Shoutbox

Here's the situation. It's a new laptop that came with no software, and I wanted to install XP on it. But alas, XP thinks there is no HDD, so it can't install. As I was kindly told on IRC earlier, XP and SATA don't mix well, so I read around on the Internet and concluded that I need SATA driver(s).

(I did read about how to install it without a floppy drive etc, so that's not an issue.)

My real problem is, I don't really know what kinda driver I need. The HDD is, according to BIOS, a Samsung HM250JI. And as for any information about the chipset, the only thing I could find out was that it's "Intel 965PM chip". The latter piece of info led me to here, and now I'm wondering, are those okay?

I did email the customer service of my computer shop with this as well, but I don't expect a very useful reply, so I really hope you guys can help me. ;(

You probably want the second one on the list. (http://downloadcenter.intel.com/confirm.aspx?http...FullName=&lang=eng)

If you don't have a working floppy disk, you can use nLite's Drivers page to integrate the drivers into a windows CD.

You'll also need to find out how to actually extract the drivers from the floppy image (unless you read how to do that earlier on...) (I can't remember exactly but it's a relatively simple process). But  your computer came with NOTHING? What does that mean? No programs/drivers installed or no operating system or ANYTHING installed...

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Originally posted by Aardvark
You'll also need to find out how to actually extract the drivers from the floppy image (unless you read how to do that earlier on...) (I can't remember exactly but it's a relatively simple process). But  your computer came with NOTHING? What does that mean? No programs/drivers installed or no operating system or ANYTHING installed...

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blank HDD, I guess.

Thanks, shawnz! Yeah, I did get nLite, it's such a nifty little thing.

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Originally posted by Aardvark
You'll also need to find out how to actually extract the drivers from the floppy image (unless you read how to do that earlier on...) (I can't remember exactly but it's a relatively simple process). But  your computer came with NOTHING? What does that mean? No programs/drivers installed or no operating system or ANYTHING installed...

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Actually I came across a little guide that indicated where to find the drivers that are extracted when you run the exe. I found them and nLite also showed it was the right thing. And yeah, simple process the floppy thing may be, but I think I don't have any blank floppies left. >.<

And indeed, that PC came with no software installed, only a drivers disk came with it (and of course, no SATA drivers or anything like that on it). I chose it that way because with software it would have been a lot more expensive. (Though now I'm not sure if that was the right thing to do, since I never guessed I'd have problems with not recognizing the HDD. )

Anyway, I'll try the CD created by nLite today and post back after. *prays it will work*

Edit: it did work!

Shame there is no other way to install it... without nLite what could be done? *sigh*

I had this exact same problem when I was on holidays and I got my new laptop. Installing XP didn't work so I tried a whole range of different things, most of them somehow revolving around the preinstalled environment of Vista's install disk. (Desperately trying SOMEHOW to make winnt32.exe run without the compatibility problems of running it on Vista). At one stage I thought of nLiting every single driver I had on my computer...which took a while so I kinda gave up. When I got home I had a bit of a google and it turned out that was basically what I had to do all along...if only I looked that up BEFORE I went on a 4 week holiday.

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Originally posted by YottabyteWizard
Shame there is no other way to install it... without nLite what could be done? *sigh*

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with a driver floppy disk...

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Originally posted by ShawnZ

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Originally posted by YottabyteWizard
Shame there is no other way to install it... without nLite what could be done? *sigh*

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with a driver floppy disk...

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I meant the newest laptops which don't include a floppy drive? You'll need to buy an external one.