XP Reinstallation Failure

[HenriK]

In trying to reinstall XP-Pro on a Dell Precision 650 with a new U320
SCSI hard drive installed and partitioned (with FDISK), during the boot
up sequence the screen shows that the on-board LSI Logic Bios has
installed and that the new HD is recognized. Yet, when I try to
reinstall XP-Pro, the machine starts the reinstallation disk but then
reports there are no hard drives present. I have tried to run the
reinstallation disk both by installing the LSI Logic SCSI driver from a
floppy and by just letting the machine boot up itself. The no HD
present error comes up either way.

If I boot the machine with a floppy, however, the new HD is immediately
recognized and I can read and write to the new HD with MS-DOS commands
without difficulty.

Does anyone have any idea why the disk might be recognized in the DOS
mode yet consistently refuse to let the XP-Pro reinstallation disk find
any hard drives are there.

Thanks, in advance, for any suggestions, guidance, or suggestions for
dealing with this incredibly frustrating situation.

 

[Pavel A.]

In trying to reinstall XP-Pro on a Dell Precision 650 with a new U320 SCSI
hard drive installed and partitioned (with FDISK), during the boot up
sequence the screen shows that the on-board LSI Logic Bios has installed
and that the new HD is recognized. Yet, when I try to reinstall XP-Pro,
the machine starts the reinstallation disk but then reports there are no
hard drives present. I have tried to run the reinstallation disk both by
installing the LSI Logic SCSI driver from a floppy and by just letting the
machine boot up itself. The no HD present error comes up either way.

If I boot the machine with a floppy, however, the new HD is immediately
recognized and I can read and write to the new HD with MS-DOS commands
without difficulty.

Does anyone have any idea why the disk might be recognized in the DOS mode
yet consistently refuse to let the XP-Pro reinstallation disk find any
hard drives are there.

Thanks, in advance, for any suggestions, guidance, or suggestions for
dealing with this incredibly frustrating situation.

Seems that the floppy you tried to feed to the XP setup, does not contain a
suitable driver,
or you've made some error while preparing the floppy.
Ask Dell support for a correct driver.

Good luck,
--pa

 

[HenriK]

In trying to reinstall XP-Pro on a Dell Precision 650 with a new U320
SCSI hard drive installed and partitioned (with FDISK), during the boot
up sequence the screen shows that the on-board LSI Logic Bios has
installed and that the new HD is recognized. Yet, when I try to
reinstall XP-Pro, the machine starts the reinstallation disk but then
reports there are no hard drives present. I have tried to run the
reinstallation disk both by installing the LSI Logic SCSI driver from a
floppy and by just letting the machine boot up itself. The no HD
present error comes up either way.

If I boot the machine with a floppy, however, the new HD is immediately
recognized and I can read and write to the new HD with MS-DOS commands
without difficulty.

Does anyone have any idea why the disk might be recognized in the DOS
mode yet consistently refuse to let the XP-Pro reinstallation disk find
any hard drives are there.

Thanks, in advance, for any suggestions, guidance, or suggestions for
dealing with this incredibly frustrating situation.

Thank you to both Pavel and Andy for the insight and advice. I did not
know, as Andy points out, that MS-DOS and W9x deals with HD access
differently than XP. An interesting bit of knowledge. Pavel was right
on the button. The driver I was using was obtained directly from LSI
Logic and was supposed to be the best current driver. Per Pavel's
suggestion, I went to Dell and obtained the original Dell driver for the
on-board LSI Logic SCSI system used in the Precision 650. It was older
than either the LSI Logic I had been trying to use and the LSI Logic
driver on the Microsoft Windows XP-Pro CD (which also didn't work). The
older driver from Dell turned out to be the one that found the hard
drive. Live and learn, I guess. Again, thanks to both of you.