Installing XP on a Compaq nc6220

  • Thread starter Thread starter Sonnich Jensen
  • Start date Start date
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Sonnich Jensen

Hi

I got a HP/Compaq nc6220 second hand, with the old HD deleted - almost
- it boots but fails. Anyway I wanted to install XP on it, and took my
previous XP CD,from which it loads (but does not offer to format the
HD). At some point it crashes.

The nc6220 has a sata HD, I think that is the problem.

I also tried some old Win95 and 98 disks - similar result.

Any ideas what I can do?

When booting from a dos disk, there is no HD to be seen.... sata?

Sonnich
 
I got a HP/Compaq nc6220 second hand, with the old HD deleted - almost
- it boots but fails. Anyway I wanted to install XP on it, and took my
previous XP CD,from which it loads (but does not offer to format the
HD). At some point it crashes.

The nc6220 has a sata HD, I think that is the problem.

I also tried some old Win95 and 98 disks - similar result.

Any ideas what I can do?

When booting from a dos disk, there is no HD to be seen.... sata?

Look first at what BIOS reports: if BIOS finds no HD, that component
is defective. Booting via DOS makes FAT-formatted HDs visible
but cannot see NTFS-formatted drives. (I don't see why DOS should
fail to see a SATA HD unless partitioned too large.)
 
Sonnich Jensen said:
Hi

I got a HP/Compaq nc6220 second hand, with the old HD deleted - almost
- it boots but fails. Anyway I wanted to install XP on it, and took my
previous XP CD,from which it loads (but does not offer to format the
HD). At some point it crashes.

The nc6220 has a sata HD, I think that is the problem.

I also tried some old Win95 and 98 disks - similar result.

Any ideas what I can do?

When booting from a dos disk, there is no HD to be seen.... sata?

Sonnich

According to these specs http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/12130_na/12130_na.PDF it's an ATA-7 hard
drive (AKA Ultra-ATA/133).

I would boot from your installation disc and do a new/clean install, formatting the hard drive during the process. Is it
possible that the drive is faulty?
 
Don Phillipson said:
... (I don't see why DOS should fail to see a SATA HD unless
partitioned too large.)

XP can't even see a SATA drive without the right SATA driver (Vista/7/8
can). Although some BIOS has a legacy mode which then should work
without the SATA driver. This machine doesn't and I need a SATA driver
before XP install can see it. You can add the SATA driver during booting
the XP install when you are allowed to press F6.
 
According to these specs  http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/12130_na/12130_na.PDF  it's an ATA-7 hard
drive (AKA Ultra-ATA/133).

hmmm... then why..?
I would boot from your installation disc and do a new/clean install, formatting the hard drive during the process. Is it
possible that the drive is faulty?

Could be. I always make a clean install, but this one is more
troublesome that others.
It simply starts copying files (to memory?) and at some point simply
restarts)

Sonnich
 
Look first at what BIOS reports:  if BIOS finds no HD, that component
is defective.   Booting via DOS makes FAT-formatted HDs visible
but cannot see NTFS-formatted drives.  (I don't see why DOS should
fail to see a SATA HD unless partitioned too large.)

The bios is vry simple but there is a HD test, last 30 mins, and the
HD is ok

There is not much to set up in the bios...

Sonnich
 
XP can't even see a SATA drive without the right SATA driver (Vista/7/8
can). Although some BIOS has a legacy mode which then should work
without the SATA driver. This machine doesn't and I need a SATA driver
before XP install can see it. You can add the SATA driver during booting
the XP install when you are allowed to press F6.

I tried, but then it asks for a support disk in A:
I will have to find out whether there is additional drivers for this
on
 
Sonnich Jensen said:
I tried, but then it asks for a support disk in A:
I will have to find out whether there is additional drivers for this
on

Yes, it is looking for the driver on a floppy drive.
 
In
Paul said:
Have you tried testing with a Linux LiveCD ? You're not limited
to Windows for testing.

Have you told others yet that Linux Live can toast the Windows install
on the hard drive if they try it?
 
In
Hot-Text said:
Paul he say:
bios Live setup test..

Is not a Linux or a Windows for test..

Sure he did, at least later. Paul also claims that if the BIOS can't see
it then the drive is defective too. That isn't true either. As I have
drives that my BIOS can't see and there are nothing wrong with them. It
is just the BIOS isn't smart enough to know any better.
 
Sonnich said:
Somehow I am - I dont have a linux cd :(

If you're on dialup, then don't bother with this approach.

If you have broadband Internet (cable TV modem or ADSL modem), then
download a CD from here.

(Take "10.04LTS" version, for the easy to understand user interface.
The 32 bit version will run on more hardware, if you choose it.
Many of these downloads, will be in the 700MB size region.)

http://www.ubuntu.com/download/ubuntu/download

There are 500 different Linux distributions, and that is just one
of them. When 10.04LTS is no longer supported, I will no longer
be promoting that site.

I use things like that, mainly for testing, or for special (hacking)
projects. My regular desktop is not Linux.

Your laptop, is potentially a "business laptop" and has a TPM chip.
A previous owner may have installed some kind of security software,
and TPM can be used to enforce the need for a password, or for
preventing anything but the original OS from loading.

There are many more "failure" scenarios for used business laptops, than for
other laptops. For example, the BIOS of the laptop, could
do MBR substitution during the boot process, to support more
than four primary partitions. Only an "IT guy" can keep track
of stuff like this (fixing business laptops every day).

Paul
 
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