How to reinstall Windows XP on Dell Optiplex GX620 tower?

9.1.2.1008  driver download isn't going to work since it doesn't have the files to support f6 driver install. The instructions are for integrating directly into a cd image. It can't work for a f6 floppy install. 

https://www.dell.com/community/Desktops-General-Read-Only/GX620-SATA-running-in-IDE-mode/td-p/4188552

this has a link for a newer version of the intel sata driver and it has a specific f6 driver for f6 installs . I tried this originally and it doesn't work for me . 

I am trying to find an iso image of the original install cd for this computer and see if I can get the f6 sata drivers off of it. 

...I actually did notice you could buy a Recovery disk for the GX620 from someplace online (Walmart of all places).  Eleven bucks or so.  Might be easiest.

With the 9.1.2.1008 driver I meant to suggest extracting it using command line options - this gives you the .inf files and everything - and then using that with the F6 method (or amending XP installation ISO/media as the readme.txt suggests).  Might require manually moving files around and all, but could probably be made to work.  A hassle, regardless.

Fernando's responses on win-raid forum regarding ICH7 (DEV_27C0) here are about as definitive as you'll get.  He said more or less same thing I did - you need ich78ide.inf in the chipset driver.  He also mentions that's it's not a "real" driver - it just tells the OS that you don't need one and everything is fine.  He also mentions this will probably only work in IDE mode - I think it's call Combination in the GX620 BIOS.

You're probably right about the F6 method - the .inf files can be extracted, but you'd probably have to recreate the Txtsetup.oem file since it's not there.  I assume it's required.  Doable, but...

Hopefully you can find a F6 install on a GX620 Recovery disk.  If not, following the readme.txt in the chipset driver to add it to the Windows XP install media/ISO may be next best option.

The SATA operation must be set to Compatible mode.  HOWEVER I would discourage installing XP at all at this point.

The GX620 will work with all versions of  DOS and windows from 3.11 all the way thru windows 10.

The other issue is that a NEWER machine WITH WINDOWS 7 or 8 or 10 installed is cheaper than upgrading the 620 and adding windows.

https://www.lambroinc.com/desktops

If you can't find a GX620 Recovery disk, there's an interesting case where someone with a similar 945 chipset motherboard has to go back to the F6 driver for the Intel Matrix Storage Manager version 5.5.0.1035 to install Windows XP.  See post here (post #4).  This was done in AHCI mode (called SATA Normal mode in GX620 BIOS).  That driver is available if you scroll down to near the end of the list of Intel RST drivers here, or directly jump to it here.

It seems from here (post #6), that the ICH7 DEV_27C0 shows up in IDE mode (called SATA Compatible mode in GX620 BIOS), but another ICH7 device (DEV_27C1) shows up in AHCI mode.  May or may not be the case with the GX620.

Anyway, might be worth trying.  Note the F6 driver download (f6flpy32.zip) seems to be an exe to create the F6 files on a floppy - may or may not be useful.  Alternatively, you can also download iata55_enu.exe (the multi-language iata55_cd.exe might work as well) and run it with the following command line switches (per readme.txt on Intel's download page under Release Notes) to extract the files to your desired folder location ( ).  The F6 drivers with Txtsetup.oem file show up in the extracted \Driver and \Driver64 folders.  iaahci.inf is the .inf file for AHCI (iastor.inf is the one for RAID).

        iata55_enu.exe -a -a -p

I haven't tried anything yet but I did have time to check device manager in windows xp , this is what it says, it looks like its running in IDE mode?

when the bios is set to Normal mode ( AHCI mode) it shows up 2 Standard dual channel PCI IDE controller one with a hardware ID of DEV_27C0 and the other of DEV_27DF , the DEV_27C0 is the actual sata controller, and the other ID , DEV_27DF is a real IDE controller since this computer has IDE ports as well. 

When set to combination mode ( IDE mode) , there is only one standard dual channel PCI IDE controller which is the same ID as the sata controller DEV_27C0. I would have thought it would be the ID of the real IDE controller, DEV_27DF. 

At least there isn't a DEV_27C1 , and in either mode it only uses DEV_27C0 on the Dell Optiplex gx620.

