Lap Top Hard Drive

[Guest]

I have been trying to install winxp on a alaptop upgrade for a client. What
happens is, I fdisk, format, and then reboot and the partition is gone. I
plug the laptop hard drive into a desktop machine and no problem, I put it
back into the laptop machine and no partition. I can fdisk and create the
partition in the lap top but as soon as I reboot, poof, gone. I have tried
using the laptop restore cd as well as a boot disk. I am going nutso here.
The client needs this back in the morning. Just FYI I reset the bios to
defaults, also tried taking out the bios and lap top batteries and letting it
sit a bit and still no go, tried low lvl format on the drive, still wont hold
the partition on the lap top, reminder, it will hold the partition if plugged
into the desktop machine. I also tried a second laptop, different brand and
still had the same problem. If you create a partition in the desktop set it
up, shows working, take out of desktop and put in lap top, shows no partition.

 

[Haus]

Deborah
Have you set the BIOS boot order in the laptop.
Most laptops boot order is set to boot the HDD before the ROM drive
therefore when tiring to install the OS from the cd it is booting to the HDD
and not the cd and you will not be able to continue.
After finishing the install then you will be able to set it back to default.

 

[Guest]

No, when i type C: after formating it tells me that no partitions exist. I
fdisk, crate partition, set partition, reboot... no partition if I type C: at
the A: prompt shouldnt it at least tell me that C: exists? If I check fdisk
partitons, it shows up, until I reboot and than it is gone. If I put the same
drive in a Desktop PC it is fine, can reboot, still there, once I put it in
the lap top (tried two different laptops) the partition will disapear, I try
another laptop hardrive and it works. If I didnt know enough to set the
drives in bios than take away my certs and close my business, but thanks for
trying.

Deborah
Have you set the BIOS boot order in the laptop.
Most laptops boot order is set to boot the HDD before the ROM drive
therefore when tiring to install the OS from the cd it is booting to the HDD
and not the cd and you will not be able to continue.
After finishing the install then you will be able to set it back to default.

 

[Guest]

Also tried different UDMA and still no. What I dont understand is, if the
drive is bad, why would it format and hold partitions on desktop,(in laptop
hard drive adapter) but not in laptop? I can while in the laptop, fdisk,
format, set.... but after reboot, there is no partitons defined. In two
different laptops that work fine with other drives.... Obviously you would
think the drive must be bad? than why will it hold partions and boot fine in
the desktop machine from the adapter? I need enlightenment.

Deborah
Have you set the BIOS boot order in the laptop.
Most laptops boot order is set to boot the HDD before the ROM drive
therefore when tiring to install the OS from the cd it is booting to the HDD
and not the cd and you will not be able to continue.
After finishing the install then you will be able to set it back to default.

 

[Haus]

Have you tried to boot from the XP cd and partition and format that way.

--
Hope This Helps
Haus
Good Luck

Also tried different UDMA and still no. What I dont understand is, if the
drive is bad, why would it format and hold partitions on desktop,(in
laptop
hard drive adapter) but not in laptop? I can while in the laptop, fdisk,
format, set.... but after reboot, there is no partitons defined. In two
different laptops that work fine with other drives.... Obviously you would
think the drive must be bad? than why will it hold partions and boot fine
in
the desktop machine from the adapter? I need enlightenment.

 

[Guest]

yes of course, that was tried first, over and over, it was only after the
restore and our oem copy didnt work that we resorted to fdisk

 

[Nathan McNulty]

What disk is this? You could try one of the utilities on this bootdisk
that corresponds to that type of drive:
http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

FDISK isn't really the best partition utility to be using, but it
shouldn't be causeing problems like that. Are you 100% sure you
connected everything back up correctly such as power/jumpers/cable? You
can also try a Pre-Installation Environment for XP:
http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/

 

[Guest]

Looking at the links now, if it doesnt work for the fujitsu/ibm who knows
laptop hard drive, it is way cool anyway!!

 

[LVTravel]

Deborah, is the new hard drive much larger than the old hard drive in the
laptop? How old is the computer? If the old hard drive was 2-8 GB and the
new one is more than 32 GB you may be having a bios problem. If so, you may
need to either update your laptop's bios or make sure the bios is set to
autodetect the hard drive (not all are set that way at the factory.) Older
computers could not detect larger hard drives due to the older bios. Try to
fdisk the first "DOS" partition at around 20 GB then create an extended
partition for any remaining disk size. Then format and see if that solves
your problem. If the original HDD was about 2 GB you might try creating the
first partition at less than 8 GB.

You ideally should see the hard drive listed in the bios information
displayed upon first boot before Windows attempts to load. Is it listed
there?

You should also attempt to create the "fdisk, and format" while booting the
Windows CD or rebuild disk and letting it create the partition/s.

 

[Guest]

Both hard drives were exactly the same size, I had thought maybe it was a
udma issue, but none of the things I tried with that worked either. I ended
up using a temporary replacement drive and RMA'd the other drive for a new
one. Thanks everyone for all your suggestions.

Deborah, is the new hard drive much larger than the old hard drive in the
laptop? How old is the computer? If the old hard drive was 2-8 GB and the
new one is more than 32 GB you may be having a bios problem. If so, you may
need to either update your laptop's bios or make sure the bios is set to
autodetect the hard drive (not all are set that way at the factory.) Older
computers could not detect larger hard drives due to the older bios. Try to
fdisk the first "DOS" partition at around 20 GB then create an extended
partition for any remaining disk size. Then format and see if that solves
your problem. If the original HDD was about 2 GB you might try creating the
first partition at less than 8 GB.

You ideally should see the hard drive listed in the bios information
displayed upon first boot before Windows attempts to load. Is it listed
there?

You should also attempt to create the "fdisk, and format" while booting the
Windows CD or rebuild disk and letting it create the partition/s.