Help! SAGER 9890: Vista does not see my hard drives!?

Hello,

I have a Sager 9890 with two internal hard drives. I do not know how they were configured when I ordered the machine. My Bios is set to ATA Mode.

I was using the computer so far with Windows XP and my two drives configured as C and D.

I am trying to install Windows Vista to no avail. I have copied the WinXP Promise Sata378 onto a USB drive so that I can "load driver" when prompted as indicated in this forum ("Install Windows XP on model NP9860 with ATA Mode configuration")

I have a choice of either "Promise Sata Console SCSI Processor" (I:\Winxp\UISata.inf) or "WinXP Promise SATA378 IDE Controller" ((I:\Winxp\UISata.inf) as "Driver to be installed".

Whatever I choose, I get a message "No drives were found. Click Load Driver to provide a mass storage driver for installation" and I can't proceed with my Vista installation.

My Bios is set to ATA Mode.

What gives? Am I supposed to get Vista drivers somewhere?
Thanks for any help.
Pierre.

 

Hmm.... So you put the SATA drivers into a floppy and using the USB Floppy drive, and it [Vista] did not pick up the drivers?

I would recommend to find Promise SATA Vista drivers, lemme see if I can dig them up.

Are you loading 64-bit Vista or 32-bit?

EDIT: Try these:

If its 32-bit:
- ATA Drivers for Windows XP (Version 1.00.0.29)

If its 64-bit:
- Promise SATA150 TX Series Windows x64 Beta version (ATA Mode)

 

Thank you for your reply.

Actually I used a USB Flashdrive. Does it have to be a floppy?

I am loading Vista 32-bit.

I am going to try the ATA Drivers for Windows XP (Version 1.00.0.29) you mentioned and will come back here for the outcome. The drivers I tried are dated 10/25/05 and are more recent (?) than the one you attached.

Again, thanks A LOT for helping me out!
Pierre.

 

yes it has to be a USB Floppy drive... although a USB Flash drive with bootable FAT might work as well.

the D900T/K notebooks all came with a standard USB Floppy included

Use the lastest drivers, I just linked the ones from Sager.

 

The way vista loads.. You can actually use drivers from any source, even a USB Flash Drive. The reason you couldn't use it on XP Setup install is because during the loading of drivers, xp setup would reset all USB devices drivers on driver loading and the flash drive woudln't keep its BIOS controlled Drive A: letter assingment. and XP setup would only load drivers from Drive A:.

In Vista you can load drivers from anywhere vista sees a working file system.. I was even able to load drivers from withing the second Partition of my HD.

Vista tho already included drivers to read my main drives with RAID enabled in the BIOS. Just be sure Not to activate Vista Untill you are sure you have Vista installed with the proper Raid settings. else when you goto Re-install vista with ATA mode turned off you will need to reactivate Vista over the phone as your system may no longer generate the same PID, as your Raid controller may show up something more advance..

 

Well, I used a USB Flashdrive and was able to load the drivers.

Therefore Vista saw my two hard drives. However, despite the fact that I was able to format the drives and create a new partition for Vista, I got a
"windows is unable to find a system volume that meets its criteria for installation" message.

Here is the driver I am using:
Promise SATA Console SCSI Processor (x:\WinXP\UISata.inf)

After searching the internet for that "windows is unable to find a system volume that meets its criteria for installation" message I went on to unplug drive 1 at the bottom of the notebook and only kept "drive 0" drive
( http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=712110&SiteID=17)

Then I tried to proceed with the Vista installation.

Same result. I can see "drive 0", I am able to format it, then when I clik "next" I am getting the "windows is unable to find a system volume that meets its criteria for installation" message.

Now, if I check the box "Hide drivers that are not compatible with hardware on this computer" the "SCSI Processor" does not show and only "WinXP Promise SATA378 IDE controller" appears. And when I pick one or the other, my sole drive does not appear anymore.

In Bios, "ATA Mode" is selected.

Is there a Vista driver that I should get somewhere? What should I do next? I'm stalled!

Thanks!!!
Pierre.

 

are you sure "windows is unable to find a system volume that meets its criteria for installation" isn't telling you that you can only upgrade not do a clean install? Just a thought. What Vista version do you have.. if it's the upgrade then you will need a OS already on the drive to install.. else if its the OEM then you can perform a clean install... Just a Idea... Vista will know what kind of install it can do based on the product key you select. If you don't enter a cd key it will put windows on the drive.. then run the install again and then enter your product key this time around and you will be able to do a clean install on top of the Vista file system on the drive. Assuming this is what thats all about.. Just shooting ideas around the dark sense it seems your almost out of ideas.

 

What I would like to understand is how my Sager notebook was configured when shipped.

I opened the hard drive bay and there are two Hitachi hard drive with jumpers on "device0" for one and "device1" for the other.

Also does the fact that there is a "Promise SATA Console SCSI Processor" mean that there is a SCSI controller in the notebook with two SATA hard drives?

I am not too familiar with notebook setup but as far as I know in a desktop if you have a SCSI controller then you use SCSI hard drives (I had a Seagate Cheetah for a while).

The hard drives are attached to a ribbon and the order in which they are attached seem to be relevant as when I unplug the device1 hard drive the other drive was invisible until I plugged it on the "first" connector of the ribbon.

My point is that if I understand how my system is setup, that could help me find a solution (?)

Thanks again!
Pierre.