Win XP Pro CD Cannot Find Hard Drive

[Guest]

Ok, let me preface this with a few things.

1. This is a Lenovo laptop with NO FLOPPY DRIVE
2. The original restore partition was deleted accidentally due to an
ubuntu/WinXP Pro dual boot installation

Ok, now to the problem.

I wanted to reload Windows XP fresh and get rid of my ubuntu dual boot. So i
deleted the ubuntu partition and recombined both partitions to form the
entire disk.

When I went to load Windows XP from a genuine disk, setup said it couldn't
find a hard drive. This error came up even with the recovery console option.

So i attempted to load ubuntu and then load XP and try to overwrite the
installation. Same error.

Now, I took my Windows Vista CD and just wanted to see if that disk could
"see" my hard drive. It did. So I figured I'd install it and then reload
WinXP figuring it was all NTF and Windows bootloaders.

After loading Vista, I attempted to load XP Pro again and still the same
error. It can't detect a hard drive.

Can anyone help me? I've got 30 days to activate Vista (which I can't since
its loaded on my main PC), so I essentially have 30 days to somehow get my XP
Pro CD to detect my laptop hard drive.

Can anyone give me any advice?

Kev

 

[Shenan Stanley]

Ok, let me preface this with a few things.

1. This is a Lenovo laptop with NO FLOPPY DRIVE
2. The original restore partition was deleted accidentally due to an
ubuntu/WinXP Pro dual boot installation

Ok, now to the problem.

I wanted to reload Windows XP fresh and get rid of my ubuntu dual
boot. So i deleted the ubuntu partition and recombined both
partitions to form the entire disk.

When I went to load Windows XP from a genuine disk, setup said it
couldn't find a hard drive. This error came up even with the
recovery console option.

So i attempted to load ubuntu and then load XP and try to overwrite
the installation. Same error.

Now, I took my Windows Vista CD and just wanted to see if that disk
could "see" my hard drive. It did. So I figured I'd install it and
then reload WinXP figuring it was all NTF and Windows bootloaders.

After loading Vista, I attempted to load XP Pro again and still the
same error. It can't detect a hard drive.

Can anyone help me? I've got 30 days to activate Vista (which I
can't since its loaded on my main PC), so I essentially have 30
days to somehow get my XP Pro CD to detect my laptop hard drive.

Can anyone give me any advice?

You obviously pointed out it had no floppy diskette drive because you know
you need the controller driver (F6 during installation) in order to install
WIndows XP. Your choices are:

1) Get the controller driver , put it on a floppy diskette and get a USB
floppy diskette drive to use and use the F6 methodology to install WIndows
XP..

2) Get the controller driver and integrate it into your WIndows XP
Installation media so you do not have to utilize the F6 methodology.