I am working on my friend's Compaq Laptop with Vista because she was complaining about it crashing constantly. I booted it up and ran CHKDSK, and it completed successfully and the computer restarted back into Windows. When I put in her password, it logged me in and I was able to connect to my Wireless Network, but then the computer froze and I rebooted it.

This time it froze right after the login, so because she said if I had to reinstall the operating system that she wanted XP and not Vista, I popped an XP Pro disk into the computer and started it up. When it got to the screen where you choose the partition to install Windows on, though, it says "Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed in the computer."

I assume the HD is good because CHKDSK completed without any problems, so why won't XP see the drive?

I could go in and reformat it with Partition Magic, but I would like to maintain the current partition structure in order to preserve my friend's files.

Thanks!

Ever hear of a SATA drive and the SATA drivers needed for them?

What Make and model of Compaq is it?

I have heard of these drivers but don't know how to install them without a floppy drive.

The model of the computer is Compaq Presario C762NR Notebook PC, and I looked on the Compaq website for SATA drivers but couldn't find them under the "Windows XP" section. IN fact, there was almost nothing under the Windows XP Section, will I have trouble installing wireless drives and the likes after XP is installed?

Yup you will have a VERY hard time installing XP on it and expecting everything to work.

Laptops like those are meant for vista not XP.

Yup you will have a VERY hard time installing XP on it and expecting everything to work.

Laptops like those are meant for vista not XP.

K, I'll the Vista system recovery then, thanks

It may be a good time to learn how to use driverpacks to integrate the drivers. Another suggestion would be to check bios an see if it is in ACHI mode.

A quick Google search revealed this page:

http://forums11.itrc.hp.com/service/forums...hreadId=1246963

Also...in order to install XP, you will need to either change the BIOS configuration to use the SATA drive as IDE, or integrate the SATA drivers into the XP install disk using nLite. I'd recommend integrating the drivers - it's actually a very simple process, just jump down to the nLite forum for more details.

With a little searching and experimentation, you should be able to install XP on any current system.

for intel ich 5,6,7 family

i already tried this tutorial and works for me.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/documen...=reg_R1002_USEN

note in step 7 ristndrd.sif=winnt.sif

Would I also be able to get drivers for wireless?

Thanks for all the help!

Hi ,

i have also faced the same problem, when install xp on vista pre loaded laptop , cp wont detect the HDD

to resolve this, enter to BIOS and change the SATA settings ; ACHI mode

then it will work............

regards

vijeesh

I slipstreamed the SATA drivers into XP with NLite. You then install normally, works a treat.