Harddrive problem on my laptop
 

Hi guys,


My laptop came with a harddisk I purchased long time ago, but unfortunely the Harddisk is dead, so I bought a new one couple of days ago.

The problem is when I'm trying to insert the Harddisk on my laptop, and install Windows XP on it. The Windows XP CD can't find the Harddisk drive at all. I went to the BIOS to check it out, and no problem at all! The Bios did managed to locate my harddrive.

What is the problem? I have tried several other XP CD's, and nothing works out.

Help would be great guys! I tried to google, but no specific info available.

So Windows XP setup detected absolutely no hard disks at all? Whatsoever?

Yeah, nothing at all. It's pretty strange though, since the XP setup do detect my other computers I got, not my laptop. The only thing is BIOS do detect the harddrive I mentioned.

Well, at least we're certain it's a hardware, and not a software issue.

Perhaps it's an issue with the motherboard.

Perhaps its a driver issue.
If your computer uses a special SATA controller chip that's relatively new, there is a chance that the default XP driver cache might not support it.
What is your computer model?

Aha! I never knew about that stuff. My computer is Dell XPS 1330. How can I solve the problem?

Well given that information, it looks unlikely that its a driver issue.
What hard drive did you install?

Is Disk Management seeing the HDD?

I got a HDD once but was told it wasn't "prepared". I eventually had to go through Disk Management which did see it, and prepare it.

How to use Disk Management to configure basic disks in Windows XP

Well, I thought it was a driver issue too, so I went to a computer shop to get a new one. Unfortunely, it isn't. Perhaps I forgot to mentioned. I usually install Windows XP by restarting my computer and booting up the CD.


Well, the thing is I haven't installed any Operative system inside the Harddisk yet, so I can't do anything by using the Disk Management.

A new what? Hard drive?

Actually, after doing some more digging, I'm thinking its a driver issue again.

Refer to this thread for someone installing XP on a computer that has the same chipset/SATA controller hardware as your computer:
SATA Drivers for XP Install on HP dv2550se

Chances are most of the problems that you might experience installing XP on your computer will be similar to this guy.

Sorry for so late reply! I actually found out the problem!

The main problem is I had to turn of Flash Cache on my Bios, plus SATA. That was all.

Thank you for your help! :)