Installing windows help please :/

[Zygersaf]

My dad gave me his old desktop pc to replace my old laptop (what i am typing on now) but he took the hard drive out becasue he used the computer for work and didnt want me getting the work files (thats understandable) so he gave me a 500GB hard drive with the computer.

I have placed it into the computer with the cables in the right place, and now when i boot from disc wth the windows xp disc in, it starts to install, but once it gets to the part where it sa i need to partition teh hard drive, it says that there is no disk there for it to partition, i cant put a screen shot becasue i have no operating system on it :P but does anyone have any ideas as to what i can do please? thanks in advance

[vesseblah]

Just taking a blind stab here, but the problem is missing SATA drivers.

The new 500 gig disc you have is SATA, and Windows XP installation CD does NOT come with SATA drivers of any kind.

Getting Windows installed there is a pain in the ass, but possible. What you need to do is to download the correct SATA drivers for your motherboard's chipset and embed those into burned copy of the Windows XP disc, or load the SATA drivers from floppy during Windows installation (when it says "press F6 to load additional drivers" in the start). Suckiest part is that USB stick will NOT work for this purpose, Windows XP can only use floppy drives to load the extra disc drivers. I used USB floppy drive to do it myself.

Easiest solution could be getting PATA disc for booting and install Windows there, some small 40+ gig disc works just fine, and then use the new 500gig one as secondary HDD for storage. It's not optimal for speed, but it gives the least amount of headache if you don't have access to floppy drive (those are getting pretty rare nowadays) or are comfortable enough customizing the Windows XP installation disc.

[Zygersaf]

oh okay :P thanks, i will probably burn a windows disc with it on, or can i just buy vista/7 and install that? becasue its a pretty good computer, i doubt i will replace it for a bit

[vesseblah]

oh okay :P thanks, i will probably burn a windows disc with it on, or can i just buy vista/7 and install that? becasue its a pretty good computer, i doubt i will replace it for a bit

If you're handy around the computer, it's not hard to google for instructions on how to add new drivers into the WinXP installation disc, but it's definitely not for complete novices. All it takes is bit of time, a working computer where you can build the CD and empty RW disc since you wont get it right on first time nLite is the program made for the purpose of custom-building Windows installation discs, and most guides you find are written for it.

SATA driver support in Vista and Win7 is whole lot better and you should be able to install those without any problems, but I wont make any promises. 64bit Win7 installed in my new PC without any problems on SATA disc, so there's some definite improvement. And do NOT buy Vista unless it's significantly cheaper than Win7. 7 is superior in every possible way.

[Zygersaf]

My friend says he has a spare copy of 7 i can have becasue he used an upgrade for £30 for students :Pi will try this, thanks guy

[Cilraaz]

The first question is whether the drive was SATA or IDE (PATA). If it's IDE (PATA), I'd put money on the jumper being set incorrectly. If it's SATA, then what the guys above said.

[vesseblah]

The first question is whether the drive was SATA or IDE (PATA). If it's IDE (PATA), I'd put money on the jumper being set incorrectly. If it's SATA, then what the guys above said.

Single slave disc should show in disc partitioner and the setup allows you to start installation there, even if you can't boot from it. Unless the drive's controller is DOA. In any case broken disc or misconfigured jumpers should show in BIOS setup if you look at what discs were detected. SATA drive will show up in either normal BIOS setup or in SATA raid setup if the disc is installed properly regardless of if WinXP has the drivers for it or not.

[Cilraaz]

Single slave disc should show in disc partitioner and the setup allows you to start installation there, even if you can't boot from it. Unless the drive's controller is DOA. In any case broken disc or misconfigured jumpers should show in BIOS setup if you look at what discs were detected. SATA drive will show up in either normal BIOS setup or in SATA raid setup if the disc is installed properly regardless of if WinXP has the drivers for it or not.

I have never had a drive that was incorrectly jumpered show in BIOS.

[vesseblah]

I have never had a drive that was incorrectly jumpered show in BIOS.

Single HDD jumpered as slave will show in BIOS and will work totally fine for anything except booting. You can partition it and use it normally if you boot from external source such as floppy or USB stick. There will be problems if you have 2 discs jumpered as master or slave though, and the results of that are totally unpredictable.