XP on to laptop

[benjamat]

Im sure this is an old topic but I cant seem to find.

Whilst I was in Tghailand I bought a Compaq presario notebook with a vesion v3732tu tag. This is a thai tag and now that I am back in the uk I find that not only is this thai setup annoying but the installed windows is a pirate copy. I know , what should I expect.

Any way I have proper copies of legal windows xp but when I try to install I get the massage that no hard disk is found. I know I can probably send to hp for a new setup disk but I would rather this laptop was able to be used and manipulated by me just like my 2 desktops.

Is there any way I can install onto the laptop without using hp discs.
Would low level formatting help or is the problem with the bios, I notice that the hard disc is not nominated as C:.

Many thanks

 

[yinan]

You probably need a driver disk and then hit F6 during the first part of setup.

 

[benjamat]

Hi, you may be right about the driver disk but hitting F^ doesnt give me any usable help.

 

[armstrda]

it's not going to give you help if you don't have the driver disk in teh drive when you press F6 🙂

 

[MrChad]

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfr...os=228&product=3641358

NOTE: The files needed at the F6 stage of the operating system installation can be located at:
c:\swsetup\SP38088\files

You probably don't have access to a floppy drive for your laptop, so my recommendation would be to use nLite, integrate both the latest XP service pack (SP3) as well as the SATA drivers from the link above. Burn the new CD and install from there. You should be able to install without hitting F6.

 

[Oyeve]

Check the bios for SATA settings, try disabling or enabling.

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: Oyeve
Check the bios for SATA settings, try disabling or enabling.

Yep! That's what I was going to suggest.

Actually...

I'm a distro hopper, and do a LOT of Linux/BSD installs (kind of a hobby of sorts). I do installs on desktop/laptop/netbook machines once or twice a week on average - sometimes 4-5 times a day, when I'm in the mood.

One thing I've learned (when installing an OS) is to make sure:

• 1) You have the lastest BIOS installed
  2) You've got EVERYTHING in BIOS enabled

A lot of times (especially in laptops/netbooks) most of the hardware is disabled in BIOS by default.

Typical scenario: The web cam is turned off (by default) in BIOS. User will install Linux, and complains Linux didn't find the web cam. Duh! Hello?!?!?

I never have understood this disabled-by-default stuff, but in your case (having an Asian model), maybe the ODM is assuming you live in a grass shack, and will be running it off a flash card, rather than a HD, or whatever. Who knows?!?!?

Anyway, like Oyeve said, first thing I would check is the BIOS settings (and version).

Bottom line: When you install a new OS (any OS) make sure EVERYTHING in BIOS is enabled.

Afterwards, you can go back and disable things, if you want. 😉

 

[WildW]

If the hard disk is SATA, I think later versions of the XP CD (with Service Pack 2 or 3 included) will recognise and install onto SATA hard disks, where earlier versions won't detect them.

 

[JesseKnows]

Originally posted by: WildW
If the hard disk is SATA, I think later versions of the XP CD (with Service Pack 2 or 3 included) will recognise and install onto SATA hard disks, where earlier versions won't detect them.

SP2 certainly does NOT have SATA drivers. I cannot speak to SP3.

 

[armstrda]

Originally posted by: JesseKnows

Originally posted by: WildW
If the hard disk is SATA, I think later versions of the XP CD (with Service Pack 2 or 3 included) will recognise and install onto SATA hard disks, where earlier versions won't detect them.

SP2 certainly does NOT have SATA drivers. I cannot speak to SP3.

SP2 and all OSes definitely have SATA drivers. What they don't have is AHCI/RAID mode drivers for the SATA controllers. There's a big difference.

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: armstrda
SP2 and all OSes definitely have SATA drivers...

What OSes are you talking about?

FreeBSD (for instance) doesn't have SATA2 drivers for my Toshy - and a lot of other machines!

When you try to install BSD on my lappy, it gets the same error as the OP!

FreeBSD acknowledges this situation on their web site - says you should check hardware compatibility before attempting to install an OS.

MS uses a shotgun approach, so I'm still betting on it being a BIOS problem... 😉

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: armstrda

Originally posted by: JesseKnows

Originally posted by: WildW
If the hard disk is SATA, I think later versions of the XP CD (with Service Pack 2 or 3 included) will recognise and install onto SATA hard disks, where earlier versions won't detect them.

SP2 certainly does NOT have SATA drivers. I cannot speak to SP3.

SP2 and all OSes definitely have SATA drivers. What they don't have is AHCI/RAID mode drivers for the SATA controllers. There's a big difference.

They don't have SATA drivers, per se, they have standard IDE drivers, which will work with SATA disk controllers that are set to IDE compatibility mode.

 

[benjamat]

OK, Ive slipstreamed SP3 using nlite and I have added drivers fron the HP pack (sp38088)

Ive used the ISO element in nlite to create a bootable and fully functioning windows setuo disk.

Problem is that when I press F6 the setup still asks me for the drivers on a floppy and of course the laptop does not have a floppy, so I cannot load drivers this way.

The drivers are integrated into the installation disk so why ask for them again?

This laptop is a Compaq Presario V3732TU and It seems to me that the problem is the bios not designating a C drive so windows cannot see it ?

Thereare no options within the extremely limited bios that would allow me to do anything.

Any help would be really appreciated.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: benjamat
OK, Ive slipstreamed SP3 using nlite and I have added drivers fron the HP pack (sp38088)

Ive used the ISO element in nlite to create a bootable and fully functioning windows setuo disk.

Problem is that when I press F6 the setup still asks me for the drivers on a floppy and of course the laptop does not have a floppy, so I cannot load drivers this way.

The drivers are integrated into the installation disk so why ask for them again?

This laptop is a Compaq Presario V3732TU and It seems to me that the problem is the bios not designating a C drive so windows cannot see it ?

Thereare no options within the extremely limited bios that would allow me to do anything.

Any help would be really appreciated.

If you slipstreamed the drivers properly, then you shouldn't have to press F6 when booting. That's ONLY for loading drivers off of a floppy.

 

[benjamat]

I am sure all is slipstreamed properly, as sure as I can be.

The problem is that neither in thw windows install or when booting from dos disk I cannot see the c: drive.

Its almost like the bios has changed the designation of the drive.

For example after loading dos the drive is shown as A: even though there is no A: drive on the laptop.

I can low level format the C: drive using xfdisk but as soon as I reboot the C: drive cannot be found, or at least not as C.

Maybe something to do with sata ????