Sager NP8130: Strange Issue

All,

I'm having some strange issues with my NP 8130.

The initial problem occurred approximately one week ago when, during normal use (just surfing the web), the PC crashed on me. I attempted to reboot the laptop and, while it did boot up, it did not load windows. Instead, I saw only a black screen with a flashing white cursor in the upper left corner.

I pulled the HDD and installed an OCZ Agility 2. Windows installed normally and the SSD works decently, though it occasionally has stability issues (such as the internet dropping, or BSOD). Lately the SSD has been better.

Anyway, I attempted to format and reinstall Windows 7 on the original HDD (I really need the additional space for Steam games ). I boot from the installation disk, I reach the "Install Windows" box. When I select "Install now," it shows "installing" then opens a box labeled "Install Windows" with an instruction to select the driver to be installed; a separate box overlaying that one is labeled "Load Driver" and states, "A required CD/DVD drive device driver is missing. If you have a driver floppy disk, CD, DVD, or USB flash drive, please insert it now." When I select "OK" I am dumped back into the "Select the driver to be installed" dialogue; if I click "Browse," I see only the C: and X: drives.

I guess I have three questions:

1. Is my HDD shot?

2. Is the instability I see in the SSD related to the laptop?

3. Given question 2, could the issue somehow be related to the laptop?

Opinions, et al, welcome. Thanks in advance. My reseller was Xotic PC. I purchased the laptop in July 2011.

 

1. Hard to tell, but it could be. Try making a Hiren's bootcd and doing a disk diagnostic. If you can boot into the Windows install disk, go to system recovery tools, open a command prompt, and run "sfc /scannow" to do a disk check as well.

Hiren's BootCD 15.1 - All in one Bootable CD » www.hiren.info

2. Yes and no. Sandforce based SSD's with older firmware revisions have had known issues in the past. Newer firmwares have fixed a lot of that though.


For installing Windows, are you using a USB installer or a disk? The message you listed is common if you're using USB and accidentally use a USB 3.0 port. If you're using a disk, I'd suggest trying a USB to be sure it's not a Windows driver issue somewhere. Create a bootable USB from a working machine with a 4GB flash drive and your Windows install CD or image.

Microsoft Store Online

 

I did indeed use a USB 3.0 port. Let me give your option a try.

 

Ah, then just swap it over to one of the black USB 2.0 ports and you should be golden. No need to bother with anything else listed above

 

So installing win7 from usb stick on usb3 won't work?

If so, I learned something new today

 

Correct. Windows 7 predates the USB 3.0 drivers, which means that during install it has no idea how to use those ports. You can boot to the installer from them, but when Windows takes over to use the drive to finish the install, it doesn't recognize the ports. If you pulled the driver files from a working install (not the exe) you could potentially put them on disk to have Windows install the USB 3.0 controller. That would allow you to use the ports, but it's a lot more hassle than just using a 2.0 port.

If Windows had shipped with those drivers in the base installer, the ports would work without any issue

 

Nah it didn't work out. It's now now in an install loop. I might need to RMA the drive or something.