Resolving "Setup did not find any hard disk drives" during Windows XP Installation
One of the most popular topics among our readers is installing Windows XP on your new Windows Vista computer - sometimes for compatibility reasons, but also because a lot of people just don't like Vista very much.
The problem that people keep running into left and right is getting to the point where XP starts to install and getting the message "Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed in your computer". This error happens because your new computer has a storage controller that isn't supported natively in XP, usually an SATA (Serial ATA) controller.
If you don't have a floppy drive in your computer (who does anymore), then you'll need to use a process called slip-streaming to integrate the storage drivers into your XP installation CD.
It should go without saying that this is an advanced topic, so proceed with caution.
Creating a Custom XP Install
We'll use a software called nLite to create a new XP install cd, so you'll first need to download and install it. Once it starts up, you'll be prompted for your Windows installation, so you'll want to click the Browse button.
First you'll be prompted for the "Windows installation", which really means your XP install CD. Find it and select the root of the installation, and then click OK to go to the next dialog.
Next you'll be prompted on where you want to save the temporary files used during the slip-streaming process. I chose to create a new directory and called it XPISO, but you can put it wherever you'd like. I just recommend to use a new directory.
nLite will copy all the necessary files off the XP installation and into the temporary folder. When it's done, you'll see all the information on which version it is.
Hit the next button until you come to this screen, where you can select what options you want. Select "Drivers" and then "Bootable ISO".
Side note: You can select any of the other options if you'd like. nLite will let you bundle updates, set tweaks or automatically remove components from the installation, but that all goes beyond the scope of this article.
Hit the next button until you get to the screen for selecting drivers. If you click the Insert button, you can choose between adding a single driver or adding a folder of drivers. Since we'll just be loading a single driver, you can choose that option, but you might want to first read the section below about finding drivers for XP.
Browse to the directory where you extracted the driver files, and then select Open. Note that it doesn't really matter which of the *.inf files you choose, because it will select all files in the folder anyway.
nLite will prompt you to select your driver. If you don't know which exact one it is, you can either use Device Manager in Vista to find the exact model, or you can just select all of them. Just be careful not to select a 64-bit driver if you are using 32-bit, or the wrong OS version.
I would recommend including both Storage and Network drivers, as those are the most common drivers that are missing in XP. 
Once you proceed to the next screen, now we can finally finish the process. You can choose to directly burn the cd here, or you can select Create Image to create an ISO file that you can burn to a CD using whatever burning tool you have.
Note: If you chose to create an ISO, make sure to use the "Make ISO" button before you click Next.
At this point you can burn the ISO image to a CD, and then start your XP installation process.
Finding Drivers for XP
The best place to search for drivers for your hardware is at the manufacturer's support website. The only problem is that almost every manufacturer seems to distribute their drivers in floppy disk image form, even though the computer they are for doesn't have a floppy drive. Guess nobody has alerted them to get with the program.
We can still extract the drivers using an application called WinImage. Let's run through a quick example… Here you can see the Intel SATA controller driver for my HP computer.
I downloaded and ran the executable, which extracted a file called f6flpy32.exe into a temporary directory. Don't bother trying to run this one, because it'll just prompt you for a floppy drive.
So how to get the drivers out of this file? There are a few options that you can try, depending on how the manufacturer packed the files.
- You can use Winimage to extract them, which is a shareware software, but you can use it during the trial period for free.
- You can try and use WinRar to extract the file. In many instances this will extract a *.flp file, which you can mount in a VMware virtual machine or potentially with some ISO mounting software.
- Some drivers will allow you to automatically extract into a directory. You'll have to try it and see what happens.
- Other methods? If you've got other ideas, leave them in the comments and I'll add them to this list.
Here's the list of files that Winimage can handle, which is quite a lot.
Start WinImage and then open the file, and you should see the contents. Just extract them to a folder, preferably with a useful name so you can remember it later.
Good luck with your installation, and be sure to leave any support questions on the forum.
Classic. Should be sticky in the Vista/XP forums.
I have a Toshiba satelite M200 Laptop . I am facing problem that is hard disk not found. i had used nlite utility but i won't.
This walk through was great. Thank you so much for taking the time to put this together. It saved me hours of time. I appreciate it.
nLite worked like a champ. Thanks for the walk-through! One snag I hit was nlite didn't really burn the disc when I asked it to. I ended up compiling the iso with nlite and then burning that using Nero. I was using the latest beta version of nlite, so that may have something to do with it. Anyway it seems to have written the iso correctly so I'm happy.
Great work ! thanks a million for putting all together , your work is highly appreciated
Hi there,
Thanks for the needed guidance. I got an error, can you please help me out:
I installed nLite, created XPISO diirectory on my newly partitioned drive. Then I launched nLite, given the path of XP CD as English-PRO-i386. Gave the path to XPISO new directory and it started…
After around 20 minutes it gave me an error: "Data error (Cyclic redundancy check)" I hit OK button it worked for 20 minutes, without progress and gave me the same error again.
I cancelled and now got no clue how to resolve it.
Please help,
Many Thanks….
Thanks champ!!!
after the troubles ive had with Vista, i was really looking forward to getting back to XP… teh fact that i had to screw around with the extended install really made things crappy.. But, now after following your guide its back to XP glory..
Thank you x 10000000000000000!!!@@@@!!
Im sorry where in the hp website do you get the drivers i cant find it
Well, i had the same problem. trying to downgrade to XP my laptop (HP COMPAQ 6510b) that came with Vista Business, I was reading your guide, it was cool, but I Kept looking for more info, and read another source even easier, I just had to go into my Bios and DISABLE the NATIVE SATA CONTROL which was ENABLED and thats all I had to do, my system would detect the Hard drive right away. Not saying that your guide its useless, just giving you guys more options, this one saves you like 10x the time.
Cheers..
Wilman Reyes
A more simple solution. Go into your bios and change your SATA Device Operation to ATA instead of AHCI. Install the OS then update all your drivers while in Windows XP and change it back when completed.
