Can not install OS XP Pro setup does not recognize any onboard HDD's

[anichol9]

Hi I have a Dell 8400. I am trying to reload the OS MS XP Pro. Unfortunately the setup does not recognize any onboard HDD's It will recognize all the externals but. not any of the internals. I can see the HDD's under Disk Management By all appearances it all seems normal. The PC is up and running and C: & D: are visable for usage with out issue. The problem is the PC is doing some hinky stuff. Some folders I can not delete they are empty etc. Everything has become painfully slow despite the fact the PC has been cleaned and defragged. This is driving me crazy though I do not have far to go.
Thanks
Tonie

 

[daship]

Set the drives to ide mode in bios.

 

[anichol9]

Set the drives to ide mode in bios.

Hi Thanks for the prompt reply. I went to Bios and did not see anywhere to set that info. I have Sata drives and it appeared to be unchangeable.
Any suggestions

 

[kneelicks]

disconnect the externals. Install xp - then reconnect the externals again. XP does this so when it does a reboot during the install the drive letters don't get changed on it.

 

[anichol9]

disconnect the externals. Install xp - then reconnect the externals again. XP does this so when it does a reboot during the install the drive letters don't get changed on it.

I did disconnect the externals. When I first started to rebuild I did not have the externals connected. XP did not recognize any hard drive at all. I rebooted 3 times and went into setup to no avail. Then I connected the externals to see if it would recognize anything and setup did recognize everything external. I disconnected the externals and ran setup again still did not recognize the internals I have 2 separate SATA internals XP does not recognize either.
I checked BIOS all looked normal
My disk manager stated all HDD's are healthy I ran disk maintenance all came back perfect. I am at a loss.
Thank you For getting back to me

 

[dokk2]

Well if it was my system ,,I would boot to my floppy and look see if fdisk can see the drive,possibly there is no active partition or drive not ready,and you no doubt have checked all connections and made certain that the os is addressing the hdd that you think it is..???

 

[anichol9]

The partitions are active & Healthy I am using the pc now. I do not have a floppy to boot from. Yes I have checked all connections. removed my second HDD and still the setup states there is not a hard drive found to found on the system.

 

[kneelicks]

I presume you did that part where your search for the dell 8400 sata drivers, and press f6 during the windows instal to add drivers..

 

[Shaun o]

Bingo to that man !.

Yes with xp you have to install your Sata drivers.....
Third party drivers !

 

[anichol9]

Yes I did do the third party SATA even though I have never had to do that in the past. Both of the drives were installed by Dell when I bought it new. I have reinstalled the OS a couple of times with out issues. And never had to install SATA drivers. The SATA was always recognized. Would it just be better to install an IDE drive and go from there.

 

[ainarssems]

You might want ot download SP3, Sata drivers for Dell 8400 and nlite. Use nlite to slipstream SP3 and sata drivers in installation cd and burn new cd to use for installation.

 

[anichol9]

You might want ot download SP3, Sata drivers for Dell 8400 and nlite. Use nlite to slipstream SP3 and sata drivers in installation cd and burn new cd to use for installation.

Thank you I will try that
Thanks for the info

 

[sveiks2u]

Hi I have a Dell 8400. I am trying to reload the OS MS XP Pro. Unfortunately the setup does not recognize any onboard HDD's It will recognize all the externals but. not any of the internals. I can see the HDD's under Disk Management By all appearances it all seems normal. The PC is up and running and C: & D: are visable for usage with out issue. The problem is the PC is doing some hinky stuff. Some folders I can not delete they are empty etc. Everything has become painfully slow despite the fact the PC has been cleaned and defragged. This is driving me crazy though I do not have far to go.
Thanks
Tonie

this helped when i was trying to install a new hd on a friends dell...

Reboot your system and hit F2 as soon as you see the Dell startup screen (the options are F2 for setup, F12 for boot sequence).

In the System Setup screen, do these steps.

Select Drives:
Make sure your Diskette Drive (3.5 floppy) is set properly (Usually set to Internal)
Make sure that "Drive 0: SATA-0" drive is set to "ON"

Go to "SATA Operation":

Your system proabaly came set to "RAID Autodetect / AHCI" - THIS SETTING CAUSES YOUR SYSTEM TO GO INTO AN IDE LOOP AND DOESN'T ALLOW IT TO FIND YOUR FACTORY INSTALLED SATA DRIVE.

CHANGE THE SATA OPERATION SETTING TO "COMBINATION"

Reboot - make sure that the boot sequence is set to CD rom before HD and make sure that the reinstall CD is in the drive. Setup will load, hit enter to reinstall XP PRO. Your HD should now be detected and you should see the licensing agreement.

If you have your files backed up I recommend deleting the partition and reformatting prior to installing XP, it will give you that option after the license agreement.

Once you have successfully reinstalled the OS, Dell recommends that you change the SATA Operation setting back to RAID AUTODETECT / AHCI (or back to whatever your factory setting was) to avoid any problems with other IDE devices installed on your system.

Hope that helps!