HELP! Hard disk not found! XP/vista

[uknowmehfo]

ok so i have a gateway model number mx8711... nice laptop... i have a vista cd and i loaded it in...
1deleted hd
2created HD
3formated HD
4installed software

well at the end of the install it just sits there like nothing is working...... so aparently Vista does not wanna go on to this laptop... so i put a windows XP PRO cd in

goes and does it's thing... THEN.. cant find hard disk...

- i know i need drivers for this but HOW? it's a laptop with only a cd-rom drive and a pcmcia nothing more... no floppy....

how can i get an OS onto this laptop??

 

[tipstir]

Welcome to Techspot..

Can you you give more info.. You say you had XP on this laptop then you wanted to install vista? Does this laptop meet vista requirements? If it doesn't the put xp back on..

 

[uknowmehfo]

Welcome to Techspot..

Can you you give more info.. You say you had XP on this laptop then you wanted to install vista? Does this laptop meet vista requirements? If it doesn't the put xp back on..

the laptop had vista on it... i was going to reformat it... reformatted HD.. then tried to put vista back with the CD i have.. and nothing! it loads everything.. does all the steps but when it says "completing setup" it just sticks there and does nothing..... forever.. i left it overnight....

but then i have XP PRO.. gateway has on their website drivers for vista and xp for this model... so i put in professional and it says it cant find the hard drive... in vista it can find the HD.....


i just want to be able to put a OS system back on this pc so i can give it to my kid.

 

[uknowmehfo]

i am stuck with a paper weight right now

 

[Samstoned]

vista has the sata drivers to load for the drive controller chipset
your version of xp does not.??
find those drivers load to floppy do F6
you should be good to go
could not being to guess why you can't load the vista you have
maybe a hardware failure

 

[tipstir]

Why did you do this task in the first place? Was Vista not working or your HD was making a clunking noise.?

Storage ControllerStorage controller type Serial ATA/IDE Storage Controller / Serial ATA Interface Serial ATA-150

Okay I see your specs you have one of these, yes samstone is correct you need to install the sata drivers first, you might have to create under nero burning rom a bootable CD that acts like FD (flopply disk) But you need desktop or laptop that has FD in it for this to work. I recommend doing that with a CD so you can get your drivers installed then put a copy of Vista back. If nothing works then the HDD is faulty and if you just got this unit you should contact gateway which is now acer..

 

[uknowmehfo]

Why did you do this task in the first place? Was Vista not working or your HD was making a clunking noise.?

Storage ControllerStorage controller type Serial ATA/IDE Storage Controller / Serial ATA Interface Serial ATA-150

Okay I see your specs you have one of these, yes samstone is correct you need to install the sata drivers first, you might have to create under nero burning rom a bootable CD that acts like FD (flopply disk) But you need desktop or laptop that has FD in it for this to work. I recommend doing that with a CD so you can get your drivers installed then put a copy of Vista back. If nothing works then the HDD is faulty and if you just got this unit you should contact gateway which is now acer..

it's not a faulty hard drive.... i just cant press F6 because it's a LAPTOP and i dont have a floppy drive.... do i need to put the xp cd in then press F6 then take the xp cd out and put the drivers cd in andload them and then put the xp cd back in???

just say you have a pc with no OS on it and it's a LAPTOP how would you do it if you could not put vista onto it?


reason i am doing this is becasue my friends dad's company is a rental company and they took back a laptop and want the other persons info off so i just formatted it... never had a problem with this before.