I used this method on a Dell inspiron 1420.
Nicolas Stears
YOU ARE THE BEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!YOU ARE THE CHAMPION!!!!!!THHHHHHHHAAAAAAAANNNNNNKKKKK YYYYOOOOOOOUUUUU!!!!!!!!!
Im so thankfull I have a laptop stopped from 7 days without floppy ,the solution was by disabling sata native controll , I know that there is a winxp cd that contain all the hard drives and I didt get it yet
You're a generous geek!
Thanks friend.
-Mohan….
Nice one! Worked wonderfully; using nLite, I was even able to strip out the HP Restore Plus! CD dependency to give myself a completly clean Windows XP installation CD.
Now I can dual boot XP 64 (Primary) and XP 32 (Secondary)!
Where did you get those drivers in your example pic???? I have a HP Pavilion DV6570ED, Vista Home Premium, same problem. Could not find any BIOS entry concerning the SATA support???
Ran Nlite, but still need the drivers to add to the ISO. Please email the drivers….been at it for hours now…
Thanx in advance!
Greetings mariette
Had to wipe the hard drive from a ex-company laptop before I was allowed to use it for personal use, used many programs from the Techie toolkit to try and create a new active logical partition, but still got the same message. I tried this and to my supprise, it works!! If this method didnt work, then I would have tried norton ghost with the wrong image, just to see if I can make the hard drive readable to windows.
Thanks for your help, but also thanks for introducing this powerfull program, I can use this for all my PC builds!
Cheers.
Thanx for the great guide, last night I finally got it all installed and working………
(Though the internet port still isn't working, but that is another issue….)
Cheers
I faced the same problem with a Compaq C714NR laptop and DISABLING the NATIVE SATA CONTROL from the BIOS window worked for me as well.
Thanks for saving me the time Wilman
what happend for me is….
i formated the hard drive first not relay noing
and when tried to install windows xp and i cant do nothing
in windows because i have no operating system so how can i do this
what is explains up above
thanks
After vista crashed and died, I tried to restore XP using the HP recovery disks with no success. One hour later, after using this fix, I am up and running.
Thanks for your help.
Phenomenon.
Solved my problem.
Crystal, simple and 100% working instructions.
Of the very few on web.
Fantastic Job.
Cheers
Great fix…thanks!!
works perfect. thanks!
really this is very very helpfull graaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat thanx alot
Has anybody accomplished this on a Gateway Computer? After the eula I get the page that says:
"The following list shows the existing partitions and unpartitioned space on this computer.
Use the UP and DOWN keys to select an item in the list."
But the only thing in the list are the words "Unkown drive" and "" repeated four times. Nothing is highlighted. I've read and tried everything on this site to no avail.
I'm a sign maker, not a computer tech. My art station computer was worn out and I bought this new Gateway not realizing that my $4,500 worth of sign making software won't run on Vista. It would be nice if I could just convert this thing to straight XP. I don't need Vista for anything. I was able to download the XP drivers for this computer from the Gateway support site and updated the BIOS with them and it still just shows "" in that list.
If nobody has accomplished this on a Gateway, then I guess I'll just have to give up, take my loss, and order a Dell. They are still selling XP computers, thankfully.
I have created winlite iso bootable cd. However, my laptop doesn't recognize the disk. It gives me a message "Missing operating system". I have a brand new disk drive installed without any OS.
I have HP nx9420. What can you suggest to do? Thank you in advance.
Can anyone tell me where to find the device drivers for an HP 530 laptop? It has a Toshiba MK8037GSX hard drive but I've searched both the HP and Toshiba websites and can't find anything useful.
Many many thanks in advance,
David
Where did you get those drivers in your example pic???? I have a HP Pavilion DV6570ee, Vista Home Premium, same problem. Could not find any BIOS entry concerning the SATA support???
Ran Nlite, but still need the drivers to add to the ISO. Please email the drivers..
thnx
I got the drivers from the HP website. Just go to their support/downloads section and pick the model of your computer.
Did just all explained and it is still not able to find the Mass storage devises!! Ewerythink just as it is writen as downloadet the latest Intel drivers and nothing??? What did I do wrong! Disk does boot but it still dont recognise the HDD´s ???
Dont bother will all this, first try to disable the sata scsi stuff in the bios, it will work then.
i used nlite & it works fine for me to downgraded from vista to xp on my Gateway Mt6705. everythin is workin fine except my wireless card. its a realtek rtl8187 wireless. xp has found the driver, but its just not working. i downloaded the drivers from from realtek site too, but none is seem to be working. it just says "an error has occured". can anyone help me this?
this is for david… i got the same computer hp530 the way to install winxp is going to the bios setup and in the device option you hata to disable the sata native option and thats it your copy of win xp it gonna see your hdd
they must give the Nobel prize this year
thanks man for ur help
i made what u described and it was perfect
god bless you friend
Thanks for the solution it worked.
hot do i fix a system that does not detect any hard disk drive?
and how to install the bios of a system that when it boots it complains bios not installed.
i have similar problem, after format a section under vista for a xp install, the HP desktop show CANT Find OS message. I dont have any vista disk to recover nor can the default F11 can recover (cant find boot device), at can I do? - Urgent
I am having windows vista home basic in my Dell Vostro 1500 laptop.
But i want win XP an additional OS to be installed. I can try the way
you said but i tried the following: Changed SATA Device Operation to
ATA instead of AHCI.I heard that it too works. But the problem is as soon
as i tried to " save and exit" it warns that you might end with an error
or the OS might have to be reinstalled. Should i proceed with "save & exit"
from then onwards???
I have a laptop with AMD processor , I wonder if these drivers will work with my laptop or I need to look for other drivers.
Thanks in advance
hi ,
The Geek, I have a Fujitsu Siemens pi 2530 laptop. When I go to the company website
and choose my laptop type , they ask about the OS . Once I choose XP Pro , a messege appears "These operating systems have NOT been tested or released for this component" . They say : the only supporeted system for this coputer is Vista !!!
