Help with re-installing XP

My son was given an Amilo Pro V2060 with Linux installed for Christmas. It also has a Sata Hard Drive so we are finding it hard to re-install XP.

We read through these forums and found a thread saying to disable the sata in the bios on a V2040. We tried this and cried with joy as the blue screen appeared and seemingly started to install XP. Imagine our screams of horror as the blue screen informed us that is was unable to continue installation due to there being no hard drive detected.

Please help, anyone out there that has any idea what we can do to get back the XP that we are used to. Linux has us completely lost.

 

No need to worry, I will try to help you out.

First I need to know if there are any XP CD's include? If there is no CD included then you must use your own XP CD.

The problem is: XP does not include SATA-drivers for your notebook. You must mount these drivers. Go to www.fujitsu-siemens.com, select download drivers and select your notebook. Go to Intel SATA Controller and download that.
After that you must mount those SATA drivers on the XP CD. Then you will be able to install those drivers.

Good luck,

Charlie

 

I am not super familar with the Amilo line, but on my R60 I had to set the drive to compatibility mode in the bios to get XP to install. Slipstreaming the SATA driver into XP using something like nLite is another possibility.

 

Hi and thanks to you both.

Charlie, there's no copies with the laptop. I've got both xp pro and home so finding a disk is no problem. But you've got me worried about mounting the sata drivers on the disk.

 

Sorry Zaz. To be honest you've just completely lost me..lol. I've never formatted a laptop before, but I'm presuming its the same as a desktop. As for slipstreaming I have no idea. I don't like playing in the Bio's as I used to have a neighbour who did all that and knew what he was doing.

 

The OEM XP disc lacks the SATA driver which is the most likely reason it won't install. You can use nLite to incorporate the driver into the XP install disc. Might be worth a look.

 

Thanks for all your help. I'm seriously thinking about just replacing the hard drive and be done with it.

 

Replacing the hard disk will do nothing. You will still have to install Windows on to it. The problem has already been addressed. Windows XP does not include any SATA drivers on its disks. So for you to install it, you need to either mount the drivers onto the disk or use nLite to slipstream them on.

Don't worry about going into the BIOS. Just make sure you go to the boot order and change it, using the + and - keys. i don't think your XP CD is being read from the start, so you need to change it so its at the top of the list. If you think you have changed something in the BIOS you didn't want to, don't worry, just exit it, without saving the chanages, and try again.