firebirdude
Member
I just bought a laptop off Ebay that came with a Windows XP Media Center Edition Key. It also came with a system recovery disk. However, I want to load my own copy of Windows Media Center onto the laptop and just use the key the laptop came with. (To keep out all those nice helpful little "trial programs" lol) I've already located all the needed drivers for the video chipset, Wireless LAN, etc. So thats no problem.
The issue is when I boot off the Windows Media Center disc, Windows installers begins normally but soon tells me that it cannot find any HDDs on my computer and I must quit install.
Couple things I've noted. If I boot to the current working OS, I note that the HDD shows up in the system tray as a removable drive. As if it was connected via USB. (Its SATA btw) Also, when I was downloading all my drivers, I found one that was called "SATA support driver" and the description said I MUST use this if installing a non-gateway supplied OS. Fine, but how the hell can I do that before I even get to install the OS? It doesn't give me a chance if I hit F6 either unless I have an external floppy drive.
The issue is when I boot off the Windows Media Center disc, Windows installers begins normally but soon tells me that it cannot find any HDDs on my computer and I must quit install.
Couple things I've noted. If I boot to the current working OS, I note that the HDD shows up in the system tray as a removable drive. As if it was connected via USB. (Its SATA btw) Also, when I was downloading all my drivers, I found one that was called "SATA support driver" and the description said I MUST use this if installing a non-gateway supplied OS. Fine, but how the hell can I do that before I even get to install the OS? It doesn't give me a chance if I hit F6 either unless I have an external floppy drive.