I went ,also, to Intel website and searched for ((Intel® Matrix Storage Manager )) , but I got four types and NO one support (ICH8M )
How can I get the driver for XP ????
help me plz .
Hi!
I am trying to install Windows XP in my HP Pavillion dv2660.
I will create a new Installation CD with the procedure that you explained.
Before, i was tried with the F6 key when the windows is instaling and i can select the driver from the floppy.
The problem is when the Windows reestart ti begin to install the OS in the local disc.
It is trying to detect again the iaastore.sys and .cat but does not find the files.
I have only 2 options. Enter to retry or F3 to exit. In all the moment i have the floppy connected and the diskete with the drivers files in the unit of 3.5 but the instalation still asking for the driver files.
Someone know why i have this problem and hot to fix it?
Thanks a lot
George.
I have HP Pavilion dv6516tx. I tried all the things what u mentioned, but unfortunately it did not work & i get same message with blue screen.
I have Win XP genuin copy. Please let me know how to solve this
Thank you very, very, very much!!!! It work perfect!
I have Hp Pavilion dv6516tx Laptop having windows vista & I want to install xp on it, but i dont have sata drivers, Please mail me how to install windows xp on it
I have HP Pavilion dv2000, just going to install windows xp first time, I hope it works well as other does. Thanks a lot for your tutorial.
Splendid !!!… I spent all night long trying this and that without results, your guide is very2 comprehensive and it works on my Compaq 6510b. Thank you and wish you the best in the future.
It worked perfectly on a Toshiba Satellite L40. Thank you very much.
Great walk through. Saved my day after struggling for hours
Here's hoping your procedure works one of the students is going to try this procedure. Thanks much!
I ran the nlite and everything and when i am supposed to be looking for the drivers to select the .ini I can't seem to find the directory where it is.
Can someone help me with this?
Excellent man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I tried this with my HP pavilion dv2601 it worked only problem is with graphix drivers that i downloaded from nvidia site itself . Initially i also faced problem with hard drives not detecting . I checked drivers with proper model ie intel's SATA chipset comes in various model intel 82801HEM/HBR GS etc so we need to get the apt driver and incorporate it with iso image through nlite
Anyway thanks A lot
i have hp dv6516tx laptop its comes preinstalled vista.i want to install xp but when i installing the xp hard disk will be not detacting & also install the sata driver from usb floppy driver & installation Completely finished after restarting the laptop its will showing blue screen error. please give me suggestion
thank u
hi i am tryin to install it on gateway laptop but no luck it doesn recognize the cd….. i really need this help please help out as soon as possible
How do I know which drivers I need to download?
I'm trying to dual boot Vista and XP. I looked on the HP website for the drivers needed for XP and the only ones there were some EXE files. Does this mean I don't need to integrate any drivers for the iso?
Great! Thanks!
Thank you so much for this wonderful site to help a newbie like me to install XP on my laptop with Vista pre-installed. I appreciat it.
Thanks, i was able to run setup with HP dv2000
Hi there thanks for this - i have HP 530 - i disabled the SATA from the Bios … its working fine but ONCE i enabled the from the BIOS ( SATA ) — so the system keep restarting !!!! any Idea
At last i found a guide. I'm gonna try it this weekend. Thanks!
I've been messing with same problem. I have just purchased a Compaq 3630 UT.
I did all that was mentioned in this post. However XP setup still cannot go further. I also checked the bios options to disable support for SATA but there was no such option available.
Is there any other way left? maybe I should buy a USB floppy drive
I got this
downloadmirror.intel.com/14848/eng/iata78_enu.exe
and create folder at "c:\drivers", use this command "iata78_enu.exe -A -Pc:\drivers"
then I got the correct driver.
Hope this information can help those need the drivers, big hint. ^_^
Thanks a million, billion, zillion and whatever number comes after that.
I really had a hard time installing OS before i came across ure tips.
Nice to know that people like you are here to help us for free.
Regards
God bless you man!!!! Many thanks…for Toshiba users here is the European website with xp drivers…
http://fr.computers.toshiba-eu.....R…it is in French but who cares…drivers worked for my L45 (i selected l40 series)…happy hunting…
Man, You are the Best..
Hi, thanks for this post, it is truly useful. I stumbled my way through the majority of these steps before I came across this site. Per the instruction, I used nLite and slipstreamed the chipset drivers from Intel's website, but I still get this error message about the hard disk when I try to install XP. Does anybody have any advice. Thank you very much.
This technique is not working for my Hp dv 6560ee Notebook. And i think other people who have HP notebook having same problem.
Hi,
My laptop recently fell down and the hard drive got damaged and i had to replace it. I was using windows xp all along though my laptop is windows vista capable. But after changing the hard disk i tried windows xp setup and a blue screen appers saying "setup does not detect hard drive"..but the bios detects it. I took it to the shop from where i bought the hard drive and they installed chinese xp because they didn't have english xp. I am an indian living in China. And its become very difficult to use my laptop because i don;t understand a word..its all chinese. I tried installing xp english again but it gives the same message " setup does not detect hard drives" . But at the same time it working on chinese xp. What should i do? I tried downloading nLite software but i coulnt get it. I hope you can mail me the setup file. Thankyou.
How do you edit the bios settings? I've tried VistaBootPRO and EasyBCD but I saw nothing about disabling SATA. Thanks.
i posted a query earlier..but its ok..i followed whatever this site said..and voila! it worked!!…thankz z million..keep up d gud wrk!
Thanks my friend, truly a great help!
This worked great for installing xp on my HD dv2660se. I am still having driver problems though. Although I've downloaded Intel chipset drivers, devise manager still shows:
3 base system devices, ethernet controller, pci device and 1 other unknown device.
Any suggestions?
Thank you very much for your help.
Hi, I'm trying this now and ill get back to you on if it worked! I hope it does =) I've been looking for a way to downgrade for a while! Well thanks so mcuh!
