I want to upgrade the SATA hard drive on my laptop, but when I try to install windows xp on the new hard drive from the CD drive I get hung up. I push the F6 key when prompted and then come to a point where I am asked to put the setup disk for my new hard drive in Drive A. I don't have a drive A and the new drivers are on a CD. When I swap out the Windows CD for the Hard Disk setup CD nothing happens. If I swap the Windows disk back into the CD drive and try to proceed I get a message that Windows cannot recognize the hard drive and then the only option is to restart and go through the same thing all over again. How can I load the drivers so Windows can find the Hard Disk or make the setup identify the CD as drive A? There must be a way around this but I am stumped. Can anyone offer advice?

I want to upgrade the SATA hard drive on my laptop, but when I try to install windows xp on the new hard drive from the CD drive I get hung up. I push the F6 key when prompted and then come to a point where I am asked to put the setup disk for my new hard drive in Drive A. I don't have a drive A and the new drivers are on a CD. When I swap out the Windows CD for the Hard Disk setup CD nothing happens. If I swap the Windows disk back into the CD drive and try to proceed I get a message that Windows cannot recognize the hard drive and then the only option is to restart and go through the same thing all over again. How can I load the drivers so Windows can find the Hard Disk or make the setup identify the CD as drive A? There must be a way around this but I am stumped. Can anyone offer advice?

Go into the BIOS and check the 'Sata Operation' setting, change it to 'Raid Autodetect/ATA' if it is not already. Now try to install XP

if that did not work try these
Restart the computer and enter the BIOS.
The location and type of setting will vary with the make and model of the motherboard.
Here are some:

MAIN menu
SATA Mode
Select IDE Mode instead of AHCI Mode

====================

ADAVANCED or ADVANCED (BIOS) SETTINGS menu
SATA Drive Configuration
Select Compatibility (Mode) instead of AHCI (Mode)

====================

(BIOS) ADVANCED menu
SATA
Disable Auto
Enable Combination

====================

Set to PATA mode

====================
INTEGRATED PERIPHERALS menu
IDE Function Setup
OnChip IDE => Disabled
SATA DMA transfer => Enabled

INTEGRATED PERIPHERALS menu
Onboard Device
SATA => Disabled

Thank you very much. That was so easy. The BIOS menu was not exactly the same, but I changed it from Native SATA and windows setup then recognized the new hard drive. Problem solved. I assume that after finishing the installation I can update the SATA drivers if necessary and return to SATA mode in the BIOS.

if that did not work try these
Restart the computer and enter the BIOS.
The location and type of setting will vary with the make and model of the motherboard.
Here are some:

MAIN menu
SATA Mode
Select IDE Mode instead of AHCI Mode

====================

ADAVANCED or ADVANCED (BIOS) SETTINGS menu
SATA Drive Configuration
Select Compatibility (Mode) instead of AHCI (Mode)

====================

(BIOS) ADVANCED menu
SATA
Disable Auto
Enable Combination

====================

Set to PATA mode

====================
INTEGRATED PERIPHERALS menu
IDE Function Setup
OnChip IDE => Disabled
SATA DMA transfer => Enabled

INTEGRATED PERIPHERALS menu
Onboard Device
SATA => Disabled

Yes, you can revert the drive type to AHCI or RAID after installing windows, but it is not all that straightforward. You must select the right driver [a .sys file] from those on the cd and copy it into your system along with the correct .ini file, change registry entries to ensure that the .ini file is read and the driver loaded. Once you have made the correct changes you then change the BIOS setting to either AHCI or RAID. And so find out if you did it all correctly.
You have some reading to do...

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