Fresh install Win XP not seeing hard drive

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techwanabe

Diamond Member
May 24, 2000
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I want to do a fresh install of Win XP on my Dell Dim 8400 which has a SATA 160 gb hard drive. I'm on it right now so I know the hard drive works and is connected. However, when I insert the Windows XP disk and it loads up all the drivers and I choose to do a fresh install, it says there is no hard drive installed in the computer and to push F3 to exit out.

I recall having this same problem the last time but its been a long time - I think its because of the SATA drive. Most of the past installs I've done XP on were the older IDE drives. What do I need to do to get the SATA drive to be recognized so I can move onto to reformatting and re-installing Windows?
 
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mfenn

Elite Member
Jan 17, 2010
22,400
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www.mfenn.com
techwanabe said:
I want to do a fresh install of Win XP on my Dell Dim 8400 which has a SATA 160 gb hard drive. I'm on it right now so I know the hard drive works and is connected. However, when I insert the Windows XP disk and it loads up all the drivers and I choose to do a fresh install, it says there is no hard drive installed in the computer and to push F3 to exit out.

I recall having this same problem the last time but its been a long time - I think its because of the SATA drive. Most of the past installs I've done XP on were the older IDE drives. What do I need to do to get the SATA drive to be recognized so I can move onto to reformatting and re-installing Windows?
Click to expand...

It appears that XP doesn't come with a driver for your SATA controller. You'll need to either put the SATA drivers on a floppy (if you have one) or slipstream them onto the XP disk (google for nlite).
 
Shawn

Shawn

Lifer
Apr 20, 2003
32,236
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91
WinXP doesn't support SATA drives out of the box because it's so old. Like mfeen said you need to load the proper drivers by pressing F6 at bootup.
 
B

Blain

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
23,643
3
81
I've loaded XP on SATA drives many times, never having to F6 any drivers.
Did I just get lucky or what?
 
RebateMonger

RebateMonger

Elite Member
Dec 24, 2005
11,586
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Put the Dell disk controller into IDE Emulation Mode (may be called "compatibility mode" or something similar) in the BIOS. XP will use generic IDE disk controller drivers for the Install process.

or

Select the AHCI mode or RAID mode in the BIOS and use a floppy disk to load the drivers for the SATA controller during the Install process (the F6 driver load option is VERY early in the install --don't miss it).

or

Slipstream the Dell XP Install CD with the drivers for the SATA controller. nLite is the easiest and fastest way to slipstream the XP Install CD.
 
Last edited:
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Paperdoc

Platinum Member
Aug 17, 2006
2,459
353
126
RebateMonger's got it. Blain, the reason it worked for you, I have no doubt, is that you had the SATA port mode set to IDE (or PATA) Emulation - that often is the default setting in the BIOS. That system was designed into BIOS's specifically so that people could load and boot Windows without a floppy drive to load the driver. It was created as the combination of SATA devices, Win XP (which does not have SATA or AHCI drivers) and no floppy drive hit the market just after 2000.
 
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