Wow, what a lifesaver…I thought I might be looking for a new job after fdisking this laptop thinking the XP CD would take care of the rest. Wish I would have googled this error message 6 hours ago!!! Thanks for saving my bacon.
People, Just disable SATA in BIOS (ENTER SETUP WHEN STARTING COMPUTER)
Wayyy easier.
Robin,
You can't always disable SATA in the BIOS… sometimes, but not always.
Also, doing so means you are going to have a much slower computer than if you properly fix the error by using the right drivers.
I have an IBM Lenovo. I ran into a similar problem to robin. My computer doesn't have an option to disable the SATA in the Bios, but instead the options were eaither SATA or COMPATIBILITY. I chose COMPATIBILITY and it worked great! Thanks for the great advice. Stupid Lenovo sent me a new hard drive, because mine failed. Instead of sending me proper installation discs, the fuckers sent me a burned copy of windows XP setup disc?!?!! Microsoft would shit their pants over this. Talk about good tech support…not.
You RULE!!! TY TY TY TY *BOWS*
Hello!
It is working for HP530! Thank you very much!
Best regards from Hungary:
Balint Srancsik
Thank You Very Much!
Thank you !!!
Hey there, first of thanks for the guide u are providing. But as I am a noob I still dont know which drivers I have to use. I have an Acer Aspire 7110 and I have looked on the website but couldnt find any SATA /Storage Controller/Raid drivers. Can you help me out please? Thnx in advance!!!
Siwi
For everyone who keeps saying "JUST DISABLE IT IN THE BIOS" please be aware that many machines, including my Gateway MT6223B have a super-crippled BIOS that allows practically zero in the way of tweaks (presumably to keep noob fingers away from such things).
I have followed all the steps above (ironically I had already figured them out after scouring the net for a whole day, if only I had seen this incredibly clear and helpful page earlier - ho hum…) and like many others, still get that damn "there is are no hard disk attached" bluescreen message. I'm ready to throw the thing out the window, but before I do, if anyone has any input as regards this Gateway (also known as the MA7) I'd sure love to hear it.
For the record, I downloaded the Intel 943GL chipset drivers (no need for Winimage, they were simply zipped) and added the "All" folder to my NLite slipstream CD (then burned it at 4x with Nero, DAO, closed session).
I am seeing hundreds of people like me, who are fed up with Vista and want to return to XP, yet are being stopped from doing so by the ridiculous combination of needing a FLOPPY DRIVE in 2008 (the RIGHT floppy mind, not all usb drives will work, naturally) and then having to create 500 coasters and reboot 9 million times. I really thought these days were gone, absolutely bizarre how we are back in this position. What is even more bizarre is the strange twilight zone I have entered whilst trying to fix this issue. I think it says a lot about my issues regarding avoidance of 'real' work…
grateway is correct… Most Consumer PCs do NOT allow you to change the BIOS settings.
When you downloaded the drivers, are they specifically for the SATA controller, or for the chipset itself?
Update - I caved and borrowed a USB floppy - it seems to work ok, but still no XP install - it finds the RAID/AHCPI drivers and no matter which ones I select, I get a bluescreen after loading. ARGGGGHHHHH!!!!
Oh and to answer the question, at first I mistakenly had the chipset drivers (!) but then got the 'Intel Matrix Manager Blah Blah' which contains the SATA controllers for the Intel 943GML chipset. Intel even give you a floppy image creator exe which works perfectly. The only problem is the Gateway STILL craps out on install. Have Gateway deliberately crippled these low-end units so that they ONLY load Vista? Weird. If anyone knows any low-level 'reset' utility to solve this painful issue I would love to hear it!
Cheers
make sure you choose txtmode when you add the sata drivers
It works on Toshiba Satellite P205….
Really helpful, Many thanks.
Looks like you've disabled trackbacks ….. anyway, just to inform all visitors: the BIOS way is possible with Acer Extensa 5220.
ive tryed to do what was mentioned but having trouble finding the drivers to select could anyone help me?
grateway is correct, I have been tring to downgrade to good old windows xp for the entire weekend with multiple attempts using different drivers and nlite. I always get a BSOD that says run a check disk to ensure that there is no problems with your drive. I have a GM5632E. It seems that gateway has stuck us with a piece of shit that is only compatable with windows vista (Which is not compatible with anything itself).
Gateway User - Pissed off!
Hi all,
Here is the official response from Gateway 'support':
——————————————————————-
Please accept my apologies for the delay in answering your email.
Because of restrictions placed upon us by Microsoft as an Original Equipment Manufacturer, we are only able to provide technical support and drivers for the Operating System that is licensed to the computer when it is sold.
Any attempt to install a different operating system on your computer will result in you no longer being eligible for technical support.
Please reply to this message if you require further assistance with this issue.
——————————————————————————-
Gotta love it! Well anyway after seven days of dicking around, I finally got XP installed on my MT6223B (MA7). I had stupidly misread the chipset - I thought it was an Intel 943GML, but it was actually an Intel 945GM. D'oh! Anyway, in the meantime I had managed to get my head around the various processes, and familiarised myself better with nLite, which is an essential ingredient, and quite amazing for a freebie (must donate!).
Someone had posted up some details for another Gateway, and the salient points were that you must get the EXACT single RAID driver for your chipset for the nLite .iso that you are building, and you MUST remove the stock XP RAID driver.
Once I did this I was golden, well apart from missing drivers in XP. Managed to track most of them (apart from the modem, but who cares), however the wifi STILL didnt work, which was a cruel irony, as that was the original impetus for the downgrade. Ho hum, I just caved and paid £8 for a wifi stick from Amazon.
Anyone who has Vista and wants to install XP would be well advised to check very carefully what their hardware is (using Device Mangager or a freeware system doctor app) and WRITE IT ALL DOWN. Also Google the drivers needed BEFORE you try to reinstall, OR have a second computer with net access to hand. Otherwise you will throw everything, including yourself, out of the window.
Good luck, bon voyage etc
YOU ARE THE BEST!!!