Nope both devices are using the  pciide.sys driver for some reason. 

you saying this is odd and confusing : "It's my understanding DEV_27C0 is the IDE controller (which is in the Intel Chipset driver) and DEV_27DF is the SATA (AHCI) controller (for which the F6 driver is needed/desired).  Although naming is odd, meaning similar - for 27C0 it's "Intel(R) N10/ICH7 Family Serial ATA Storage Controller" and 27DF is "Intel(R) ICH7 Family Ultra ATA Storage Controllers"." 

Everywhere online says 27C0 is the intel sata driver . and looking at device manager pictures online , iaStor.sys driver is used for 27C0. Also this dell does have a dvd drive that is using an IDE port on the motherboard , with more information I found out the 2 IDE ports are on 27DF when the bios is set to standard mode. On combination mode as I have said before its still says the device ID is 27C0. 

the intel matrix storage driver you told me to use 5.5.0.1035 isn't going to work, I looked through the .inf for the f6 driver and it only has DEV_27C1 in the list of compatible controllers.

I found out there is a difference between 27C0 and 27C1. The 27C0 doesn't actually support AHCI and only runs in IDE emulation mode basically. The 27C1 does support AHCI. No Intel sata driver basically supports 27C0 which is why its not in the .inf file , but if 27C0 is added to the .inf it seems it will work fine with the intel sata drivers. I found out they have modded drivers so that intel drivers can be used with 27C0. There are various links online about this. 

I had assumed the 27C0 device was IDE and for both drives and optical disks in Compatible mode.  Then in Normal mode 27DF showed up and it would be SATA for drives with the optical disks left in IDE mode on the 27C0 device. 

Seems that's not the case.  Instead, looks like Normal mode has the one 27C0 device with everything (HD and optical disk) in SATA mode, while Compatible mode has the two devices with HDs still associated with the 27C0 SATA device and a new 27DF P/ATA device associated with the optical disk.

Regarding AHCI drivers, I looked through several F6 driver .inf files as well and couldn't find any with 27C0 (or 27DF).  Seems AHCI implementation for ICH7 is spotty, and didn't officially exist for 27C0.  BTW, the link I posted to win-raid has the same combination of devices as the GX620 - 27C0 and 27DF - and were also using pciide.sys.

Seems options at this point are to 1) try for AHCI by modding another F6 ICH7 driver like one for the 27C1 as you suggested or 2) sticking with IDE and integrating the Intel Chipset driver into Windows XP.  Seems nLite can be used to do this with Chipset drivers (as well as F6 drivers).  Someone integrated a Chipset driver into the Window install using nLite here.

What I found out is that Intel made cheaper Sata controllers that only ran in IDE mode with AHCI mode disabled. Apparently AHCI mode can be forced , based on my finding with driver modding. 

The problem is that intel never made f6 drivers for DEV_27C0 because this is the device ID for IDE mode, and windows XP shouldn't need a driver when the BIOS is set to IDE mode or if the Sata controller only runs in IDE mode.

Windows XP not wanting to install might be caused by the latest BIOS A12. I found out the installation isn't actually original and was reinstalled. The person who gave me this tower said it was reinstalled using a standard Windows XP CD and I upgraded the  BIOS from A8 to A12 on this tower. I am thinking about downgrading the BIOS to A8 and see what happens. I just recently found out its installation isn't original.

Another solution is since the sata controller runs only in IDE mode, Maybe I could try adding DEV_27C0 to the .inf file for the standard windows XP IDE driver pciide.sys on the windows XP cd.  

"intel never made f6 drivers for DEV_27C0 " yes they did.  You cannot use RST 16, 15,14,13, 12, 11 however because they drop support for ICH7.

It was called INTEL Matrix storage manager later changed to INTEL RST.

