Bawx Posted December 31, 2009 Share Posted December 31, 2009 I have another Windows format problem. My friends laptop **** the bed. "Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed in your computer" I still get the error even when I try to re-install with a Windows XP CD. I found this site that seems like it really works, but it requires me to edit the Windows XP CD by adding drivers it seems. This makes me nervous. Will that do anything permanently to the CD that would make it work differently when I return the disk? Here's the site: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows/res...p-installation/ I could really use some good help here, I need to help this guy a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SyntaxError Posted December 31, 2009 Share Posted December 31, 2009 You won't be doing anything to the original XP cd. That site's instructions are correct and if you follow them, you will be copying the cd's files to your hard drive, and using nLite to slipstream the sata drivers for that laptop into the windows files. From there you will burn a new copy using the files on your hard drive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Helix Posted December 31, 2009 Share Posted December 31, 2009 Well you can't change the original factory cd, but that process is having you create a CD image then adding the drivers to it and finally burning that new image to a CD-r/rw If the drives are not found by windows setup cd it could mean the drive(s) are dead Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bawx Posted December 31, 2009 Author Share Posted December 31, 2009 Oh okay, so I'll be using a blank disk with drivers/Windows files on it, to actually put into the broken laptop? This sounds much better already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+BudMan MVC Posted December 31, 2009 MVC Share Posted December 31, 2009 'I still get the error even when I try to re-install with a Windows XP CD" So can we get a bit more info here -- so this laptop was working, then it stopped says it can't find disk.. Im guess he tried his disk or recover media and still no go - can't find disk. And now your trying yours and same error? Yes its possible just no drivers -- but to be honest if you tried recovery media from the maker, and it says it can not find disk -- is this the case or not?? Sounds more like possible hdd or controller issue and not just a driver if that is what happened? Also you should just be able to put the controller into compatible mode in the bios vs having to find the sata drivers. Ie IDE mode vs ACHI, etc.. What specific laptop are you working with? I would suggest we get some more details before you go through all the trouble of integrating drivers into a XP cd, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bawx Posted December 31, 2009 Author Share Posted December 31, 2009 It's a Gateway. It has no recovery option on it. Only when I put the Windows CD in, it says press "r" for Recovery Console, then says it can't find the disk. So we try and re-install Windows, same error. I don't know how to "put the controller into compatible mode in the bios vs having to find the sata drivers. Ie IDE mode vs ACHI, etc.." Could you explain? Would this maybe help find the problem or solve it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madoshi Posted December 31, 2009 Share Posted December 31, 2009 alternatively, a USB floppy drive with a disk containing the drivers and the use of the F6 key during Windows Setup would also work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bawx Posted January 1, 2010 Author Share Posted January 1, 2010 So I'm not exactly sure what I'm supposed to be repairing? I just need the SATA drivers for the hard drive? And they got corrupted, so I'm replacing them? Also, I have some drivers but I'm not 100% sure they're the right ones. How can I find out what the exact ones I need are? CPU-z? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madoshi Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 what model Gateway and are you sure it uses a SATA drive? what does "My friends laptop **** the bed" mean really? sorry but yer posts are confusing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bawx Posted January 1, 2010 Author Share Posted January 1, 2010 It's a Gateway NX860X. **** the bed = broken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madoshi Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 alright yes, XP does not include the req'd SATA driver for this model, and it will not show up in either R mode or setup. the link you posted to the guide to slip in the drivers to an XP CD will at least let setup see the drive. you have to dig thru Gateway's site to find the appropriate SATA driver. the result is a burned CD-R copy of the XP CD with the driver built-in, which will get rid of the "drive could not be found" message and actually show the drive. either that, or buy/borrow a USB floppy drive, make a disk with the driver, and boot to an untouched XP CD. it says "Press F6 to load drivers" or something similar at the beginning. if you press F6, it searches the floppy disk for drivers and will let you load the SATA driver, which later on will let it see the hard drive. thats really the only 2 ways of doing this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bawx Posted January 1, 2010 Author Share Posted January 1, 2010 Alright, so I think I found the right drivers. http://support.gateway.com/support/drivers...p;uid=255672023 So that program n-lite is the way to go, right? I actually got the point of installing Windows, it showed me the list of partitions, with C: at about 3k mb and another at 8mb. Shouldn't there be one there which is the actual HDD, which is 80gigs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaffra Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 does the laptop bios see the hdd? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madoshi Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 Alright, so I think I found the right drivers.http://support.gateway.com/support/drivers...p;uid=255672023 So that program n-lite is the way to go, right? I actually got the point of installing Windows, it showed me the list of partitions, with C: at about 3k mb and another at 8mb. Shouldn't there be one there which is the actual HDD, which is 80gigs? yeah 3000MB? odd. you got a flash drive plugged in or something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bawx Posted January 1, 2010 Author Share Posted January 1, 2010 yeah I did. was that that flash drive that said 3000MB? I thought we unplugged it first. but it said C:\ partition (3476MB) or whatever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madoshi Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 yea, a lot of flash drives will show in XP's setup program Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bawx Posted January 1, 2010 Author Share Posted January 1, 2010 thanks for your help wuffy. i'll try some stuff and see what happens. could the HD just be completely dead? appreciate everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madoshi Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 no problem, always happy to help if you got easy access to a somewhat recent desktop computer and have a spare SATA cable laying around, you could find out pretty easily if the drive works or not. the connections on laptop drives are the same as regular in this case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bawx Posted January 1, 2010 Author Share Posted January 1, 2010 I just connect it to the HD in the laptop and then to.. I'm lost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madoshi Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger H. Veteran Posted January 1, 2010 Veteran Share Posted January 1, 2010 is this a AHCI thing? I didn't read the original details (can't focus so well, a lil drunk right now LOL Happy New Year!! :D) but i'm guessing because it's XP it wont see the drive if it's in AHCI mode so you gotta go to the BIOS and change it to "Compatibility Mode" for XP to see it when installing from the CD. Windows Vista and 7 work just fine in this regard. The other option is to do what someone was mentioning above where you download the SATA drivers for your controller and using a USB floppy drive you press F6 to load controller drivers during XP setup. That will allow XP to see the SATA drive and install to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bawx Posted January 1, 2010 Author Share Posted January 1, 2010 So you NEED to use a floppy drive? Wtf. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madoshi Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 no. either the floppy drive OR an nLite'd CD i have done both methods in the past Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bawx Posted January 1, 2010 Author Share Posted January 1, 2010 alright. I love learning new stuff but I hate when I can't figure it out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bawx Posted January 8, 2010 Author Share Posted January 8, 2010 100% fixed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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