[Dave204]

im fixing a friends computer, which was running 1gb and vista, malware and etc out the wazzoo. so he already has everything backed up so i told him ill throw XP on for him (which he requested himself). i have a legit version from MSDN, among others, but windows setup cannot find a hard drive, when clearly there is and was running vista just yesterday, but verrrry poorly.

im wondering if its possibly the HDD gone bad, but i could use a second opinion here please. ive even tried vista again, and 7, both 32, and 64bit and no dice for a complete install.

the laptop is a toshiba satellite L45-S7423

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Did you verify in your BIOS if your HD is detected.


If it is detected:
You can try a third party program (like DBAN HDD Utility) to erase everything on your drive and then try to install XP after.

Or you can download the program from your HD manyfacturer to test if the HD is still good or not.

[Alzeimer]

Did you verify in your BIOS if your HD is detected.


If it is detected:
You can try a third party program (like DBAN HDD Utility) to erase everything on your drive and then try to install XP after.

Or you can download the program from your HD manyfacturer to test if the HD is still good or not.

[Dave204]

yes ive checked the bios, im stumped even being a student at PTI for network administrator, but how can i run that with no OS installed?

[Dave204]

and as ive said, it was running vista, but poorly. xp doesnt see the HDD, and all other windows installs dont finish, random odd errors. vista didnt even work

[Dave204]

i have even tried a new HDD at this point, which is in the bios as well. does anyone have a solution for this ?

[Alzeimer]

In your BIOS change your sata ACHI mode to compatibility if you want to install XP, Windows XP does not support ACHI mode for HD like Vista does. If you leave it on the ACHI mode XP will never recongnize your HDD.

If Vista and Windows 7 gave you errors when you tried to install them you may have an hardware problem either your HDD but you said you tried another HDD and it did the same or it might be your ram that is defective (ram is important in the process of installation).

Test your ram using MEMTEST86 the bootable version burnt on a CD to test it (only test one stick of ram at the a time if you have more than one in your laptop)

Also my earlier suggestion of erasing all your data (formating) using DBAN or testing your HDD with the manufacturer program of your HDD was also using the Bootable version of those programs which you can run without having any OS installed by simply Booting with those program in your DVD/CD-rom.

One more thing Windows XP will not format an HDD that has a newer version (Vista, 7) of Windwos on it.