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/17882/Intel-Matrix-Storage-Manager

Device Name:
Intel(R) N10/ICH7 Family Serial ATA Storage Controller - 27C0
Hardware ID:
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27C0&SUBSYS_B0021458&REV_01
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27C0&SUBSYS_B0021458
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27C0&CC_01018F
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27C0&CC_0101

In order to use Vista and 7 and Advanced format drives you need RST 10.1.0.1008 WHQL

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/20104/Intel-Rapid-Storage-Technology-RAID-for-Intel-5-Series-Chipset-Based-Desktop-Boards

Neither .inf files in the Intel Matrix Storage Manager driver version 5.5.0.1035, which has already been looked into in this thread, nor the version 8.9.0.1023 you're suggesting contain DEV_27C0.

Case Closed figure out the problem isn't with the Hard drive controller. 

I never told you I was actually using a USB flash drive attempting to install it , with putting different windows xp ISOs using the RUFUS program.

I just went out and bought some CD-R's and burned a windows XP pro SP3 retail cd. Guess what it recognizes the hard drive fine and wants to install. 

Now the question is Why won't windows XP install using a USB flash drive on a dell Optiplex gx620.

I'm guessing now a USB controller problem.  I never thought a USB flash drive could be the problem, since all of my other computers work fine to install windows xp from USB flash drive. 

Advanced Format Drives REQUIRE Intel RST 9.6 or higher.

XP without SP2 does not support 48 bit LBA

Upgrading to BIOS A11 is a recommended minimum.

XP cannot be installed easily from USB.

Can be installed from Floppy Disk or CD

Advanced format drives REQUIRE F6 drivers aka INTEL RST 9.6

All new drives will be 4k advanced format drives.

"Windows Setup could not configure Windows on this computer's hardware" installation error on a Windows 7-based based computer http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2466753

Only Ancient Sata drives 120 gigs or smaller will not need INTEL RST.

http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/218571en?language=en_US

Windows XP VISTA 7 comes with Matrix storage manager 8.9

The INTEL MSM is not INTEL RST

Windows 7 Requires INTEL RST 9.6

Intel RST replaces Intel Matrix Storage Manager.  HOWEVER you cannot update to your hearts content from 7 to 8 to 9 to 10 to 11 to 12 to 13 etc.  As the drivers and chipsets get newer the older ICH5 6 7 8 9 etc are dropped from support.  

downloadcenter.intel.com/.../15251
Version 9.6.0.1014  may be the max for your motherboard

NEWER Versions (Not necessarily Supported on OLD chipsets)

Microsoft* .NET Framework 3.0 or newer is required to be installed on the system in order for the Intel® Rapid Storage Technology User Interface to install.  Note that not all Microsoft* Operating
Systems have .NET 3.0 or newer installed by default

You cant point to an exe or ZIP

With XP these need to be in the root of a floppy and not any ole floppy will do.

Intel(R) Rapid Storage Technology is designed to provide
functionality for the following Storage Controllers:

    - Intel(R) Desktop/Workstation/Server Express Chipset SATA RAID Controller
    - Intel(R) Mobile Express Chipset SATA RAID Controller
    - Intel(R) ESB2 SATA RAID Controller  
    - Intel(R) ICH7MDH SATA RAID Controller
    - Intel(R) ICH7R/DH SATA RAID Controller   
       
    AHCI Controllers:
    - Intel(R) Desktop/Workstation/Server Express Chipset SATA AHCI Controller
    - Intel(R) Mobile Express Chipset SATA AHCI Controller
    - Intel(R) 5 Series/3400 Series SATA AHCI Controller
    - Intel(R) 5 Series 4 Port SATA AHCI Controller
    - Intel(R) 5 Series 6 Port SATA AHCI Controller
    - Intel(R) ICH10D/DO SATA AHCI Controller
    - Intel(R) ICH10R SATA AHCI Controller
    - Intel(R) EP80579 SATA AHCI Controller
    - Intel(R) ICH9M-E/M SATA AHCI Controller
    - Intel(R) ICH9R/DO/DH SATA AHCI Controller
    - Intel(R) ICH8M-E/M SATA AHCI Controller
    - Intel(R) ICH8R/DH/DO SATA AHCI Controller
    - Intel(R) ESB2 SATA AHCI Controller
    - Intel(R) ICH7M/MDH SATA AHCI Controller
    - Intel(R) ICH7R/DH SATA AHCI Controller