Tech Support Forum - View Single Post - Error Message: "Setup Did Not Find Any Hard Disk Drives Installed In Your Computer."

newreel · 06-16-2008, 10:08 PM

Hello Folks,

I sure hope someone can help me. I have a Gateway PA6A Laptop Computer with 1gb of Ram. I was running Windows Vista, but the computer was having lots of problems with crashes and freezing, so I decided to downgrade back to XP Professional SP3.

So I got all my files off and then wiped the drive with Darik's Boot and Nuke. DBAN completed the job, but told me that there were bad sectors on the disk it had just wiped. I thought this might have been what was causing the problems I was experiencing with Vista (freezing, crashing, etc.). I tried to install XP Pro anyway but it only got so far, and then told me that "Setup Did Not Find Any Hard Disk Drives Installed In Your Computer." So I thought "well that confirms it - the hard disk is bad".

So I went to Fry's and bought a brand new hard drive today and installed it into the computer. But guess what? The installation got to the same place and I got the same error message again!

I've tried 2 different windows CD's (1 Home SP1 and 1 Pro XP3) and they both gave that error message, so I don't think the problem is with the Windows CD.

I know I'm pushing the hard drive all the way in when I install it and then I screw the plastic piece back on - am I missing something that I should be doing? The reason I ask is that I never got that error message until the first time I took the hard drive out yesterday so I could slave it to another PC and grab all the user files. It was only after that when I started getting those messages. The PC was at least working before - I could get a Windows splash screen, or get half way to safe mode, etc.

I think I'm doing something wrong with the way I'm putting the drive back in, but I'm fairly experienced with computers, and this isn't the first hard drive I've taken in and out of a laptop.

I'm totally perplexed by this - is there any chance that anyone has come across this bizarre issue before? Please???

Any help you guys could offer would be so greatly appreciated. I really, really need this computer to work.

Thank you in advance.

06-16-2008, 10:08 PM	#1 (permalink)
newreel Registered User Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 244 OS: XP	Error Message: "Setup Did Not Find Any Hard Disk Drives Installed In Your Computer." Hello Folks, I sure hope someone can help me. I have a Gateway PA6A Laptop Computer with 1gb of Ram. I was running Windows Vista, but the computer was having lots of problems with crashes and freezing, so I decided to downgrade back to XP Professional SP3. So I got all my files off and then wiped the drive with Darik's Boot and Nuke. DBAN completed the job, but told me that there were bad sectors on the disk it had just wiped. I thought this might have been what was causing the problems I was experiencing with Vista (freezing, crashing, etc.). I tried to install XP Pro anyway but it only got so far, and then told me that "Setup Did Not Find Any Hard Disk Drives Installed In Your Computer." So I thought "well that confirms it - the hard disk is bad". So I went to Fry's and bought a brand new hard drive today and installed it into the computer. But guess what? The installation got to the same place and I got the same error message again! I've tried 2 different windows CD's (1 Home SP1 and 1 Pro XP3) and they both gave that error message, so I don't think the problem is with the Windows CD. I know I'm pushing the hard drive all the way in when I install it and then I screw the plastic piece back on - am I missing something that I should be doing? The reason I ask is that I never got that error message until the first time I took the hard drive out yesterday so I could slave it to another PC and grab all the user files. It was only after that when I started getting those messages. The PC was at least working before - I could get a Windows splash screen, or get half way to safe mode, etc. I think I'm doing something wrong with the way I'm putting the drive back in, but I'm fairly experienced with computers, and this isn't the first hard drive I've taken in and out of a laptop. I'm totally perplexed by this - is there any chance that anyone has come across this bizarre issue before? Please??? Any help you guys could offer would be so greatly appreciated. I really, really need this computer to work. Thank you in advance.