HP is trying to lock me into specific OS

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Hi, I just bought an HP two weeks ago and it came with xp pro. I installed vista and played with it for a while and decided to scap it and install win server 2003 as my OS. During installing, win server cannot find any harddrive in my machines. I have two Seagate SATA hd one of 160gb and the other of 780gb which i added on after i got the machine from HP. I got hold of HP support and they said that xw4400 workstation only support win xp pro and vista business and they couldnt help me if otherwise. How crappy is that. I bought a machine close to $3000 and im locked into using specific OS. The second time i spoke to HP support, the gentleman was nice enough to point me to download intel@matrix storage manager and copy the drivers to and disket and do an F6 install. So I did exactly what he told me and im able to see all the controllers but even after that, win server cannot find any harddisk in my computer. Can anyone tell me whats wrong. Please I need help. I have had this machine for almost 3 weeks now and havent been able to use it at all. Please!!!!!!!
 
Yes, of course. HP should most certainly support every OS in existence! We want to run Windows CE on eight-core servers and Tru64 unix on multimedia laptops!

In BIOS, do you have the option to switch the SATA controller or AHCI to IDE compatibility mode or anything similar?
 
if you mean during my F6 installation of win server, if i see the following list of controllers

* Intel® 82801GR/GH SATA RAID Controller
* Intel® 82801GHM SATA RAID Controller

Then yes, i do and i also see more controllers, and i have tried each one of them and it didnt work. Or do you mean actually doing an F10 into the bios to switch the SATA controller or SHCI to IDE compatibility mode. If so, then I havent done that and dont know how to. Any directions.
 
Sorry,I meant AHCI..

Well, you press F10 and enter the BIOS setup. Then see if you have a setting like that :)
 
Made an F10 to bios setup and this is what I see

>Advanced> PCI Devices
Intel Raid Controller IRQ5
Intel IDE Controller Enable
and then a bunch on intel USB controllers

>Storage > Storage Options
SATA Emulation Raid + AHCI
IDE Controller Enable

These are the only options that i see that kinda relate to AHCI. I can turn the SATA Emulation to AHCI or Raid or both. I dont see whats wrong. I need help please.

Is it possible to change the bios on the machine? will that fix the issue?
 
Set the emulation to AHCI. No, replacing the BIOS will not change anything. You may change the drivers you prepared for the F6 floppy..
 
I set the emulation to AHCI and it still doesnt detect the harddisk. I even tried installing xp and that doesnt detect the harddisks either. What is really wrong with the PC. How do i get xp and win server 03 to detect the harddisk in my PC. I really need help.
 
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