am trying to upgrade an xp machine to 8.1 and install says it can't find a hdd why not

[oldbeeman]

as it says i am trying to update an vista machine to w9.1 and the install program says it can't find a hdd and gives an option to provide a driver..

the real truth is the machine was a state surplus and the hdd had been wiped and w98 installed. so i guess there is no driver for the hdd.

what do i do to get this to work>

thanks
dave

 

[Ironsounds]

Hello... It's asking for MB SATA chip AHCI driver.
1) dl it from website... OR
2) Put MB BIO's SATA controller into IDE mode (save&exit) and no driver needed.
3) You may need to delete all OLD partitions first... so use "Custom" install for "Drive Tools" to be available, with your install media.

 

[oldbeeman]

set the bios to ide emulate but that did not seem to work.
still saying it can't find a hdd

 

[Paul NZ]

You cant upgrade from XP or Vista, to 8.1 unless you do a clean install of 8.1

 

[oldbeeman]

ok i am trying to install to a new formatted hdd. do i need something else?

 

[Paul NZ]

The 8.1 dvd. Boot from it

 

[oldbeeman]

that is what i am trying to do.

 

[Paul NZ]

Did you change the bootdisk in the bios to it save settings then boot from it?

 

[oldbeeman]

yes it does boot from the dvd and starts to load. asks for the key and then says it can't find any hdd. wants a driver for the hdd of which i have none

 

[Paul NZ]

May have to replace the hdd then. It must be too old

 

[oldbeeman]

don't think so as i had it in another machine to reformat it and seem to work ok then

 

[Paul NZ]

Does the BIOS recognise / detect the hdd

 

[oldbeeman]

yes

 

[Paul NZ]

Whats the brand / model of this hdd?

 

[oldbeeman]

seagate baracuda 7200.12 250g

 

[Paul NZ]

Look in the bios for the hdd entry does it show the firmware thats on it?? Or on the post screen?

And whats the model of it?

 

[oldbeeman]

st3250318as

 

[Paul NZ]

Do you know what firmware is on it? Thats up to CC49 now

 

[oldbeeman]

hp34 ?

 

[Paul NZ]

There's a sticker on it, probably on the top. It may start with CC?

It'll have revision somewhere around it

 

[oldbeeman]

says firmware hp34

 

[Paul NZ]

Hmm wonder if this update would update it.

It'll update it to CC49 if it works. But you have to burn the ISO to cd then boot from it

And make sure its the only hdd thats connected

 

[oldbeeman]

would it need the system to be running?
how do i go about making an iso. would that be for the hdd firmware update?

 

[Paul NZ]

Yup no you dont need windows but you do need windows or something to burn the iso to a blank cd

The ISO is down the page in the link I gave

 

[oldbeeman]

ok will do that tomorrow as it is almost midnite now and tomorrow promises to be long.
watch tomorrow night and i will post here as to what i come op with
thanks for the help.
dave