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New desktop with pre-loaded HomeXP. Want to partition and load Windows server 2003. No hard disk error message!!

I have recently bought a new desktop that has come with preloaded HomeXP. All works fine. i tried to load Windows server 2003. The setup files copy across from the installation disk and at the point when I am sked to install and press ENTER a message comes up saying that there no Hard Disk drives have been detected. Can anyone let me know how i can get the hard disk drives recognised to enable me to load the windows server 2003.

thanks

sunray_2003

Dont you get the same image as you see in Step 7 here
http://www.petri.co.il/install_windows_2003.htm

If you donot have a partition , create a partition and install 2003 in that new partition.

SR

ddefreitas

ASKER

It is at point 5 where I press enter and it tells me there are no Hard drives installed on the computer or they are not properly connected/switched on and then exits the setup

ddefreitas

ASKER

I have just been told that the reason this is happening is that my recently acquired machine has an ATA hard drive(means little to me at this stage) and Windows Server 2003 can't recognise these drives. If anyone does know how I could fix this would be great?

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Fatal_Exception

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Fatal_Exception

Are you trying to install W2K3 in a dual boot fashion, or do you just want to install a clean fresh W2K3 OS onto the system, and ditch the old OS?????

sunray_2003

Thanks Fatal for stopping by

SR

ddefreitas

ASKER

I would like to run a dual boot system. The HomeXP operating system etc all came pre-installed.

Fatal_Exception

Then you need to install the new OS on a different partition, and even better, on a different drive. How many partitions do you have currently? (you can see the partitions using Disk Management.... Start > Run > diskmgmt.msc (OK)

Fatal_Exception

BTW: just so you know for future reference... Do NOT convert your hard drive to dynamic (from Basic) after the install. Dynamic disks do not support dual boot configs, and if you do, then you will loose your XP operating system and will need to reformat the hard drive... Just thought I would mention this.. :)

Fatal_Exception

and one more thing before I go grab some dinner.. run your 2003 setup from the cd, not from within the XP operating system... :)

Fatal_Exception

just so you understand what an ATA drive is: (ATA hard drives are just your standard IDE drives...)

Short for Advanced Technology Attachment, a disk drive implementation that integrates the controller on the disk drive itself. There are several versions of ATA, all developed by the Small Form Factor (SFF) Committee:
ATA: Known also as IDE, supports one or two hard drives, a 16-bit interface and PIO modes 0, 1 and 2.
ATA-2: Supports faster PIO modes (3 and 4) and multiword DMA modes (1 and 2). Also supports logical block addressing (LBA) and block transfers. ATA-2 is marketed as Fast ATA and Enhanced IDE (EIDE).
ATA-3: Minor revision to ATA-2.
Ultra-ATA: Also called Ultra-DMA, ATA-33, and DMA-33, supports multiword DMA mode 3 running at 33 MBps.
ATA/66: A version of ATA proposed by Quantum Corporation, and supported by Intel, that doubles ATA's throughput to 66 MBps.
ATA/100: An updated version of ATA/66 that increases data transfer rates to 100 MBps.
ATA also is called Parallel ATA.

Chris B

Have a look at the data cable coming from the hard drive. Is it wide, flat and grey, or narrow and red?

Chris B

Fatal_Exception

Thank you..

FE