The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Problem installing Windows on newly bought Aspire 2920z

    Discussion in 'Acer' started by eightwind, Jul 21, 2008.

  1. eightwind

    eightwind Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    2
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    I have problem installing Windows on my newly bought laptop. They didn't come with any OS, so I have to do it myself.
    I've tried both Vista and XP SP2, but during installation it writes:
    "Windows couldn't find recognizable components to install"

    I've tried to do partition procedure for the Hard Drive, but still to no avail, with the same installation error.
    I was wondering if I miss something here.

    Thanks for the help in advance!
     
    eightwind, Jul 21, 2008
    #1
  2. bigozone

    bigozone JellyRoll touring now

    Reputations:
    1,112
    Messages:
    2,730
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    follow this site's instructions on making a custom XP install CD
    the SATA driver from this site will work with all NEWER INTEL CHIPSETS.

    http://soulpass.com/2007/11/10/inst...essional-sp2-on-acer-aspire-5315-2153-laptop/

    basically XP was written BEFORE SATA hard drives were available... so XP doesn't know how to talk to the HDD

    and don't change the BIOS setting for the HDD to IDE...
    while it's an easy fix... it slows the HDD down,,, and makes a data corruption more likely
     
    bigozone, Jul 21, 2008
    #2
  3. ATG

    ATG 2x4 Super Moderator

    Reputations:
    3,306
    Messages:
    4,461
    Likes Received:
    344
    Trophy Points:
    151
    Vista should install with no problems under sata mode...this is really strange..
     
    ATG, Jul 21, 2008
    #3
  4. bigozone

    bigozone JellyRoll touring now

    Reputations:
    1,112
    Messages:
    2,730
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    you are correct about VISTA.. atg... i wonder if he's trying to use an OEM disk from a different manufacturer?? that could explain the VISTA ISSUE
     
    bigozone, Jul 21, 2008
    #4
  5. eightwind

    eightwind Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    2
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    I bought this laptop as a new laptop in one of the local store around here... Well, the seal is still intact, so I guess the store wouldn't change the HDD. And yeah, I'm using Vista and it says the same error mentioned before.
    Anyway, the website you gave me works super-fine.
    What I didn't do is to delete and combine two separated partition before. Or maybe the floppy disk setup did the help as well? I have no idea. But anyway, it works perfectly. Thanks alot, bigozone!
     
    eightwind, Jul 22, 2008
    #5
  6. Andy

    Andy Notebook Prophet

    Reputations:
    2,133
    Messages:
    6,399
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    206
    Man, I really can't help running the HDD in legacy mode....The BIOS is so fuk'd.....
     
    Andy, Jul 22, 2008
    #6
  7. bigozone

    bigozone JellyRoll touring now

    Reputations:
    1,112
    Messages:
    2,730
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    sorry about that BIOS problem there angad....
    i'd be talking to ACER about that if i were you.

    that's just wrong... a SATA drive w/o SATA benifits??? WTH?
     
    bigozone, Jul 22, 2008
    #7
  8. Andy

    Andy Notebook Prophet

    Reputations:
    2,133
    Messages:
    6,399
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    206
    Yeah, I will be.... :D
    I know they will try to ignore it or make some excuse or something, so I will be just getting a custom BIOS made for this....just get those advanced options open in the BIOS and be done with it.. :rolleyes:

    But you sure, that the SATA HDD running in IDE mode can screw up my data..?? Heck I don't even have an external with me for backups.. :D
     
    Andy, Jul 22, 2008
    #8
  9. bigozone

    bigozone JellyRoll touring now

    Reputations:
    1,112
    Messages:
    2,730
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    it's not a high chance of happening..

    but the data is going thru an extra conversion.... almost like being encrypted & decrypted on-the-fly...

    it's just one more chance for an error to occur.... 99.996% chance you'll never have a problem... but it does add another layer of complexity to a process that shouldn't need any extra steps...
     
    bigozone, Jul 22, 2008
    #9