I was using my pc for the internet. went to yahoo.com and turned on radio there. computer crashed and would not start up. i couldnt system recover had no backups, nothing fixed it. even safe mode crashed. i installed ubuntu (linux) it repartitioned everything and i think formated some stuff. i dont like this os. i have no internet availible with it. So i put an xp disk in my computer started the installation and it said i have no hard drive. i started the installation recovery thing with command prompt and tried to format c and it says cannot format removable media. c is my internal hard disk. If anyone has any solutions on how to install windows xp i would appreciate it.
Desperate for help. Harddrive crash.
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Re: Desperte for help. Harddrive crash.
What laptop is this? I would say that your laptop has a SATA hard drive which XP doesnt have drivers for. Which means you will have to go to your laptop manufacturer's website and get those drivers and use the F6 during the install to get 3rd party driver support. From there install the SATA drivers and see if that helps you to get teh drive recognized.
What laptop is this? I would say that your laptop has a SATA hard drive which XP doesnt have drivers for. Which means you will have to go to your laptop manufacturer's website and get those drivers and use the F6 during the install to get 3rd party driver support. From there install the SATA drivers and see if that helps you to get teh drive recognized.
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Re: Desperte for help. Harddrive crash.
If it is a new PC, you may need SATA drivers for XP. Ubuntu has them built in to the installer because it is a newly updated OS in current development. XP is an older OS and doesn't have the drivers for SATA hard drives installed on the CD. What I had to do to get XP on my new laptop (triple booting with Vista, XP, and Ubuntu) was copy my XP CD and add the drivers using nLite, then burn a custom version of the install CD that had the drivers. If Ubuntu works that means your hard drive is working fine, as is the rest of your system, the only problem here is software.
Go to the manufacturer's site and you'll probably find drivers. If you don't find them, check the chipset manufacturer's site (mine has an Intel chipset, I tried some drivers from Intel's site). Once you find them, you must copy them to a floppy disk or make your own Windows XP CD that has the drivers on it. If you have a USB Floppy drive, try that first, but my XP CD didn't like my USB Floppy drive (an old Dell laptop swappable drive that also had a USB port on it to use with other PC's), so I had to use nLite to backup my Windows XP CD, add the drivers, and burn another CD with the drivers installed. This CD worked fine and installed.
If it is a new PC, you may need SATA drivers for XP. Ubuntu has them built in to the installer because it is a newly updated OS in current development. XP is an older OS and doesn't have the drivers for SATA hard drives installed on the CD. What I had to do to get XP on my new laptop (triple booting with Vista, XP, and Ubuntu) was copy my XP CD and add the drivers using nLite, then burn a custom version of the install CD that had the drivers. If Ubuntu works that means your hard drive is working fine, as is the rest of your system, the only problem here is software.
Go to the manufacturer's site and you'll probably find drivers. If you don't find them, check the chipset manufacturer's site (mine has an Intel chipset, I tried some drivers from Intel's site). Once you find them, you must copy them to a floppy disk or make your own Windows XP CD that has the drivers on it. If you have a USB Floppy drive, try that first, but my XP CD didn't like my USB Floppy drive (an old Dell laptop swappable drive that also had a USB port on it to use with other PC's), so I had to use nLite to backup my Windows XP CD, add the drivers, and burn another CD with the drivers installed. This CD worked fine and installed.
its a compaq. i just had it opened up to see if i could plug the hardrive into another system and clear from there but i dont have the right cables. ill go check hard drive and specs.
im pretty sure its a sata hard drive. i have to take off the back panel to make sure. im doing that now. the problem is i have no floppy drive, internal or external. and the only other computers i have have cd burners no dvd burners so the size i would need for a custom xp disk i dont think i can reach.
im pretty sure its a sata hard drive. i have to take off the back panel to make sure. im doing that now. the problem is i have no floppy drive, internal or external. and the only other computers i have have cd burners no dvd burners so the size i would need for a custom xp disk i dont think i can reach.
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Re: Desperte for help. Harddrive crash.
What is the model number, that should be enough to figure out if it uses SATA or IDE hard drives. IDE drives have a bunch of pins sticking out of them while SATA drives use a strip connector. That also would help you determine. You can also find this information in Ubuntu.
