Hard, Hardrive question..

Zampa · 7 Dec 2007

Right then....

In the process of changing the hard drive in our daughters HP Pavilion Media Centre PC. HD is an SATA 160GB drive. Computer does not have a floppy drive. HD has been formatted but not partitioned. When installing the operating system it does not recognise the SATA drive. Where do I find the installations I need for the BIOS to recognise the HD in order to load the operating system. Motherbard is a P5LPLE which I believe is manufactured by ASUS.

CPU Type – Intel® Pentium® D
CPU Speed – 3.20GHz

Thanks in advance

Softus · 7 Dec 2007

Zampa · 8 Dec 2007

Cheers soft...we have tried that though...all that happens it it continues to try and load windows then says it doesnt recognise any drivers.

Softus · 8 Dec 2007

Drives, or drivers

Zampa · 8 Dec 2007

Drive..

After pressing F6 it contunes for varying lengths...normally ends up in saying 'no Hard Drive detected'..(presumably by windows)..other times it has stopped on 'kernel debugger' (sounds like someone from a carry on film!) or 'Human Interface

It wont allow the partitioning process either.

The Bios does recognise it though for some reason

Spark123 · 8 Dec 2007

I take it that you're trying to load windows XP? I don't think there is anything other than floppy support with XP (2nd opinion would be nice tho). It is sounding like the bios has detected the drive but windows does not have the appropriate motherboard SATA driver loaded for windows installer to recognise the hard disk. Although there is no floppy drive fitted, is there a socket for a floppy drive on the motherboard where you can plug one in temporary? I'm wondering if there will be a driver loaded for a USB floppy drive to work? You should hopefully be able to download a driver for your pavilion from the HP website and put it onto a floppy disk.

Igorian · 8 Dec 2007

You could use Nlite to slipstream the SATA drivers onto a new installation CD. Apart from that, you'll need a floppy.

Zampa · 8 Dec 2007

Cheers spark and Igoran...

It is indeed XP..I heard too many bad things about Vista to bother with it at the moment.

Wife downloaded a driver last night but it was too big for a floppy..she thinks she may have done something wrong..

We have an external USB floppy drive.

Wife is considering loading Win M.E just to see what happens ..personally I cant see the point.

Will also try the Nlite link..

Will keep you all posted.

Spark123 · 8 Dec 2007

Windows ME

What model HP is the PC? Do you have a windows recovery disk for it?
If you haven't, does the original disk still work? Can you create a recovery disk from it?

Deluks · 8 Dec 2007

Sounds like a fairly recent model, last 1-2 years? The model name starting with P5 indicates a newer Asus board. Which doesn't need sata drivers as the motherboard chipset automatically supports it. *unless I am getting confused with something else*

My only other thought is that you are trying to use the wrong driver.

Have you tried partitioning on another machine first?

If all else fails maybe you can install on an IDE drive and then clone this to the SATA drive?

Zampa · 8 Dec 2007

Windows ME
What model HP is the PC? Do you have a windows recovery disk for it?
If you haven't, does the original disk still work? Can you create a recovery disk from it?

I take it you dont thnk thats a good idea?..

..nor me.

The original disc...sore point..

I threw it away by accident a while back mistaking it for the one from an old comp we gave away.

Have you tried partitioning on another machine first?

Formatted on another machine but not partitioned..we was hoping to do it on this one but it wont allow us to get that far.

If all else fails maybe you can install on an IDE drive and then clone this to the SATA drive?

Trying that now..not sure about the cloning bit though

eyeofthebeholder · 14 Dec 2007

In the BIOS, there maybe an option to turn off/disable 'SATA Native mode'.

If you do this (as in disable the option), the installation CD will then be able to 'see' the HD and you will be able to install the OS.

Do not turn the option back on though as you will not be able to boot to the install OS

Cheers

Ad.

Zampa · 22 Dec 2007

Well...we exhausted all options and suggestions on here...still kept coming up with nothing so...into a computer repairers it went

The guy said he had never been so busy because of issues with SATA drivers...and a good 70% of his repair work concerned these jobs in some shape or form.

The other problem he had was HP themselves..in the end he had to ring a friend who worked for them...apparently the computers are notoriously difficult to do anything major with..HP dont make it easy.

Ok...so...it comes home...singing, dancing...then the fun bit, registering windows...you know whats coming next dont you!!!!!

Rang Microsoft...apparently its one computer per one operating system...So...back on the net to look for OEM version of XP..its seems like there is a fair size difference with prices..(about 30 quid) ...so, is one of the OEM versions an upgrade and the other a full version?

One fair size company were offering an OEM dont didnt mention having to buy a piece of hardware with it...but most do...maplins said it had to be a significant size piece of internal hardware (we were thinking of buying a clock battery)..

So can someone tell me what the score is with all this...we now have a computer that works...but we cant use..

Thanks...

(and thanks for all the suggestions and help regarding this post)

Trazor · 22 Dec 2007

Provided you buy a full OEM version of windows XP, you will be good to go.
Ignore the piece of hardware you are supposed to buy.

Igorian · 22 Dec 2007

I've never had a problem with HP systems and SATA drives.

Do you have the correct drivers, expanded into the root of a floppy disk?
If you have used the F6 function correctly, you will get an addition menu, asking you to select the driver from the floppy. If you don't get this, you probably didn't press F6 quickly enough. It's not particularly intuitive, and there is a long delay until you get the menu.

Also, the Nlite slipstream method is pretty faultless. Are you sure you have the correct drivers? This, in my experience, is where most people have problems.

Hard, Hardrive question..

Igorian

Igorian

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