My notebook works with XP !!!!
Toshiba Satellite A200
DUDE!!! You are freakin Genious!!!
It worked for me as a charm, i've been loosin my mind for a long time trying ti figure out how to fix it, coz none of that "go to BIOS and change SATA configuration" BS work with GATEWAY.
Thanks a lot!!!
To nicola, how do u do the bios thing on an extensa? i have the extensa 5620 so i would really like to know
Great job, dude. This tutorial really helped me. Thank you!! :]
lol.. sorry for the trouble guys but if anyone can help me find drivers for my laptop I'd appreciate it. I've been looking all day and then i just confused.. Dell only offered vista drivers and we need xp for this to work.. AHH.. well my comp details are basically a dell 1525 with an Intel Pentium dual core.. and it came with vista.. and vista isn't compatible with alot of things so it sucks.. thanks for the help.. and sorry for being such a n00b..
This Step By Step Guide Is Incredible !!!
And All i want to say is, Vista are the second worst OS created by Microsoft, after Win ME.
Almost everybody wants to downgrade to XP because is the best, almost everything works fine in XP and almost nothing in Vista. It Had changed a lot, but not for good. And sites, post, articles and guides like this show how microsoft is goin down in inovation and versatility and of course usability with their operating systems and their programing.
I have an HP Pavillion dv6626us notebook. The notebook itself is awesome, but it came with vista, as many systems these days, and gave me a lot of headaches caused by incompatibility with programs and also with system performance because Vista is very demanding on system resources.
I'd just downgraded to XP with the guide provided by THE GEEK, and the installation was a totally a succes, without any problems.
As a note: almost all new systems came without the ability to change the HD SATA - PATA mode, and i f you try to change the BIOS you'll notice that you can't cuz there are just some basic functions available. Its better to incorporate the HD SATA drivers to the XP Installation CD.
YOU REALLY ARE THE MAN GEEK !!! Thanks A LOT.
> As a note: almost all new systems came without the ability to change the HD SATA - PATA mode, and i f you try to change the BIOS you'll notice that you can't cuz there are just some basic functions available. Its better to incorporate the HD SATA drivers to the XP Installation CD.
yep - that has been noted a few times in this thread, however I think that for many people getting to grips with nLite is just a step too far in the geek stakes. Thankfully my perserverance paid off and as a result of learning nLite I have put a stripped down XP on my ageing Vaio, and made it fly once again. Hoorah!
thank you man
Gateway 2:
Thanks for the great tip to all the fellow geeks out here. I have a GT5630E that I bought recently. The BIOS has three options: ATA, RAID, and AHCI. The machine came configured with RAID option. I changed this to ATA, and voila, my 2003 server installation disk recognized the SATA disk. The installation continued with messages that said that it could copy the files like iedkcs32.dll, georgia.ttf, georgiab.ttf, framd.ttf, etc, etc.
When the installation got closer to the finish line, I received an error :-
"line 0 of hivesft.inf is corrupted. Setup cannot continue."
Has anybody encountered this on your gateway machine(s)?
Help !!
Gateway2
Hi man, im from ARGENTINA and You help me so much!!!!!
One client of mine buy a Notebook L45-S7409 that comes with Vista, and i had to install a XP. It do not, exist the drivers of the sata hard drives for XP. With this solution i create mi xp with the drivers for sata hard drives!!!
Thanks, and sorry, my english SUCK!!!
GRACIAS DESDE ARGENTINA!!!!
Art, if you haven't figured out yet the device problems you have the other device is the web cam, read get the driver from here http://forum.notebookreview.co.....p?t=165319
the base system devices problem i haven't figured out yet
Hey guys,
Don't want to sound stupid but I am following the directions right now to get the ISO file but I am stuck at the part where it says
"Browse to the directory where you extracted the driver files, and then select Open. Note that it doesn't really matter which of the *.inf files you choose, because it will select all files in the folder anyway."
I DON'T RECALL EXTRACTING ANY DRIVER FILES PRIOR TO coming to this part.
Any help would be appreciated.
Btw, I have a Sony Vaio
Thanks in advance,
Dogan
Wow.
That's really interesting, great, helpful.
You saved me with this method.
Thank you very very much.
Amazing, wonderful article. A+ for you
Thanks!
Your article has helped me a great deal and it worked like a charm, bye bye vista!!
Can anyone help me what do they mean by the "extracted drivers"
Thanks in advance,
Hi, I just burned a disc following the images and found that in one window (image) it shows that you chose textmode driver and in the other after all is chosen PNP. Since the latter was PNP I went with that one. It Didn't work. Maybe it is textmode and I'm gonna try that out now. Thanks for all the help. Very useful info.
I bought Gateway model m-6750,tired in installing win 2003,with the above methods.Gateway users really pissed off.can any one help on this?Millian thanks if any one mail some clue to my Mail:rami_1062@yahoo.com.
Greetings,
After countless hours of google and three or four new grey hairs, I bumped into your hidden gem on this issue. The detailed explanations and the screenies made this tutorial extremely pleasant and straightforward.
This method worked flawlessly on my HP dv6265 and allowed me to give Vista's poor excuse for an upgrade the boot.
All that's left to say is that you sir are the freeking man! and that's an understatement…
THANK YOU !
