Installing SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment) hard disk driver without floppy during windows XP setup

Many might have encountered the problem SATA hard disk not detected during Windows XP installation. Usually driver for SATA hard disk comes with floppy provided by motherboard manufacturer whether it is desktop or laptop. If you have a floppy drive and a floppy with SATA AHCI driver in it, then installing Windows XP is very easy. During installation you have to press F6 to install SATA AHCI driver by inserting floppy containing SATA driver. If there is no fixed floppy drive then use USB floppy drive to install driver. Now you should be able to see the driver list. Select the AHCI driver and press ENTER key to continue installing Windows XP.

Installing driver for SATA hard disk without floppy containing SATA AHCI driver and floppy drive is very easy provided you follow these simple steps.

• You have to download SATA driver from motherboard manufacturer website. If laptop, then download SATA driver from the laptop brand website.

• Create a folder named WindowsXP in any partition and copy all files and folders from your original Windows XP operating system CD/DVD to the newly created folder.

• Click Here to download free nlite software. Make sure you have .NET Framework 2.0 SP1 or more is installed in you computer before installing nlite. Click here to download .NET Framework 2.0 SP1 for x86 (32 bit environment) or Click here to download .NET Framework 2.0 SP1 for x64 (64 Bit environment) . Nlite software is used for integrating drivers, service packs, components, programs with Windows XP or any other windows operating system. With nlite you can either directly burn the operating system along with integrated drivers, service packs, components, programs to the CD/DVD or you can create image file if you want to burn it to CD/DVD later.

• Click here to see the procedure of integrating SATA AHCI driver with windows using nlite software.

• Once you create operating system CD/DVD with integrated SATA driver using nlite software, installation of Windows XP is very easy. Install Windows XP with newly nlite created bootable CD/DVD. SATA AHCI driver will be automatically installed during operating system installation.

Convert FAT32 filesystem partition to NTFS filesystem partition without loosing data

There are many advantages of converting FAT32 filesystem to NTFS filesystem. NTFS filesystem provides high performance with file level security. You get the option of providing security such as controlling the level of access that is granted to individual users. Windows has built-in tool to convert FAT32 to NTFS without loosing data. Go to "START" and click on "RUN" to open RUN window. Type "cmd" and press ENTER key to open DOS window. In the command prompt type "convert <drive> /fs:ntfs" without double quotes and press ENTER key. Type the partition you want to convert in the <drive> parameter. (Example: C:). Type "convert /?" at command prompt to see more parameters. If you are converting the partition in which the operating system is installed,  you will get an message saying that it cannot convert now as the drive is in use and the conversion will be done only next time the computer is restarted. It will ask you for confirmation. Press "Y". This happens because the drive you are converting is utilized by windows operating system. That is windows paging file cannot be terminated immediately. It is not possible to convert NTFS to FAT32 in windows. NTFS to FAT32 Converter is a free tool to convert FAT32 to NTFS and NTFS to FAT32 without loosing data.

Connect two or more computers for home or small network using Windows XP

If you want to network multiple computers and allowing them to access internet then here is the procedure.

Requirements:

• DSL Broadband internet connection.
• A broadband router or a modem. (Recent routers has one INTERNET port and four LAN ports)
• A switch (8 ports or 16 ports) or hub (8 ports or 16 ports).
• CAT5 cables (Category 5 cabling standards used for high speed networking) with RJ-45 connectors on both side.
• Two or more desktop computers for networking.
• All the computers should have network card (also called as ethernet card).

Procedure:

