Need big help finding SATA drivers for boss's laptop

[digitalduck]

Ok, my boss bought a new laptop for his daughter but it comes with Vista and he wants me to customise it with the programs he bought.

After a failed attempt I told him I wish it was XP and not Vista...he agreed so I wants to go back to his copy of XP that he has and I am trying to install it but didnt realize I would encounter a problem..

So now I am making an NLite install disk with the SATA drivers for it hoping that will allow me to get past the error msg before XP install begins of not being able to find the HD...

I dont know which drivers I should get? Its a Gateway laptop...im looking now..just not familiar with Vista really..

Thanks

 

[cmdrdredd]

the OEM usually only supports the OS it came with...if it needs special drivers you may be SOL.

I remember a Sony VAIO a friend of mine had which was like that. Can't get drivers (they come on the recovery CD).

 

[digitalduck]

Can't I do a clean install of XP while booting from CD? After some research it looks like I just need to include the sata drivers on disc

 

[cmdrdredd]

Well, you may be thinking of RAID. If you're lucky you may have the drivers included with Windows.

Becides that... Vista works perfectly fine. I've not had any issues at all with it. It's not Microsoft's fault that certain companies are slow to release updates for software. They've had over a year now.

 

[digitalduck]

I cant find them on the XP Pro disc...and I just cant et past the msg tellign me it cant find drive..when I hit F6 to install, just to see what it will do when I find the drivers, it doesnt even look like it will find something external (the only thing I have is my SD card which was in at the time) but it doesnt let you navigate to find something... so Im hoping if I have the right drivers installed it will not give me the error msg...who knows.. but I cant find the right drivers haha

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Tell the Clown that you're not familiar with Vista. If the software doesn't work, then buy another software or contact the vendor for technical support. I have never asked my guys and gals to do these things for me. It's a violation of company's and personal ethics (unless this Clown is compensating you for your time).

 

[digitalduck]

Well, honestly I dont mind it becasue Ive been his comp guy for a few years and he usuall does something for me. Since his daughter is going to school I told him yeah id pimp out your laptop.....however, I feel dumb because I cant even do a clean install of XP since Vista is in there which doesnt make sense because booting from CD shouldnt matter, or at least its never mattered on my computer...what is different about her new laptop, besides the error msg I was getting?

 

[SerpentRoyal]

You need to zero format the HDD before loading WXP. A notebook may come with proprietary drivers not found in WXP. Most of these things have special recovery partitions and safety features to prevent accidental deletion of the OS. Zero format will take care of this. Go to Terabyteunlimited.com and download the FREE application Copywipe. You only need to run one pass.

Good luck. This can be a messy job.

 

[digitalduck]

Thanks serpent..this is very tempting..question though. Since I didnt have the drivers when trying to do a clean install of XP or it just couldnt find them....how will completely zero formatting the HD change this? This laptop does have a recovery 2nd partition on it so (looking at your msg again) do you think something on that 2nd partition or whatever is causing this problem? It would make sense that a clean wipe would fix it, but at the same time, then you're just getting rid of more then you had before so will it automatically for whatever reason be able to see those drivers now?

 

[SerpentRoyal]

It wouldn't. But you'll have a clean platform to work on. Make sure you create an image file of the as-loaded OS for future restoration. I suspect you'll quickly foul up XP when you attempt to install these un-supported drivers.

Zero format will blow away that recovery partition. You'll need a full set of recovery DVDs to restore the notebook back to factory condition.

Again, my advice is to stick with the factory OS. If you can't find the drivers, then use another software. Time is $.

 

[digitalduck]

Soo..since youre saying it wouldnt be able to see those drivers, and since thats the problem, will doing a wipe allow me to install xp and not receive the error that it cant find the HD anymore? i know thats what we've been talking about, but that would solve my problem wouldnt it? As long as it would get rid of the cant find the HD error?

I have the restore disc and the comp is new so it doesnt matter if everything is gone..although I noticed that when I reinstalled vista, that all of the preinstalled programs are now gone oh well..

 

[digitalduck]

I guess bottom line is this...after a clean wipe...can I install XP because I wont have that "extra partition" error of not having the drivers? If so then ill put in XP becasue im having soo many problems even getting the wifi to work...

However if a clean wipe will just take me back to where I was and then ill have to reinstall vista, then its pointless

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Not sure why you continue to beat a dead horse. Get rid of the notebook. Tell the Clown to get new hardware because the software doesn't work. Restore the OS to factory condition. If the PC fails for any reason, then it's your fault.

 

[chucky2]

I must be missing something here...

...cannot you go find the chipset being used in the board and just go to that manufacturers website and get the drivers for it?

Chuck

 

[SerpentRoyal]

No guarantee that this will work. IT shop rate is $80/hour. Why pay $ for something that doesn't work, right out of the box?

 

[chucky2]

What I was getting at is this shouldn't be that big of a deal.

1. Find the chipset.
2. Get drivers for it.
3. Slipstream them into your XP install disk.
4. Install XP.

What am I missing here?

Chuck