Hey guys, I was on Intel's website to find the drivers I need but I can't seem to figure out which ones I need because I don't know the chipset family of my laptop. Below, I will copy and paste the details on my laptop directly from best buy's website. I hope someone here can tell me what drivers I should download in order to get back to good old XP. Thanks in advance,
#
Processor Brand
Intel®
#
Processor
Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core
#
Processor Speed
1.6GHz
#
Display Type
WXGA widescreen with XBRITE-ECO technology (1280 x 800)
#
Screen Size
15.4″
#
System Bus
533MHz
#
Cache Memory
1MB at die Level 2
#
System Memory (RAM)
1GB
#
System Memory (RAM) Expandable To
2GB
#
Type of Memory (RAM)
DDR2
#
Hard Drive Type
Serial ATA (5400 rpm)
#
Hard Drive Size
160GB
#
Optical Drive
Double-layer DVD±RW/CD-RW
#
Optical Drive Speeds
4x DVD+R DL; 4x DVD-R DL; 8×8x8 DVD+RW; 8×6x8 DVD-RW; 5x DVD-RAM; 24×24x24 CD-RW
#
Direct-Disc Labeling
No
#
Digital Media Reader or Slots
Yes, select memory card slots
#
Diskette Drive
No
#
Graphics
Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
#
Video Memory
Up to 251MB as allocated by Windows Vista
Thanx for this excellent solution
Link to the required driver:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfr.....mp;lang=en
Good luck
Most newer MoBos (or atleast the decent ones - i dont deal in the lower end of the market) have an option in the Bios to disable native sata. This presents the disks as if they were PATA.
Install windows
Enable Sata again!
Lot easier…
Well it might be a 'lot easier' but I feel this post is aimed at helping the non-expert, who generally may own machines from what you term 'the lower end of the market'. These people want to rid their Gateways, HP's etc of the curse that is Vista and are finding it VERY tricky, as did I. If they had more expert status they probably wouldn't be here asking for help.
Anyway, assuming that your BIOS is crippled (as mine was), and you still have Vista installed, then ensure you have looked in Device Manager (right-click 'My Computer' > Properties > Hardware) and written down everything you can about the internals of your PC - you WILL need this info! Or use this http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html - it's a free program that should give you a boatload of info. You need to find out what drivers your chipset needs. Usually it is Intel, and their site is actually ok once you have the CORRECT info.
Then you have to get really messy and learn to use nLite, remove the RAID/SATA stock drivers from your XP install disc image, replace with TEXTMODE drivers for your chipset and burn that image!
All I can say is GOOD LUCK! It took me a week and I could not believe how convoluted it was - such a simple thing in theory, so awkward in practice.
G
Another way (at least with Lenovo laptops) is to go into the Bios and enable SATA Computability mode. Works like a charm!!
LOL is anyone actually reading these comments or simply posting at will…
@grateway
I often wonder that myself =)
@Everybody: There's loads of good information in the comments thread, make sure you read the above.
Mr.Jake made some undecent personnal comments..May be i am wrong in commeting Gateway but i got tired,may be I don't have so much expertise but i don't have any motives on gateway.I bought this gateway labtop as it has 3gb RAM,250gb hard drive and intel chipset.
I have issue in installing win 2003 on gateway model M-6750-with disk WDC WD 2500BEVS (product id=89578-oem-7332157-00141).setup don't have choice for changing HD SATA and I am Not able to get right .inf for WDC 250gb hard drive.Any one who has similar scenario can help…thanks
Hi, I'm from ARGENTINA, a have a HP 530 (without Vista of course… hehe), thank to this post I can install XP with SATA mode enabled
@The Geek
I found this driver pack
http://driverpacks.net/DriverP......php?pag=m
Do you recommend including all of it?
Thanks again
My hero! THANK YOU! This works! I finally got rid of Vista!
Now all I need are some more drivers for my HP Compaq Presario V3525tu and I'm all set.
Somebody help me with that PLEASE!
For those who are afraid to try this, well, I was able to get rid of Vista; set up XP (incomplete drivers); restore Vista in its original state (without XP); then get rid of Vista again and set up XP again. I wanted to test the waters first, so to speak.
Now, I've got XP set up but I'm lacking just a few more drivers.
Again, Vista sucks. Consumers should not be forced fed with it.
Try and Hit F11 on the keyboard and reset all to factory Defaults, - I tried it and it worked. some models dont do that for Gateway But this one did.
HELP!!
I'm on the brink of going insane with this.
I've got an ACER 5220 with vista preloaded and as is the norm I'm trying to replace it with XP but I still can't get it to see the HDD.
I've followed the steps but for some reason once I've selected the drivers the mode shows TXT and not PNP as in your tutorial this is the only part that differs is this where its going wrong for me?? Please help!!
@Grateway
I seem to have the same chipset as you do on my Amilo notebook. I can not find the Raid controller driver though.. The Intel website only wants to give me *.exe files for dl.
Am I doing something wrong?
@doror
if i recall correctly i think it's an .exe because it is a self-extracting zip file. do you have winzip or winrar? if so you can simply right click the .exe and unpack it to a folder, and you will see the drivers inside that new folder.
good luck, brew some coffee, take a deep breath and pray for a following wind!
Yeah I just extraxcted it and it worked like a charm.., My laptop is much faster and cleaner now.
excellent. it's amazing how vista can throw people - most people i speak to are annoyed to some extent about being stuck with it having bought a new pc. at first i thought vista would be a mature, faster xp with a flashier skin that could be disabled, and i was happy to try it, being a forward-thinking person and all…
having tried it and hated every minute, i am happy to run in the opposite direction and get back to the lean and snappy world that is an nlited xp pro sp3 install. maybe by the time vista reaches sp3 and vista-lite is fully developed…but for now i'm not going to waste another minute speculating! long live xp!
Excellent step by step information for using nLite. XP works like a charm. Thank you very much.
Works perfectly fine for me, Gateway - M-6750.
Only negative thing is the xp drivers r tough to find.
So now im back to vista ='[.
i have a hp 530 notebook with Windows Vista Basic and i have been trying to load Windows Xp on it but it keeps telling me cannot find the hard or the hard disk is not properly fixed. I have followed the instruction i found on th website but yet still it cant load the Xp and this has been bodering me cuz i need to download some application which the Window Vista is not accepting it. I need Someone to pl
ease help me out…..i have shrink the C: given the other one G:….and i have apply the other settings which i saw in the FORUM.i NEED AN URGENT RESPONSE.
THANKS
i love you. this tutorial saved me a lot of freegen time. you should include this link in the tutorial though (http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfr…..mp;lang=en) most of the time this driver should work.
