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(Solved) - reinstalling a hard drive

(13 posts)
  • Started 4 months ago by juannajera
  • Latest reply from juannajera
  • Topic Viewed 356 times


juannajera
Posts: 9

I bought a laptop with windows vista on it but i wanted to changed it to windows xp. What i did was that i format the whole hard drive and reinstalled windows 98 and then i try to upgraded it to windows xp but it didn't let me do it. At first it was installing but when it restarted a massage appear. It said that the computer had to shut down so no damage would occur to the hard drive. You got any suggestions pf how to reinstall the operating system back in.

juan.

Posted 4 months ago #
 
mysticgeek
mysticgeek
Posts: 250

You don't need to install 98 at all ... so completely eliminate that step. The Geek has a great guide to installing XP on a Vista machine ...
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto.....-computer/

Posted 4 months ago #
 
juannajera
Posts: 9

Well, I did try this method but it didn't work for some reason when i restarted my computer so i would installed windows xp a massage appear it said that it could not find any hard drive to make sure there was a hard drive connected to the computer. So i tought that formating the computer would be easier that way i would just install the other operating system. But when i formated my hard drive i could not installed because that massage was appearing again, that is why i install windows 98 so i could upgraded to xp but it did not work as i thought. Now the only operating system that my computer has is a windows 98. Any suggestions on how to upgraded to xp.

Posted 4 months ago #
 
mysticgeek
mysticgeek
Posts: 250

at this point here is what I would do ...

Download DBAN from http://www.dban.org/download You can run it from a Floppy or CD. So put in the floppy or CD and then boot from either media. This will completely wipe your HD clean ... then install XP fresh.

Posted 4 months ago #
 
juannajera
Posts: 9

I tried what you recommended and it took me 5 hrs to completely wipe out my hard drive and at the end when i inserted windows xp the same massage appear. "Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed in your computer. Make sure any hard disk drives are powered on and properly connected to your computer, and that any disk-related hardware configuration is correct. This may involve running a manufacturer-supplied diagnostic or setup program. Setup cannot continue. To quit setup, press F3" Do you know what could be causing this. Or do you know any other way of intalling windows xp.

Posted 4 months ago #
 
ScottW
ScottW
Posts: 2569

Juan, can you see the hard drive in the Setup Utility (or "BIOS")? Another thing to try is boot from the XP install CD then drop out to the recovery console command line. From there you can use diskpart.exe to find out if XP sees the drive and any partitions. DBAN should have eliminated any partitions, but maybe there's something left behind. Here's an article on the recovery console:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307654/

Also, tell us the make and model of your laptop and we can look up the specs and such.

Posted 4 months ago #
 
juannajera
Posts: 9

how do you create a recovery console. Can it be from any computer that is running windows xp. The model is HP Pavillion dv 6000 (RV216UA#ABA)

Posted 4 months ago #
 
ScottW
ScottW
Posts: 2569

You don't have to create the recovery console. It is available from the XP install CD. Instructions are provided in the Microsoft KB article linked above. In short, boot from the XP install CD, then "When the 'Welcome to Setup' screen appears, press R to start the Recovery Console."

Posted 4 months ago #
 
juannajera
Posts: 9

It worked. I was able to installed windows xp on my computer, but there are so many drivers missing for some of the hardware. You know where i can find the drivers for BASE SYSTEM DEVICE, ETHERNET CONTROLLER, NETWORK CONTROLLER, PCI DEVICE, SM BUS CONTROLLER, VIDEO CONTROLLER, AND VIDE CONTROLLER (VGA COMPATIBLE)?

Posted 4 months ago #
 
ScottW
ScottW
Posts: 2569

Juan, based on the model information that you gave, I believe that you have a Pavilion dv6326us. You should double check that. This system comes with Vista, so HP provides very little support for XP. I hope that you knew or were told this when you decided to switch back to XP.

Start with the product specs and the list of drivers for Vista here:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfr.....38;lang=en

Then you will need to track down an XP version of each of these drivers from other HP systems, directly from the manufacturer of each part, or from special websites that collect these drivers such as http://www.driverguide.com/

Posted 4 months ago #
 
raphoenix
raphoenix
Posts: 2495

juannajera,

The drivers are on the HP website.

The "Dicey" issue may?? be getting the mother board chipset driver.

Go to http://hp.com and search for your exact machine and drivers using the numbers on the back of your note book.

Post back as to results we help you some more.

Rick P.

Posted 4 months ago #
 
whs
whs
Posts: 6322

Always the same misery. There should be a big sign in every store: "If you buy a Vista PC, You better stay with Vista - unless you want to be in big trouble". And as time progresses, it is going to get worse.

Posted 4 months ago #
 
juannajera
Posts: 9

Thanks for your help guys. I was able to find all the drivers on the internet for windows xp. It wasn't easy but at the end I found them all.

Thanks agian for all your help and I really appreciate all yor help.

Juan

Posted 3 months ago #
 

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