Gentlemen and Ladies:
I have dealt with a number of HP computers, and in case this has not been mentioned in the past, there usually IS a way to nuke the HD and reinstall the operating system from scratch.
For instance, if one wishes to install a new version of XP-Pro using a bootable CD or DVD with that distribution on it, one has to make some changes to the BIOS settings.
If this isn't done, as the installation procedure gets to where it says, "Installing Windows", the blue-screen of death appears shortly after with a warning that there is some sort of hardware error.
This is not true. All that is wrong is that setup cannot find the SATA controller and its attached drive(s).
This usually appears when the original hard drive is a SATA drive. If the hard drive you wish to use is an IDE drive, this usually does not appear, but who wants to use an IDE drive these days?
So, what you have to do is, in the case of the A8AE-LE, use the F-11 key on bootup, then, first, hit F-5 to set all BIOS settings to default, then go to the screen (usually the second one) that shows whether or not your SATA controller is enabled, make sure that is enabled, then set the IDE controller to SECONDARY only, save and exit.
Now, boot on the bootable DVD/CD with your operating system on it, and when it gets to that point in the setup where it looks for the hard drive, it will find it and you can proceed as usual.
Good luck.
Ken Gordon
University of Idaho
I have dealt with a number of HP computers, and in case this has not been mentioned in the past, there usually IS a way to nuke the HD and reinstall the operating system from scratch.
For instance, if one wishes to install a new version of XP-Pro using a bootable CD or DVD with that distribution on it, one has to make some changes to the BIOS settings.
If this isn't done, as the installation procedure gets to where it says, "Installing Windows", the blue-screen of death appears shortly after with a warning that there is some sort of hardware error.
This is not true. All that is wrong is that setup cannot find the SATA controller and its attached drive(s).
This usually appears when the original hard drive is a SATA drive. If the hard drive you wish to use is an IDE drive, this usually does not appear, but who wants to use an IDE drive these days?
So, what you have to do is, in the case of the A8AE-LE, use the F-11 key on bootup, then, first, hit F-5 to set all BIOS settings to default, then go to the screen (usually the second one) that shows whether or not your SATA controller is enabled, make sure that is enabled, then set the IDE controller to SECONDARY only, save and exit.
Now, boot on the bootable DVD/CD with your operating system on it, and when it gets to that point in the setup where it looks for the hard drive, it will find it and you can proceed as usual.
Good luck.
Ken Gordon
University of Idaho