• Connect the broadband cable to the router or modem. Connect to INTERNET port if router is used.
• Considering you are connecting six computers on network using eight port switch, take six individual CAT5 cables measuring the distance between each computer and the switch and one CAT5 cable measuring the distance between switch and the router.
• If the router has one INTERNET port and four LAN ports and you are connecting only four computers to network, then there is no need of switch or hub. Connect individual CAT5 cable between each computer and to each port of the router.
• Plug one end of the CAT5 cable to any port of the switch and the other end to the INTERNET port of the router. Connect individual CAT5 cable between each computer and to each port of the switch. For example, connect one CAT5 cable to router 's INTERNET port and 1st port of the switch then connect 2nd port of the switch to 1st computer, 3rd port of the switch to 2nd computer and so on till 7th port of the switch to 6th computer.
• If you are using eight ports hub for networking the six computers, connect one end of the CAT5 cable to INTERNET port of the router and to the UPLINK port of the hub. Connect individual CAT5 cable between each computer and to each port of the hub. For example, connect one CAT5 cable to router 's INTERNET port and UPLINK port of the hub then connect 1st port of the hub to 1st computer, 2nd port of the hub to 2nd computer and so on till 6th port of the hub to 6th computer.
• After connecting all computers to network the major part is configuring the network. Get the IP address of your router or modem, DNS server address from your internet service provider.
• To configure network settings, go to "START" and click on "RUN" or hold "WINDOW" key and press "R" and type "ncpa.cpl" and press ENTER key to open NETWORK CONNECTIONS window. You should be able to see LOCAL AREA CONNECTIONS icon in the window. If not the ethernet card drivers will either be corrupt or not installed. Right-click on LOCAL AREA CONNECTIONS and click on PROPERTIES. Select "INTERNET PROTOCOL (TCP/IP)" from the list and click on PROPERTIES button. If you are assigned IP address dynamically then don't make any changes to the default settings. If assigned static IP address then Click on "Use the Following IP address" and type the IP address of the router or modem in box next to "Default Gateway". Assign IP address manually. Usually the first three boxes in the IP Address will be same as that of Default Gateway. You have to change only the last box number to other than assigned to Default Gateway. Never assign Default Gateway address to IP address. Below that select "Use the following DNS server address" and type the DNS servers address as provided by your internet service provider and click on OK and close all the opened windows.
• Go "START" and click on "RUN" or hold "WINDOWS" key and press "R" and type "cmd" and press ENTER key to open command prompt window. Type “ping <ip address of the router>”  without quotes to check the connectivity between the computer and router. You should get reply from router. If not then there should be problem with either your network settings or with the CAT5 cable. Type “ping www.google.com” without quotes to check the internet connectivity. You should get reply from router. If not then there should be problem with either your internet service provider or network settings or with the CAT5 cable.

Two most useful collection of free software utilities CD's everyone must have

Most of the windows users encounter some or the other problems related to their computer. It may be hardware or software related problems. Always it is better if you could manage to troubleshoot the basic problems on their own. Here are two free software tools collection CD's recommended to have which helps you to troubleshoot problems related to hardware and software.

Hiren's BootCD : This CD has good collection of very useful tools and utilities related to backup, filesystem, antivirus, hard disk, network, tweakers, memory testing, system information, security and encryption, registry, remote accessing, data recovery, password, partition and many others. Click here to read more.

Ultimate Boot CD: This CD consists of tools related to hardware such as BIOS, hard disk, data recovery, partitioning , boot management and other hardware peripherals and other hardware related. Click here to read more.

DOS network commands

Hold the "WINDOW" key and press "R" to open RUN window. Type "cmd" and press ENTER key to open DOS command window.

ipconfig = Displays the present active network connections settings assigned by the network such as IP address, Subnet mask and Default gateway. If nothing is assigned or is not connected to network you get the message media disconnected.
Type ipconfig /? and press ENTER key at the DOS prompt to find all the parameters that can be assigned with "ipconfig" command.

net = Used to start, stop, session, statistics and view the network services.
Type net /? and press ENTER key at the DOS prompt to find all the parameters that can be assigned with "net" command.

netstat = Displays all the active connections and its listening ports and the state of the network connections whether the connection is established or not.
Type netstat /? and press ENTER key at the DOS prompt to find all the parameters that can be assigned with "netstat" command.

nbtstat = Displays all current network connections and its protocol statistics using network session layer to perform mapping of computer name to IP address.
Type nbtstat /? and press ENTER key at the DOS prompt to find all the parameters that can be assigned with "nbtstat" command.

ping = Displays the statistics of packet movement between your computer and the remote host computer. The statistics contains details of time taken by a packet of data to reach host computer from your computer and vice-versa. If the connection to the remote host computer is not accessible then you get a message  "Request Timed Out".
Type ping /? and press ENTER key at the DOS prompt to find all the parameters that can be assigned with "ping" command.

tracert = Displays the path for the packet of data that has taken to reach the remote host computer or destination. By default statistics is displayed for maximum of 30 hops meaning the number of routers that a packet has passed through to reach the destination.
Type tracert /? and press ENTER key at the DOS prompt to find all the parameters that can be assigned with "tracert" command.

route = Manually a route can be added , deleted or changed in the existing route table for your active connections. You can view all the network interface list and active routing table when you use the route command as "route print".
Type route /? and press ENTER key at the DOS prompt to find all the parameters that can be assigned with "route" command.

arp = Used to add, delete, modify and display the IP address to physical address of the network adapter in the address translation table.
Type arp/? and press ENTER key at the DOS prompt to find all the parameters that can be assigned with "arp" command.