Can't find harddrive for XP installation...

Okay, I started to install windows XP, getting rid of vista. So it was doing its thing about installing IEE 1394 and all that stuff, then, it asked to press enter for an XP installation, so I did. Then, I come up to a screen that says there are no hard disk drives on this computer... well, I'm typing on this computer. What in the bloody hell do I do?

 

Seriously? You're asking this? You haven't seen the gazillion threads on this yet? I thought you lived on this forum. You're failing me, man.

You need to slipstream SATA drivers.

 

Hehe, sorry, I don't visit this topic too often. Okay, I'll slipstream my SATA drivers. Umm... how do I do that? ah hell, ill look it up.

 

You can try using a USB floppy drive, or a USB drive (made to act like a floppy).

Or you can slipstream the XP SATA AHCI driver using NLITE. Free utility that allows you to integrate drivers, service packs, unanttended installations...

 

nLite (vLite for Vista) is perfect for this.

 

If you don't want to do that, you can go into your BIOS and change the hard drive settings to "Compatibility Mode". This will allow you to install XP. Once installed, if you feel inclined to switch it back, you can download the proper drivers (although this is not necessary).

 

Dude, layoff, he can't help it if he doesn't know.

Yep, you've gotta slip stream the driver crimsonman.
It's fairly straight forward from what I understand.

From what I here, this doesn't always work.

 

Okay, I will slipstream SATA drivers into the disk, but I don't own the disk (its my friends), will it mess it up in any way?

 

You will have to make a second copy of the disc wiht the drivers slipstreamed. Hope you have a spare cd-r

 

I have 50 spare CD-Rs, so I'm pretty safe.

When greg says this, does he mean install vlite on my computer or nlite??

 

Depends. If you're using XP, use nLite. If you're using Vista, use vLite. It's not that hard.

And people are upset because this is a very common problem for people to run into, and a simple search would have found you tons of other threads related to this topic.

 

You could try installing either Nlite or Vlite.

If the XP disc you are using has the SP2 integrated then all you need to do is create a new Disc including the SATA driver needed for the XP installation.

Just choose to integrate a driver and create a bootable image.

If your XP disc is old (no SP2), then you could also trying integrating the SP2 using the same Nlite application.

 

*Hands Pitabred 20 dollars*

 

I just finished doing this for my XPS 1330. It worked pretty slick.

Download nlite. Install it. If you don't have appropriate Windows components installed it will ask you to install them. This will add some time but not a lot. After nlite is installed, borrow your friends XP disc. Like a previous poster said, if it is an XP SP2 cd, all you need is the SATA driver. Dell has XP SATA drivers on their website for the XPS 1330. You'll have fo find your own for whatever laptop you have. The nlite software holds your hand as you go through the process of slipstreaming the XP CD. It tells you when you put the CD in, asks you were you want the new CD to be stored, etc. At the end of the whole process you should select the option to create an ISO of what you've done. Then use whatever burning software you have to burn that ISO that nlite made to a CD-R

 

When I did this, nlite stored the iso image it created from the XP cd and the SATA driver I provided on the hard drive. I then had to burn this ISO image to a CD-R. Just felt I needed to clarify what I was saying earlier.

 

Since I use Vista, I use Vlite for the XP CD, okay. I'll try that soon.

 

I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure that if your goal is to install Windows XP on your laptop, you should use nlite. I'm pretty confident that vlite is designed to create a modified vista disk and nlite is designed to create a modified xp disk. If you're wanting to create a modified xp disk you need to use nlite I'm pretty sure.

 

Oh, okay. .

 

HI, I have been using Nlite for years and also did the slipstream for SATA drivers as well. However I just got the HP HDX9494NR and there is no option to disable the SATA. I have tried to change the active drive and all, but I keep getting that it can't find any hard drive. When it did once, it found one with 1 meg or something. I looked through fdisk and it shows some bizarre partitions. Oh, and I am trying to put XP Pro a dual boot with Vista. I slipped SP3 and SLI3531 Sata driver.

Nowhere on the net have I seen anything dealing with this... What do I do when nothing on the net works. Did it all from what I can see.

Any other geniuses out there who have any other ideas that are useful?

Thanks.

 

How about just slipped SP1 or SP2 and sata? then updating to SP3 afterward? Have you also looked into the HDX lounge thread?

cheers ...