How to install SATA drivers (AHCI) on eeePC 1005PE after installing XP without having SP3 slipped in.

If you are not satisfied with the pre-installed Win7 basic, you may decide to install XP on your Asus 1005PE. Here below step-by-step how to proceed (you need an external USB CD player, Win XP and optionally an external USB HD).

1) XP drivers are not included when you buy 1005PE. You find them on the official ASUS website. Go here , select the Download tab and save all the drivers on a USB stick or on a CD. You will need to install them at step number 7 and 14.

2) If you have Acronis or similar backup software and an external CD player, use the Acronis boot disk to backup all the four partitions of your Win7 1005PE on an external HD. It is useful to have a Win7 backup if XP installation does not (oddly) work.

3) Use the Gparted (freeware) boot disk or similar software to erase all the partitions on your 1005PE HD. XP installation does not like Win7 partitions. You will lose Gateway Express – but I don’t find it so functional: XP will boot very quickly – you do not need alternative quick boot software. Make one or several new NTFS partitions on your 1005PE HD with Gparted or similar software.

4) As you do not have XP-SP3 to install, you do not have SATA drivers for your 1005PE: therefore, XP installation will crash. To avoid this, at PC booting enter the bios by pressing F2 and change the HD behavior from “Advanced – AHCI” to “Compatible”.

5) Also change boot priority to your external CD player, thus to install XP in the next step.

6) Now you can install XP from your CD player. After installation terminates, do not connect to Windows update.

7) You probably need to install the eeePC XP LAN drivers you downloaded at step 1 to connect to internet.

8 ) You have now to modify Win XP register and to copy in \Windows\System32\drivers the SATA drivers for your HD. Here is the file to modify XP register: save it  on the desktop of your freshly installed XP and double click on it to insert the keys in the registry.

9) Find here the Intel Matrix Storage Manager-Packet (IATA621_CD.EXE – the SATA drivers) and save it in c:\windows. You cannot install it yet, but you can extract its files by running Start>Run IATA621_CD.EXE -a –a

9) Copy the freshly extracted …\Program Files\Intel\Intel Matrix Storage Manager\Driver\iastor.sys in …\Windows\System32\Drivers\

10) Now that register and driver are ready, you can restart your computer, enter the BIOS and switch back to Advanced, AHCI-mode.

11) Save, exit and load Windows XP from your HD (it should now start properly).

12) When XP goes for the SATA driver-installation procedure, stop it and run instead IATA621_CD.EXE to complete the SATA installation

13) Restart your system.

14) Install all the missing  ASUS XP  drivers you downloaded at step 1

15) Now go through the whole Windows Update procedure and install SP3.

Done.