xp installation says no harddrives

[kunsr]

hello,
I came home started up my dell 8400 dimension and got a nice blue screen rebooted a couple times same thing. tried to boot in safe mode everything gets the blue screen. decided to just re-install xp. installation started but then said no hard drives were found. i checked in bios it showed my 2 sata harddrives. I tried changing cables around nothing helped. took drives out placed in another computer worked fine. any reason xp doesn't reconize the drives. I have re-installed xp on this computer before with no problems.

 

[g-paw]

Try clearing the CMOS, instructions should be in the manual. If that doesn't do it, disconnect everything and see if you can get into the BIOS. If you have more than one stick of RAM, test each

 

[WazzaUK]

any reason xp doesn't reconize the drives. I have re-installed xp on this computer before with no problems.

Maybe you were using IDE HDD's last time.....

or:

your SATA controller isnt supported by the windows xp pro cd/dvd - find the drivers and shove em on a floppy - then during windows install you'll see "Press F6 for third party devices (or something to that effect)" - just press F6 - setup will prompt you for the disk containing the drivers....