If Provided, May Be Wrapped ***
One of the most common errors that occurs during setup
of Windows NT/2000/XP boxes (and a frequent cause for a
STOP 0x7B error) is the lack of the proper driver for a
disk controller or other storage device. This will occur
any time the storage controller that you have installed
requires drivers which are not on the OS installation CD.
(e.g. some SCSI, RAID or Serial ATA controllers)
To get around this, you need to press [F6] during the
initial part of setup. Windows 2000/XP will actually
inform you when to do this (right at the bottom of the
screen), but in NT4, you needed to press it during the
2 second window that occurred as soon as they blue
"NT Setup" screen manifested itself.
For some unfathomable reason, if you wait until the OS
asks you for "Additional Storage Drivers", it will be
too late to add them. Ironically, setup does not
immediately respond to your [F6] keypress, and will
actually continue to load a few drivers of its own
before asking you for the OEM drivers.
These OEM drivers will differ from drivers that you
provide to the OS after it is up and running, because
the critical file is TXTSETUP.OEM rather than the
usual OEMSETUP.INF
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NOTE: If you have to provide multiple storage drivers
during setup, be sure that the FIRST driver you
provide is the one for the controller that will
handle the disk that the OS is to be installed
on.
This means that if you have to add drivers for a
CDROM and the RAID array that your installation
will end up on, be sure to provide the RAID
drivers FIRST, or you'll be starting the setup
process all over again, as the OS will not find
your intended system drives.
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DIRECTORY LISTING
The normal OEMSETUP.INF (or vendor supplied .INF) file,
which is used to install peripherals after the OS is
already up and running, can typically found in the
\OSVersion folder (e.g. \Win2000) rather than in the
root folder of the disk.
Here's an edited directory listing of the driver disk
provided by Tekram for one of their SCSI controllers:
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Volume in drive A is DC-315U
Volume Serial Number is 1C1C-18DA
Directory of A:\
09/17/1999 05:12 PM {DIR} DOS
09/17/1999 05:12 PM {DIR} WIN2000
09/17/1999 05:12 PM {DIR} WIN95_98
09/17/1999 05:12 PM {DIR} WINNT
02/22/1999 09:30 AM 56 DCSCSI
09/17/1999 05:07 PM 2,825 README.TXT
06/23/1999 10:22 AM 694 TXTSETUP.OEM
3 File(s) 3,575 bytes
Directory of A:\WIN2000
09/17/1999 05:12 PM {DIR} .
09/17/1999 05:12 PM {DIR} ..
06/16/1999 05:26 PM 21,504 TRM3X5.SYS
06/23/1999 10:21 AM 2,685 TRM3X5.INF
2 File(s) 24,189 bytes
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The root of the floppy contains the files necessary
for installation of drivers during the early portion
of the setup, whereas the \WIN2000 folder contains
the files necessary for driver installation after the
setup of the OS has been completed.
LARGE ATAPI DISK SUPPORT (>137GB)
• http://support.microsoft.com/?KBID=305098
• http://support.microsoft.com/?KBID=303013
WHITEPAPERS & TECH DOCUMENTS
• http://support.microsoft.com/?KBID=216406
• http://support.microsoft.com/?KBID=225125
• http://support.microsoft.com/?KBID=220845
• http://support.microsoft.com/?KBID=201863
• http://support.microsoft.com/?KBID=122926
• http://www.winnetmag.com/windowsnt20002003faq/Article/ArticleID/13886/windowsnt20002003faq_13886.html
• http://www.jsiinc.com/sube/tip2100/rh2153.htm
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ADDITIONAL SEARCH OPTIONS (MS KB)
• http://msdn.microsoft.com/
• http://www.microsoft.com/technet/
• http://www.microsoft.com/
ALL WORDS .............. "SCSI Drivers during setup"
EXACT PHRASE ........... "F6"
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PERSONAL NOTES
• Always use the latest drivers for your storage
devices. Also ensure that the firmware of your
controllers are up to par.
• If possible, keep CDROM, Tape Backups and other
slower storage devices on secondary controllers.
• TXTSETUP.OEM must be in the root of the floppy.