"No hard disk" error on XP install (SATA)

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UzY3L

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Why deal with the bloody external floppy and all that stuff?It's a huge waste of time!
Just google "eXPerience TinyXP" and your problems are over!It's a modded XP SP2 to be as fast and as small as possible.Also,it has integrated drivers for ALL SATA controllers and most sound and lan cards.
If that doesn't work,search for "eXPerience Server2003" on google.It has all the drivers for anything : SATA,LAN,chipset,Sound,WiFi you name it!
Also, @ Nd4Spdr : vista is microstuffed's IDIOTIC response to a problem.Yes,they've made windows a faster OS than any previous version.But that's just for the OS!Whenever you want to run something you have to wait...because,most of the RAM and CPU is gobbled up by vista.Now,vista may run great on microstuffed machines which are all high-spec and have lots of RAM but more than 70% of the world's PCs don't have more than 1GB of RAM installed.On that note,gonna wait for Haiku to come out.
Sorry for the off-topic.
Love&Peace!
 
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areign

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Hey, i have the same problem.

in my bios it says something about USB legacy support but that didnt change anything. do you know if you can do this from like a flashdrive or something. cuz i have a laptop and no floppy drive...

edit: found a bios thing that fixed it, now installing windows.
 
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toonukuk

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ye har!!! all sorted for me,i have tried everything,apart from one thing.....i went into my bios screen,and changed the sata setting to non raid....hey presto......xp up and running
 
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Paperdoc

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Here's one I didn't see above yet. On my new machine as I stepped through the setups, I set the BIOS SATA options to AHCI, and the XP SP2 install disk could not find the HDD. Changed BIOS to not AHCI, but to IDE emulation, and it went perfectly. Seems the XP install disk has drivers for IDE (of course!) and maybe plain SATA, but knows nothing about AHCI. Check your BIOS SATA parameters.
 
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huntermaclean

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I am running a Lenovo ThinkPad T61 with the same problem. All the talk about SATA got me thinking and here is how I fixed it:
BIOS -> Config -> SATA -> (change: AHCI to Compatibility)

Similar solution to what Paperdoc said, but thought I would share my solution.

All The Best,
Hunter MacLean
 
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cscsnn

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it works

just like huntermaclean said :
BIOS -> Config -> SATA -> (change: AHCI to Compatibility)



Dell 1525
 
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Guest

Guest
Ok...
My problem is also solved
In Bios...Config->Sata-->from AHCI to Compatibility
Thx very mutch...
BDW
 
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Guest

Guest
if your bios laptop don't have copatibility setting you can use this way...
1. Input the diskette contain sata ahci driver , Plug your usb floppy drive to your laptop (make sure that you have enabled the floppy in bios setting)
2.booting with win xp cd
3.press F6 for install scsi and raid hdd,when there is message press S to specify sata ahci driver,select sata AHCI 82801 mobile for 965 chipset or sata AHCI 9 mobile for intel 45 chipset.if your chipset is AMD you must use another AHCI (usually you can get it in XP cd drivers notebook or you can looking for in internet) and then press enter for continue.
4.usually would appear a message to use driver just select yes
5.it is done
 
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bddn2002

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I had same problem long ago, here is what I did, download xp installation disk with sata driver. that's it. hope you guys be fine
 
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Guest

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Thanks ponce worked great I have been messing around with it all day even killdisk'd it and rewrote the MBR thinking it had something to do with the hp hdd protection....thanks again....kris
 
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PulseOx

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i completely gave up on this problem until my friend told me about SATA and I read this post.

Disabled SATA setting in Bios and read from my CD-ROM xp install disk right away

Thank you!!
 
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GrumpyMonkey

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Guys just a really quick suggestion. I had the problem with no hard drive recognised and also the f6 button wouldnt work for me to allow USB Flash drive drivers etc...bah humbug!

I am working on a new install of Win XP Pro (SP3) on a HP Compaq NC6320 Notebook.

I also have a vista Home premium 64bit cd as well so thought I would try that instead. It got me easily enough to the stage where it wanted to install the O/S on the recognised HD, so at that point I formatted that drive maybe like 10 times to make sure which only took a couple of mins.

I also went into bios and put sata "native disabled" as per the other fine suggestions in comments above.

As I am writing, I am 45% + through installing now after many failed attempts for XP to recognise the HD....so fingers crossed......mayeb the Vista Disc did the job or disabling Sata native....im not sure and not bothered as this Laptop has done my head in to be honest......just ordered a shitty USB Floppy that I dont seem to need....who knows....this was my experience and it worked.....

Just be persistant and logiocal, try everything....nice feeling when you get there. Good luck guys!

p.s - 97% through.....hurrah

pps. now almost complete by time registered....so all fine!!!!
 
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CyberSavior

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Have you tried going into the cmos setup and seeing if you can change the hard drive mode from sata to ide ? If so this should cure your problem...
..... CyberSavior
 
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Guest

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Same on Lenovo T60. Changed SATA from AHCI to Compatibility.

And it works.
Thank you.
 
homeitsupport

homeitsupport

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Great job! This is the fix. Thanks, because I've never experienced this issue before. Does this happen because VISTA is installed on a SATA drive or this is standard protocol for formatting SATA drives?


 
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Sudarshan

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Hi
With Acer (Aspire 5315) BIOS update the XP was crashing. I went into BIOS 'Main' and changed the setting for SATA Drivers from AHCI to IDE. This worked, the OS could recognize the Hard Disk and things are now working with latest BIOS updates (1.45 for Acer)
 
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Guest

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check this guys :eek:

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows/resolving-setup-did-not-find-any-hard-disk-drives-during-windows-xp-installation/
 
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toddsizer

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we just got 6 new dell inspiron desktops at my office. they came with vista home basic. needed to downgrade to xp pro so i could get them connected to our windows server 2003 domain. kept getting messages that newer os installed and couldnt get xp pro sp2 to install. formatted the brand new hd's and tried again with no luck. ntldr is missing error.

went to bios, advanced system configuration, sata settings, changed ACHI to ATA and problem solved. xp pro installed like a champ. ACHI and ATA were the only options. there was no IDE option on this computer.
 
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Guest

Guest
Solved!

Same as above.

I have an Acer Aspire 4720Z Laptop.

I prepared a USB wth XP SP2!

At first, XP installation couldn't recognize the built-in hard disk. On the 'create partition' screen,
it showed only the USB disk (I was installing from this USB disk).

So, I went to the BIOS. Looked for the SATA option, and lo and behold, it was set to ACHI mode, I think.
I changed that to IDE.

Saved, and exit.

Reboot, and XP installation recognized the hard disk, and I was able to partition, etc. etc.

In case anyone is running an Acer laptop from this series, I hope my explanation helped.
 
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