asked on

XP install does not find any hard drives when there is one present

Hello all.. I just purchased a HP 530 laptop that came preinstalled with Windows Vista Home. Our company's standard OS is Windows XP SP2. We are using the June 2006 copy of the Microsoft Windows XP Professional w\SP2 (volume license). However when I boot off the CD the program does not find any hard drives. I checked HP's site but there is almost nothing as far as drivers for Win XP, boot drivers, etc. Any help would be much apprecieated!!!

LeeTutor

See this similar question that is now being processed:

https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/22757416/cannot-boot-from-xp-but-can-boot-from-vista.html
cannot boot from xp, but can boot from vista

And my comment in it:

This likely a case of your pc having a SATA drive, which is not recognized by the XP installation CD. There are a couple of alternatives: During the early stages of setup, have you pressed the F6 function key to load the SATA drivers from a floppy?

More info, see this page:

http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org/how_do_i_install_windows_xp_on_a.htm

If you don't have a floppy drive on your computer, you have a couple of things you can do: a) buy a cheap USB floppy drive, or b) slipstream the SATA drivers into the XP install CD, as detailed on this page:

http://www.thinkdigit.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-559.html
Slipstream Windows XP with SATA Drivers

LeeTutor

Yes, just found the page at HP's site that has some technical specs for your computer, and it has SATA drives:

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF06b/321957-321957-64295-3251176-89315-3375953-3375995-3433413.html?lang=en&cc=us

drhixson

ASKER

ill try it out and will update, thanks~

LeeTutor

If the above is indeed your model of pc, then it appears you can download XP drivers at a link near the bottom of this page:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/DriverDownload.jsp?&lang=en&cc=us&pnameOID=3375995&taskId=135&prodTypeId=321957&prodSeriesId=3375953&lang=en&cc=us

drhixson

ASKER

any idea where I can find the sata drivers?

LeeTutor

Here's a page I found which appears to give you some good info:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&taskId=115&prodSeriesId=3375953&prodTypeId=321957&objectID=c00758841
HP Notebook PCs - How to add Serial ATA (SATA) driver to a Windows Installation

souseran

Intel SATA AHCI Controller Driver
Version: 7.5.0.1017 (12 Jun 2007)
This package contains the Intel Serial ATA (SATA) Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI) Controller Driver for the supported notebook models and operating systems. This package is used to create a diskette that is needed during a new operating system installation to ensure that the notebook hard drive is detected and usable for the installation.

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=US&swItem=ob-51521-1&prodTypeId=321957&prodSeriesId=3375953

There is also

Version: 7.0.0.1020 (13 Jun 2007)

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=US&swItem=ob-51454-1&prodTypeId=321957&prodSeriesId=3375953

drhixson

ASKER

ok we are getting further... when I use the above mentioned sta driver that souseran gave me (v 7.0.0.1020) I get 4 choices. I tried the 3rd option but it didnt like it...

they are:

intel ICH9 SATA AHCI Controller
intel 80201HEM SATA RAID
intel 80201HEM\HMB SATA (didnt work)
intel ICH8R/ICH9R SATA Raid controller

drhixson

ASKER

fyi,.... when I use the 3rd option as stated in the HP instructions, install proceeds till it says "starting windows", then it states "setup did not find any hard disk drives installed iun your computer".. This IS a HP 530 laptop....

souseran

That unit has the Mobile Intel 940GML Express Chipset
The hard drive is ATA-7 SATA 1.0a
What happens when you try the ICH9 SATA AHCI Controller?

drhixson

ASKER

same thing... gets to the point where it says starting windows, then comes up saying setup did not find any hard disk drives installed on your computer.... should i try the older driver you posted?

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

souseran

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drhixson

ASKER

the "older" driver worked like a charm.... go figure... thank you so much for your help....

LeeTutor

I wonder why you didn't split the points. I got you started on the way to solving your problem, after all. (Meanwhile, good work, souseran, for carrying through to the end... I had to go eat lunch so didn't contribute anything further.)

souseran

For the record, I agree with LeeTutor about the points. The drivers I provided were simply the ones referenced in Lee's post on HP Notebook PCs - How to add Serial ATA (SATA) driver to a Windows Installation.

jon_m_obrien

This question has been closed, but I would like to offer my solution to anyone else finding this in Google - I have downgraded a dozen HP530's to XP - I just press F10 for CMOS and disable the Native SATA mode and Windows installs fine.

I tend to leave it at that anyway, but if you want Native SATA, then once XP is installed, then simply install the SATA driver and re-enable Native SATA in CMOS.

So much easier than loading SATA drivers from a floppy (especially if you don't have a USB floppy drive sitting around), or slipstreaming SATA into an XP bootable CD as others have suggested.