Problem when trying to reformat, can't find HDD

[BlitzJG]

Hi everyone,

New to this forum.

My tower, which was running XP, but is probably 6+ years old got pretty heavily infected with viruses/malware. After several attempts at clearing it out with software, I decided i should just reformat because its been awhile and I never really have. I think the first thing I did was boot from CD using a copy of windows. Probably not the original used for my computer, but I don't think that matters... Each time I attempt to install windows however, it gets to a screen that says "Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed on your computer" and claims setup cannot continue.

I've searched a bit for answers but none seem to fit or have solutions that will work for me since it should not be a hardware issue. I also went into the RAID utility and had that reformat something thinking that might help or be necessary. Part of the problem is I can't find any of my original installation disks aside from the motherboard and graphics card.

On boot up and in BIOS it claims there is no IDE channel 1 Master or Slave...


What can I do or is there anything you can recommend? I thought I saw somewhere that my HD or motherboard might not be compatible with this XP disc and I would need to make one of my own that would allow detection of my HD, is that possible?

 

[mailpup]

What kind of hard drive are you using? IDE or SATA?

 

[sagum]

BlitzJG,

It sounds like the default XP install disc doesn't have the required drivers for your raid chipset. That to say, it doesn't know how to talk to the RAID electronics in your computer that the harddisk(s) are connected to.

There are a few things that you can try to do. You could go into the BIOS and change disk type from RAID to either ACHI (sometimes called SATA) or IDE (sometimes enhanced IDE).

This might allow your BIOS to see the disks when you boot up, and your XP install might beable to then install on them.

Other then that, you'll need to find out what RAID chipset your motherboard uses. Usually you'll find drivers on the motherboard CD or if its a dedicated RAID card, then it might be on its own CD.

Either way, you're going to have to press F6 (when it says) and have the drivers on a floppy drive to load them off when you're in the bluescreen pre-loading the XP installation. That'll let windows xp's install talk to the RAID and then beable to see and use the drives.

If you can't do that, it might be worth asking a friend to burn you another copy of windows xp with the drivers included on the disc.

You can use nlite (google it) to help with the process, very simple to do.... you just need to find the correct drivers for your motherboard/raid for it to work.

Good luck.

 

[BlitzJG]

How can I tell?

I am guessing SATA, because I opened up the case and only saw IDE cables for my two CD/DVD drives, nothing else, and wouldn't an IDE HDD use one as well right?

 

[mailpup]

Check the data cable to the hard drive. If it is somewhat flat and about 1/4" wide, it is a SATA cable. It's not as flat as an IDE ribbon cable though. If it is a SATA hard drive, you can follow sagum's post above. However, where sagum says ACHI, he means AHCI. Look for AHCI/SATA/RAID controller drivers at your motherboard manufacturer's website or if you have a manufactured PC (Dell, HP, Gateway, eMachines, etc.), go to the PC maker's website for the drivers to install at F6.

If you don't have a floppy drive, you can make a slipstream CD that combines the Windows CD with the appropriate drivers. You can google for the procedure.

 

[BlitzJG]

So I should be able to determine the motherboard's manufacturer from physically looking at it? If I have the CD for the motherboard should i take drivers from it or go ahead and get the latest from the mfg website? I will give the slipstream cd a shot when I get home later.

 

[BlitzJG]

Ok So my motherboard is ABIT ICG-7, I am looking at drivers options from their website and they list both a INTEL Application Accelerator RAID Driver and INTEL Chipset Driver, should these be all I need for the slipstream cd, and should I include both?

Also after looking inside for a SATA cable, I found one that is labeled SATA that isnt plugged into anything, and a similar looking cable that is not labeled as SATA plugged into what I'm pretty sure is the HD


*Edit* I attempted to create a slipstream with the All folder within the Chipset Driver download... the XP setup began as normal but ended up with the same result... when I F6 at the beginning it always asks to load mfg disk Floppy drive A...

Is it possible i need the drivers from either
SiliconImage 3112 SATA Driver or Sil3112_Sil3114_Intel_VIA Installation Disk?

 

[mailpup]

It appears you have two different SATA brand controllers, Intel and Silicon Image. You can install just the one that your hard drive is connected to OR if you don't know which one, install both. However, there are two versions of the Silicon Image SATA drivers. One that you install after Windows is installed and one you install from a floppy during XP installation (at F6 prompt). I believe the one you want to include in the slipstream CD is the floppy version. That one is the SiliconImage 3112 SATA Driver included in the "Disk" folder.

Just to be clear, do you have a floppy disk drive?

Also, is your motherboard model actually IC7-G rather than ICG-7?

 

[BlitzJG]

Yeah sorry my mistake, IC7-G and only have CD-Rom no floppy, but I did get it to work with the SI driver... Windows has installed, but I am having trouble getting the internet connection to work, should I migrate to another forum for help with that? It defaults to a 1394 connection that does not detect TCP/IP or something. I know before I had this connection disabled but had another LAN connection to connect to the cable internet but I can't figure out how to create it again...

Thanks for the help though, I wouldn't have managed on my own.

 

[mailpup]

If you haven't already, don't forget to install all of the other drivers too (chipset, sound, graphics and LAN).

 

[BlitzJG]

I haven't but I will, how do I determine what LAN drivers are needed?

 

[mailpup]

When you go to the Abit website and navigate to the appropriate drivers for your motherboard, you will find the LAN driver you need plus the others. If I'm not mistaken, check here: http://www.abit.com.tw/page/en/down...TITLE_ON_SCREEN=IC7-G&pSOCKET_TYPE=Socket 478

 

[BlitzJG]

HAHA! I was wondering what those other drivers were for on the website, So I should go ahead and install the LAN drivers along with the USB and Realtek audio ones?

 

[mailpup]

Yes, go ahead and do so.