THANKS DOOD
i went geeky geeky after getting through and kickin in VISTA's weird ass !!!!…. Rock Geek !!!
my computer is a powerspec computer from a local vendor called microcenter. I formated that hard drive not knowing that the motherboard need that drive to install exp. I am going to attemp this soon so i hope it works. I just have to make sure i get all the drivers for the motherboard. I was desperated i even considered going out to buy vista to have an os,
YOU ARE A GOD!!!
I am using Hp pavillion Dv2701 tu i want to downgrade from vista to Xp but it shows now hardisk found in bios it does not show sata native mode i tried nlite and give the proper driver but still i get the same error can any one help me as i dont like vista at all i will be very great full if any one can solve my problem plz hellp
@rana:
The problems I had, and I think a few people may have had, possibly including yourself, were:
1. Make sure you definitely have the correct SATA/RAID drivers for your chipset. I originally downloaded the wrong ones.
2. Make sure your nLite install REMOVES the stock xp SATA/RAID driver entirely, or your xp install will NOT work.
3. Make sure you add your driver in TEXTMODE - otherwise it won't work.
I went through a few coasters before I finally got it right.
Good luck!
heyy man thanks for this tutorial..a question though..how long does it take to complete the whole thing? ive been at it for 5 hours and it's still integrating drivers.. im using hp pavilion dv2000.. thank u so much!
Hey thanks for your support.. you helped me really out
Thanks
Keep Going!
It should be noted that Service Pack 3 for Windows XP is now available (finally!) — in case it wasn't obvious from Grateway's comment.
Oh, by the way. Thanks Geek! This info is awesome.
oh my gosh i cant believe i finally did it!!! thank you sooooo soooooo much!! you're a genius!
Greeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaat!!! Thanks so much!!!
Hi
Never have I seen so many praises for a step-by-step guide. This is surely a very good guide. As of the surfers had put it 'its a gem' on this issue.
Was about to buy a HP Pavilion dv6570ee and wanted to know the issues with downgrading from Vista to XP. This post illustrates clearly steps that one should follow.
Why don't they sell the hardware and let us install the OS of our choice?
All the best
Cheers
Gopal
Kuwait
brilliant! this is what the internet is for, right?
tanx soo much geek extensa 5210 is not work with external floppy drive boot sata hdd drivers,i was creat iso xp cd its realy great work geek tnx soo much can u send me ur online email address. i like to chat with u any problem came
Thnak you very much but I could'nt download the nLite can you send it to my e-mail sda_hawk@yahoo.com
Really nice procedure! Thank you very much!
I LOVE YOU
VERRRRY HELPFUL.
MUCH THANKS
Bud
I really need to buy you a drink. I have a little support company in Zimbabwe and the amount of clients that ask me to downgrade their laptops to XP. You have now given me the solution. You truly are a great help to me.
Many thanks and keep up the good work.
formatting on Toshiba Satellite U300
i hope it works.
Thanks a lot for this piece of magic!
Need Help!
I have and HP Pavilion dv2500 and this guide doesn't work!
The Bios doesn't have the Sata Native option and I've tryed with the same file the guide uses and it doesn't work. I tryed with the Vista drivers from the HP website and it doesn't work.
grateway, you say you have to download the correct SATA drivers for your chipset, how do I know that? Where can I download the correct SATA drivers? How can I know the specific ChipSet driver for HP Pavilion dv2500?
How do I strip the SATA drivers from Xp? I'm completely lost here…
Thanks for your help
@LiderBoss
I feel your pain. The above guide is fantastic, yet it seems many people still struggle. Hopefully the sum of the comments posted here, plus contributions from others who managed to 'downgrade' successfully will add up to a solution for you and many others.
Try this for identifying your system info: http://www.gtopala.com/siw-download.html it's freeware and should tell you all you need to know. Write it all down, print it out, and google the chipset BEFORE you try any reinstalling (or use a second web-connected computer!). My Gateway used an Intel chipset, and once I had identified it correctly (!) the Intel website gave me the drivers. I had to unzip/extract the driver package in order to find the exact one.
THEN the fun really begins - you need to learn nLite and make an XP "iso", which is a custom version of your XP disc that eliminates the standard SATA/RAID drivers (which are causing the error message for you) and instead incorporates the exact driver you downloaded and extracted as per above.
I used this guide (I think) http://icrontic.com/articles/s.....ndows_easy to learn nLite.
IMPORTANT: Make sure you REMOVE the stock xp SATA driver and ADD your new driver as TEXTMODE or it WON'T WORK
It sounds complex, and I won't lie - I am PC-savvy and it took me a few days to figure, but you should be able to shave a bit off that time by using this info (I hope!).
Good luck!
in case of the driver requirement for the hp dv 2000 you can visit the following web site..to downlode the drivers
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/supp.....62909.html
Hello,
Does anyone know where the SATA drivers for Gateway GT5630 are available on the web. The SATA that I have is an Intel one.
Thanks,
Gateway N
@Gateway N:
As above - try this app for identifying your system info: http://www.gtopala.com/siw-download.html
It's freeware and should tell you all you need to know - look to identify your chipset model number (mine was Intel 945GM or something like that)
Once you have your details, head to http://support.intel.com/ and do a search. You should get what you need.
grateway,
Thanks for the quick response.!! The reason I ask this is because, I added the drivers that I thought were correct ( after following the instructions from above ) using nLite. I then burned them on to a new disk. Then during the install of win2003, at the stage where it says "Please enter any key to boot from CD…" I enter any key and lo behold !!. my system will hang/freeze.
I don't know if I am doing things correctly or is there something that is missing.
I have couple options:
1. Go and download from http://www.gtopala.com/siw-download.html
Run the tool and get the specs
Get the driver from Intel
Burn using Nero this time ( I used a freeware s/w to burn as nLite did not burn my ISO )
try to install using the newly created disk.
2. Use the USB floppy drive ( I do not know if this works )
Gateway N
@ Gateway N
Maybe Win2003 doesn't follow the same 'rules' as XP? Just a thought? You could try an XP install if you have a disc, to help narrow down what could be wrong?
