Problem Reinstalling Windows XP

mdeerymdeery
edited March 2009 in Hardware
Hi There,
I have recently backed up all the information I wanted to retain on a computer belonging to a guy at work onto an external hard drive. What I wanted to do was perform a fresh reinstallation of Windows XP, however when I try to reinstall Windows XP, when at the selecting partition to install to screen it does not pick up the hard drive at all. I have checked connections and everything else I can think of to fix this but no luck. The weirder thing is the computer boots up as normal without any problems, however I want to do the reinstallation to start fresh. I have ran a CHKDSK and got the error "The volume contains one or more unrecoverable problems". The drive also when Windows is running the C:\ is recognised as the I:\ for some reason whoever fixed his computer previously had it set up in this way. Any insight into this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Marc

Comments

  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited March 2009
    The hard drive may be damaged. Please verify its physical integrity with DFT.

    If that fails, try SeaTools for DOS instead.

    Download this ISO:
    Seagate's <a href="http://download.seagate.com/seatools/registration.nsf/eula/desktop&quot; target="_blank">SeaTools for DOS</a> CD image

    Perform a <a href="http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/selfservice/search.jsp?DocId=201271&quot; target="_blank">a long scan</a> with it.

    If the drive is in working condition, we can move on to assessing why it can't be read in the Windows installer (probably because it's SATA).
  • CallredCallred Maryville, tn
    edited March 2009
    Do you need to load specific drivers during the install for XP to see the drive? My older board needed me to load a set when you see the "Choose F6 to load drivers" prompt.
  • mdeerymdeery
    edited March 2009
    I'll try these suggestions guys and let you know how I get on. Thanks for your help thus far.
  • mdeerymdeery
    edited March 2009
    I've ran both DFT and SeaTools and everything came back without any errors. I have checked all the jumper settings on the drive as well and these are fine. When I hit F6 during setup it says setup could not determine the type of one or more mass storage devices installed in your system. Would you think this would be a motherboard issue?
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited March 2009
    What motherboard do you have? There's an easy way to fix this problem, but I need to know that first.
  • mdeerymdeery
    edited March 2009
    Right guys I've got a hold of a dell version of windows xp and that has picked up the hard drive as it contains the necessary SATA drivers that I was missing to pick up the hard drive. I'm installing windows at present so fingers crossed that'll be the problem resolved.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited March 2009
    Your problem will indeed be solved. I was going to show you how to put the SATA drivers you needed on your own Windows CD, but your solution works too.
  • mdeerymdeery
    edited March 2009
    Could you show me that as well just for future reference if you don't mind? Thanks for all your help.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited March 2009
    Sure, what motherboard do you have? :)
  • mdeerymdeery
    edited March 2009
    All I know is it's a Dell motherboard I could not locate a model number for this motherboard. The Dell machine is a dimension 9100 if that is of any further help.
  • cambrosecambrose
    edited March 2009
    It's a Dell X8582 motherboard, with X8582 being the part number.
  • mdeerymdeery
    edited March 2009
    Ah rite thanks cambrose for that information :)
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