Windows does not detect HD

[TKJay15]

I am trying to instal a copy of windows XP SP2 onto my computer, i already have a copy of windows installed but not activated, but when i try to reinstal windows it gives me an error that there is no HD and to make sure it is connected but when i start normally it goes right into win XP, although i cant login since it isnt activated. Also, i wanted to know if i can just use my product key and activate the windows i already have so i dont have to do a fresh instal?

 

[iss]

TechSpot does not give help to people trying to ****** software. if you want to use windows buy a copy.

 

[TKJay15]

Im not trying to ****** windows at all, i just bought this copy of Windows XP SP2 from newegg. I had already installed a copy from an old computer onto this one and found out that i could not activate it on this comp because it only activates on one comp., so i bought this copy. What i wanted to know was, can i use my _new_ cd key in the activation of windows that i already have installed so i dont have to format and reinstall again? I want to know this because, when i tried to do a fresh instal of windows on this comp it says that there is no Hard Drive being detected and refuses to go any further.

Sorry for any confusion about this.

 

[iss]

You would probably be better off doing a fresh install of the new CD. you could use a CD key changer to change the existng CD key from the old disk, BUT.... if the old disk was not SP2 and SP2 disk use a different CDKey than the old disk you may not be able to activate it.

You can alsway try it I suppose and if it doesnt work then do the fresh install.

 

[TKJay15]

The weird thing is though, when i try to do a fresh install with my new win xp it says it does not detect a HD, so it wont let me go any further. So, i tried to use the new cd key with the windows i had on it, since it hadnt yet been activated, and it worked. The only problem now is, since it was an earlier version of windows only 120Gbs of the HD show up, any suggestions? The copy i have on here already has SP1 and SP2 installed. Or if there is a way to fix the HD not found problem i could just reinstall but i havent been able to fix it, ive tried many things to like clearing cmos, re-attaching cables, etc. but it wont detect but when it goes past the cd boot it loads windows.

 

[iss]

installing SP2 should fix the hard drive size problem. as far as hard drive not detected, what are the specs for this machine?

 

[TKJay15]

Specs:
Win XP SP2
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice
1Gb PC3200 Ram
Maxtor Diamond Max SATA 150 200GB HD
Saphire Radeon X1300Pro

Also, im wondering if the partition that was created was only 120gb do i have to do anything to utilize all 200gb or should it do it automaticly?

 

[iss]

Does it recognize it as a 200gb in the bios? and when you formatted it did it showa 200gb partiiton or a 120gb partition?

Also what is the mobo?

 

[TKJay15]

In the bios it doesnt give a data size it only says what kind of HD it is, and i couldnt format it because it said there was no HD detected when i tried to reinstall windows but when i did the initial install with my old copy of windows way back 30 days ago it said that it was only 137GB i believe. My mobo is an Asrock 939Dual-Sata2.

 

[Didou]

Make sure you connect the drive to the proper SATA connector (the one closest to the orange heatsink). There's a 3rd SATA connector (the purple/pink connector which you can see THERE) which is a SATA-II connector & that specific needs a driver for windows to detect it.

As far as the size goes, a slipstreamed XP install with at least service pack 1 will be able to see the full size of the drive.