I used Nero to burn, on the slowest speed setting. Took a couple of attempts I think.
The USB floppy route was a dead end for me. I hate floppies!
Again, good luck
KB
Has anybody installed Win2008 server on a vista machine ( that has a SATA)? Please share your thoughts on drivers, ease of use, 32/64 bit, third party tools like nLite,Nero, pre and post installation issues.
Gateway 123
Thanks for you r solution,
I did all this, and the SATA driver appeared to load well, however instead of the xp install proceeding as normal, caldera dr-dos started and brought me to a prompt that just says: [DR-DOS] A:/>. then what should i do.. please help me..
madan
If you are experiencing this on a Dell Inspiron laptop you can eliminate the problem easily. Before you install XP, you must first configure a setting in BIOS else the XP CD will not detect your hardisk.
In BIOS:
Onboard Devices -> Flash Cache Module -> Set Off
Onboard Devices -> SATA Operation -> Set ATA
You can now proceed with installing XP
wallahi it's nice verry helpfull thanks god
i have an hp pavillion dv2701tx with windows vista …but it seems the drivers are not available on the net . Could you please tell me how to install windows xp on my laptop? Where do i get the drivers from? plz plz help
Thank's a lot mate. This article save me
Grateway,
Yes, Gateway Vista PC's CAN be downgraded to Windows 2000 or Windows 2003.
I finally got my Gateway GT5630E vista pc downgraded to Windows 2003.
The problem that I had was the corrupt disk ( after adding the drivers and burning it thru a shareware burning software).
This is what I did ( And for all the Gateway folks) :
1. Ran the tool from: http://www.gtopala.com/siw-download.html
2. Got the Chipset Info from my computer- P965/G965 Intel Memory Hub
3. Google'd ''P965/G965 intel SATA Drivers" on the web.
4. I saw a ton of websites popping out. Select the Intel link. Here it is: http://www.intel.com/support/c.....022768.htm
5. on Intel website, I saw a table that had the Intel chipset information.
5a. Select the Chipset Row that you need and select the "download" link under Intel® Matrix Storage Manager.
6. You will then be taken to this website.
http://downloadcenter.intel.co.....uctID=2101
7. While there, Select the Operating System - I selected "Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition"
7a. You will get to this website.
"http://downloadcenter.intel.com/filter_results.aspx?strTypes=all&ProductID=2101&OSFullName=Windows+Server*+2003+Standard+Edition&lang=eng&strOSs=94&submit=Go%21″
8. I selected the Floppy disk version of the driver only. Here is how they are mentioned:
"32-bit Floppy Configuration Utility for Intel® Matrix Storage Manager (293KB)"
9. I clicked the download driver and used WinImage to extract the drivers.
10. After extracting them to a local folder, I saw these two drivers "iaahci.inf" and iastor.inf", besides a host of other information.
11. Prepare the disk using nLite:
12. Copy your XP or Win2000 or Win2003 image files from your disk to a local folder on your Hard drive.
13. Using nLite, select the iastor.inf driver.
Note: DO NOT remove the BOX SATA/RAID drivers from the disk for Windows 2003 installation
Note- this step only applies if you are setting up for the Windows 2003 servers ( 32/64bit only) . For XP, use the Grateway's steps as mentioned above
14. Burn the disk as an ISO Image.
15. Next burn the disk as a bootable disk ( you can burn and make it bootable in a single step )
You are set.
16. Reboot your Vista computer
17. Insert the newly prepared disk.
18. When prompted with this message "Please enter any key to boot from CD…" Hit enter.
19. The disk should take you through the normal installation process.
Disclaimer: The above steps are ONLY for Windows 2003 Standard, Enterprise (32 and 64 Bit ) and for Gateway machines.
Gateway users: If you need any more clarification, post them here.
All the best.
Gateway-123
Grateway,
I'm also unfortunate enough to own a Gateway MT6223b and have got everything working under XP except the sound card and card reader before I found this useful guide which would have saved me hours. I'm not too bothered about the card reader, but if you could tell me where you found the appropriate drivers for the soundcard, I'd be grateful.
bathman
Gateway 123 - superb stuff - if only I had documented a numbered list of the steps I finally took to success! Hopefully people wil be able to work it out anyway, but your contribution will prove invaluable I'm sure, especially for anyone tackling a windows 2003 install.
Bathman - I'm away from the machine now (it was my sisters) but I have the drivers on my USB drive. The audio driver .exe I have is D00758-001-001.exe - this link should do it http://www.google.co.uk/search.....GB258GB258
The 'Media Reader' is Part Number: D20003-003-001 - should be available here - http://support.gateway.com/sup.....=188261050
Good luck!
@ Nola
I love you too.
hello i just got acer extensa 5220 and want to install windows xp on it and i got a message that their is no hard disk detected and i tried nlite but i am not to clear about how to use it to install windows xp and i cnt enter bios settings to change the SATA Mode to IDE in BIOS was unable to enter bios setup it was asking for password plz can anybody help me or put me thrue
maxjohn98@yahoo
You are THE MAN. My new Vista-installed laptop had a SATA controller not supported in XP. I needed a dual-boot, so I got the error listed above. A quick trip to Lenovo's support site, and following your slip-streaming instructions did the trick. Thanks for giving to the community!
I was going nuts with a Lenovo Z61M laptop. It came with Vista installed which it should not of since Vista was killing the laptop. I did the above procedure, which first did not work …. But scrolling through I read a comment on the SATA and changing it to COMPATIBLITY MODE. IT WORKS!! Thanks!!
The fix proposed by Wil on 10/1/07 works perfectly. Disable native SATA support in BIOS before proceeding with the XP install.
Grateway,
Thank you very much for your help. I now have a fully working XP setup on my Gateway MT6223b. It is so nice to be back to XP instead of the awful Vista the machine comes with! Thanks again!
Cheers,
Bathman