[Zone]

Hi there,

This problem has been a pain in the *** for 2 weeks pardon my french.

So I figured to get some third party help.

Ok so I have a friends computer that needed upgrades, first off I cleaned it up virus wise file wise to see if that would be all thats needed, turns out it was still kinda laggy...so I maxed out the ram (2gigs) and attempted a clean install of windows. Boot from cd, put in Windows XP cd...it loaded up to the accept screen (terms and conditions) then it goes to the Hard Drive selection screen for formating and partitioning..except no hard drives are displayed, I tried so many things, I used SeaTools (from Seagate the manufacturer) to clear the hard drive clean of any corrupt files...still no recegnition, I tried reconnecting..nothing..so me and my teacher at school came to the conclusion that the hard drive is just cooked (not thinking, becuase the BIOS recognises the hard drive but windows xp doesnt) so I purchased a brand new seagate 250 gig HD, hooked it up and was ready for a successful windows XP clean install...when tadaaa same problem.. No hard disks found for formating or partitioning for install...it just shows 4 blank areas saying no hard disk found. Another weird thing is everytime I try and redirect from that menu, it automatically bluescreens with a STOP message of either 0x00000050 or 0x0000008E.

So I know its not the Hard Drives,
Im thinking I need a thirdparty/raid driver to be installed?

If the bios see's my drives and windows XP doesnt im thinking thats the answer... If it is that leads me to my other problem...I can't find crap on my motherboard All that stands out is FSB800 theirs no clear manufacterer's name.


Any help is much appreciated, sorry for my spelling I was in kind of a hurry...hope you understand what im trying to say.

Thanks, Adam.

God Bless.

** Couple edits...its an Acer Aspire E500, trying to install windows XP slip-streamed with service pack 3. Anything else just ask.

 

[Old Rich]

Re: Windows XP Install wont Recognise Hard Drive(s)

Installing XP on a SATA drive requires an additional step:

http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org/how_do_i_install_windows_xp_on_a.htm

However, Most newer BIOS allow an Alternate method for SATA . . Go into the bios and check the "Sata Operation" setting,

change it to "Raid Autodetect/ATA if it is not already. Now try to install XP ( could be IDE Mode, Compatibility Mode or Legacy Mode - different BIOS use different terms )

some will say IDE instead of ATA)

If there are no such settings you'll need to slipstream the sata drivers on the XP CD, follow the instructions in this guide :

http://www.digitgeek.com/how-to-slipstream-sata-drivers-into-xp-cd/

or

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/wind...d-disk-drives-during-windows-xp-installation/

 

[Zone]

Re: Windows XP Install wont Recognise Hard Drive(s)

Hey thanks for your response,

First, my Bios did not have any of those options to change from IDE to raid or anything..which is a bummer that would have been the easy way.

So I tried slipstreaming (as per the process given on one of the links above) and slipstreamed the drivers from intel the basic ones all use...and used that disk from boot to install and nothing, same error's, I have screenshots of the screen where it shows no hard drives found and then the bluescreen of death right after I try and re-locate from that menu.

Image 1:
http://img716.imageshack.us/i/img0104ai.jpg/

Image 2:
http://img840.imageshack.us/i/img0106ky.jpg/

Image 3:
http://img534.imageshack.us/i/img0107ks.jpg/

So im thinking do I need to flash my bios? (in the event I did add new ram and hard drive, so I should shouldent I?)

Another problem is I'm finding a hard time identifying the exact motherboard name and manufacturer, usually its easy but not this one.

Any help is greatly appreciated,

Thanks and God Bless,

Adam.

 

[Old Rich]

Re: Windows XP Install wont Recognise Hard Drive(s)

The first image looks like the pc has some flash card readers? IF so, disconnect them or disable in BIOS before installing

The 08E stop code is often memory errors: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315335

When you slipstreamed the drivers, did you use the ones intended to be used at the "Press F6 . . . " prompt . . usually a very small file

 

[spunk.funk]

Re: Windows XP Install wont Recognise Hard Drive(s)

Download Memtest and burn the ISO image to a CD using IMGburn. Boot off of the CD with just one of your RAM sticks in at a time and run the tests a few passes. If each stick independently passes, then make sure you have slipstreamed the SATA drivers from your motherboard CD into your XP disc using nLite.

 

[TheOutcaste]

Re: Windows XP Install wont Recognise Hard Drive(s)

Looks like the Acer Aspire E500 uses an ULi M5287 SATA Controller.
You can download the drivers from here:
ULi Sata Controller (M5287)
Give that one a try.

 

[Zone]

Just ran Mem test, memory looks good...So im definately thinking its the SATA controller thats needed, now the one I used the first time (the general controller) dident work slipstreamed into the disk, the one above (thank you TheOutcaste) looks like a better option... in saying that this PC doesnt have a floppy incase any of you thought that for the F6 option in windows install...its going to be slipstreamed to the disk. And as far as Flash Card Readers, I havent heard that term before so I have no Idea...and the Bios on this PC is very limited to options I find.

Thanks for all the responses im going to slipstream a new XP disk with SP3 and the SATA Controller above and let you know how that works.

Thanks again for all your responses, God Bless.

Well


IT WORKED! haha sorry for my enthusiasm on such a simple thing but you know how it is with computers when you think all hope is lost then a simple driver can make all better it seems haha, thanks to everyone who posted, it is MUCH appreciated as this problem has been going on for a month now...now I know I can keep the old 200 gig HD and use it for whatever instead of trashing it and my RAM is good. Thanks again and God Bless you All!!

Adam.

 

[Old Rich]

Re: Windows XP Install wont Recognise Hard Drive(s)

Great . . thanks for posting back