And XP is a CD, not a DVD, mine fit just fine on a CD disk even though I have a DVD burner. It came out to like 600-or so MB, plenty of room to fit on a CD. You will have to have a real Windows XP CD though (NOT Compaq/HP Quick Restore or Recovery discs, an actual Microsoft Windows XP disc). If you don't have one of these, I would say go download one from a torrent network. Though it's questionably legal, as long as you're still using your own license key (the one on the Microsoft sticker on your laptop), you will be able to activate it legally (as you're licensed to use one copy of XP, and even if it doesn't come from the provided CD's, a copy of XP is a copy of XP). Don't use any CD keys obtained through this method, as those are illegal, also, don't use any cracks, those are also illegal. If you have an XP CD (a real one from Microsoft, purchased in store or otherwise), that is the best option.
What is the model number, that should be enough to figure out if it uses SATA or IDE hard drives. IDE drives have a bunch of pins sticking out of them while SATA drives use a strip connector. That also would help you determine. You can also find this information in Ubuntu.
And XP is a CD, not a DVD, mine fit just fine on a CD disk even though I have a DVD burner. It came out to like 600-or so MB, plenty of room to fit on a CD. You will have to have a real Windows XP CD though (NOT Compaq/HP Quick Restore or Recovery discs, an actual Microsoft Windows XP disc). If you don't have one of these, I would say go download one from a torrent network. Though it's questionably legal, as long as you're still using your own license key (the one on the Microsoft sticker on your laptop), you will be able to activate it legally (as you're licensed to use one copy of XP, and even if it doesn't come from the provided CD's, a copy of XP is a copy of XP). Don't use any CD keys obtained through this method, as those are illegal, also, don't use any cracks, those are also illegal. If you have an XP CD (a real one from Microsoft, purchased in store or otherwise), that is the best option.
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Re: Desperte for help. Harddrive crash.
It says ATA or SATA? SATA is serial ATA, but if it just says ATA, it is probably IDE (aka PATA, parallel ATA). Check the connector to make sure.
And the drivers you add to the CD only add a few MB (like 1 or 2MB at most) to the image, so they won't push it outside of the "CD limits." If you're still using ancient 650MB CD's, getting a 700MB one should you need it won't be hard at all, they're cheap these days.
It says ATA or SATA? SATA is serial ATA, but if it just says ATA, it is probably IDE (aka PATA, parallel ATA). Check the connector to make sure.
And the drivers you add to the CD only add a few MB (like 1 or 2MB at most) to the image, so they won't push it outside of the "CD limits." If you're still using ancient 650MB CD's, getting a 700MB one should you need it won't be hard at all, they're cheap these days.
It says serial ata. so its a sata which explains the entire problem. ive found nlight and im at the western digital website looking for drivers now.
Im at western digital now but all they have for the hardrive is lifeguard tools. ill have to look into what that is. its a wd scorpio btw 160 gig 2.5 inch laptop hard drive sata.
i found a image file that installs the drive in either dos or windows formats. Is there by any chance an easier way to get drivers?
Im at western digital now but all they have for the hardrive is lifeguard tools. ill have to look into what that is. its a wd scorpio btw 160 gig 2.5 inch laptop hard drive sata.
i found a image file that installs the drive in either dos or windows formats. Is there by any chance an easier way to get drivers?
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Re: Desperte for help. Harddrive crash.
Don't look at the drive manufacturer's site! The chip that controls the drive is on the laptop board, not the hard drive, so look at the laptop manufacturer's site. Look for SATA or RAID drivers. Most chipsets are made by Intel (especially on Centrino systems, which have Intel CPU, chipset, and WiFi).
Don't look at the drive manufacturer's site! The chip that controls the drive is on the laptop board, not the hard drive, so look at the laptop manufacturer's site. Look for SATA or RAID drivers. Most chipsets are made by Intel (especially on Centrino systems, which have Intel CPU, chipset, and WiFi).
ok sounds good ill go look there. im downloading nlight now. so hopefully itll work out. ive been trying to fix this for about 4-5 hours its 12 am now.
i cant find the drivers i need. its a compaq presario c762nr.
I found the intel storage matrix. it helps install my hard drive on xp. only thing is i think i need xp installed first. can i open the .exe without xp installed?
well i figured out i need to integrate the drivers with the install cd. figured out every step. just need to know if this storange manager will help or if i just need basic drivers which i cannot locate.
i cant find the drivers i need. its a compaq presario c762nr.
I found the intel storage matrix. it helps install my hard drive on xp. only thing is i think i need xp installed first. can i open the .exe without xp installed?
well i figured out i need to integrate the drivers with the install cd. figured out every step. just need to know if this storange manager will help or if i just need basic drivers which i cannot locate.
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