Error Message:Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed in you 1

[trigger753]

I have a three month old Dell Dimension 8400. 3.0 GHZ P4, 1 Gig Ram and a 160 gig SATA Hard Drive. When I got the computer I used the files and transfer (PC Relocator) utility. And had a bunch of unwanted extras that came with it. I'm having a Satellite Internet system installed and they wanted a clean install of windows XP. So I opened the owner’s manual and got out the reinstallation disk and the problems began. By the way Dell tech support's only response has been to say gee that's not right, and would send a tech sometime after Christmas. Anyway heres step by step what I did.
I boot to the Dell reinstallation disk. The windows setup screen appears and loads files. The next screen says welcome to setup and offers three options. 1-to setup XP press enters. 2 To repair XP press R 3 to exit without installing XP press F3
I press enter and the following message comes up. Setup did not find any hard disk installed in your computer. Make sure any hard disk drives are powered on and properly connected. And any disk related configuration is correct.ect. Press F3 to quit. It dose this if I try repair also.
Dell had me check the connections to the HD and Motherboard. They’re good. And debug the hard drive. No luck. Everything worked fine until I put in the reinstallation disk.
Any help would be welcome.

 

[bcastner]

Here is the catch-22: You likely do not have a floppy drive on that unit.

Without a floppy drive you cannot load the needed SATA drivers.

Without the SATA drivers, XP install cannot do anything with your SATA drive.

Now to be fair to Dell, XP does not offer anything other than a floppy as a driver resource for RAID, SATA or other odd controller driver formats.

Step #1: copy the SATA drivers from the Dell driver CD to a floppy disk on another computer;

Step #2: Take any working floppy disk and install it in the new Dell temporarily. The connection point is there, all you need is a spare floppy and cable. Check the BIOS to make sure it is recognized.

Step #3: When prompted for RAID drivers, hit F6 and stick the SATA driver floppy into the drive.

I just went through this a month a go for my hacker 12-year-old on his birthday, as using XP Home was completely beneath him.

Last thought: It is outrageous for the SAT folks to ask for a clean install of XP to user their service. I would have flat out refused and asked to speak to the highest supervisor I could find. I have done several SAT installs for internet access, and never, never, was asked for a clean install.

Just tell them no.

 

[linney]

Are these drivers already included on the Recovery CD negating the requirement for F6? Can they be added via a slipstreaming type procedure?

http://www.techimo.com/forum/printthread.php?t=109079

Limited OEM driver support is available with F6 during Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 setup

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314859&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

 

[bcastner]

The Dell Dimension 8400 P4 3.8 HT 1 gb. package I bought for my hacker son did not have the SATA drivers slipstreamed into the installation CD.

I did as I described above, and copied the SATA drivers from the Drivers CD to floppy, temporarily connected a spare floppy drive, and did a clean install of XP SP2 slipstreamed.

The first thing I did after being done was to head to the Dell site and download and apply several device driver patches and misc. hotfixes.

 

[trigger753]

Thanks BCASTNER, You solved my problem. Dell continuued to tell me my Hard Drive was dead and needed to be replaced. Now all I have to do is figure out why I have to press F1 before windows will load. THANKS

 

[bcastner]

I have yet to see a good workaround, including slipstreaming, for RAID and SATA drivers. To me the unattended install, or the CD-based install, needs these drivers fairly early on in order to recognize the Hard Disk drive appropriately during an install.

I did fiddle a bit trying to use a USB pen drive without luck. I hope someone far more clever than I can come up with a way, either slipstream or other device, to avoid the current necessity of a floppy disk drive to install these critical drivers.

There is no provision that I have found that obviates the need for a floppy with RAID, SATA or other non-IDE drives. But it will become increasingly common that boxes are shipped sans floppy drives.

At least the OEM manufacturers leave the floppy connector on the motherboards. If that is removed, in the absence of any other solution, you will be royally screwed in trying to install or reinstall XP on non-IDE drives.

And no, you cannot mount the drive on a second machine as a slave and do the deed. It is critical that XP have the drivers for non-IDE hard drives early in the install, and at the moment it has to be floppy-based.

 

[Bazcor]

Would it not be possible to put the SATA drivers on a CDR(W) and load them from there? or would a CD swap during setup be to much for XP's tiny mind? On second thought I think I can guess the answer to this :-(

 

[gpalmer711]

This is an exerpt from a MS Technet chat in April this year.

Host: Chrisav (Microsoft)
Q: will ms ever make XP setup allow Raid drivers from CD instead of floppy using f6, instead of having to slipstream it in?
A: No. This is not a planned item for XP. Likely not planned for ANY O/S as this is a very small percentage of installs.

So it sounds like the change will not be made for Longhorn

Full Source here

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/community/chats/trans/winxppro/wxp040904.mspx

Greg Palmer
Freeware Utilities for Windows Administrators.

http://www.palmersoft.co.uk

 

[bcastner]

I would not consider Chrisav's comments as written in stone. It will become normal for new boxes to ship without floppy drives fairly soon.

 

[gpalmer711]

Thats what I thought - it would be very short sighted of MS if they went this way.

Greg Palmer
Freeware Utilities for Windows Administrators.

http://www.palmersoft.co.uk

 

[linney]

Does anyone have an opinion as to the workability of

"rpertusio May 3rd, 2004 02:28 PM

Install SATA drivers without floppy disk:"

http://www.techimo.com/forum/printthread.php?t=109079

 

[bcastner]

linney,

It is likely my own incompetence, but I have been able to slipstream RAID, but not SATA.

In addition, I consider it very problematic if the XP install itself is the target drive. I have no issue with slipstreaming RAID or SATA for secondary storage, just not the primary hard drive installation for XP.

 

[pweegar]

Again, it seems that MS, in it's narrow mindedness, is falling behind with what the hardware manufacturers are doing. MS, for whatever reason, refuses to make installation easier and simpler, as it should be.

I know that Dell now will only bundle a floppy drive IF you specify it, otherwise no floppy (at least with their desktop pc's).

Also makes me wonder if you can put the drivers on one of the small "thumdrives" or what ever you want to call it. Or any other storage device. BUt then again, MS would have to include someway of getting the install cd to see what ever device the drivers are located on.

 

[wolluf]

You can add SATA drivers to an XP install CD - his link in the thread he references gives an option. It does depend on the actual SATA drivers being used - different drivers can need different methods.

http://www.nliteos.com/index.html

is freeware which can help you do this.

SATA drivers are a pain in the proverbial - and its even worse with 64 bit versions of XP and with Vista. Microsoft just doesn't seem to have got its act together at all on this issue.

 

[tomecar]

I have the same issue with my Dell 8400 system and I found a very nice solution to this problem that did not require a SATA driver floppy. Nice!!

Check out the following link.

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Operating_Systems/Q_21572481.html

"Most Dell's that have SATA have an option in the BIOS to make an SATA drive be detected as and IDE drive for compatiblity, it's called "Combined Mode". If you are having trouble loading drivers for the SATA drive you may want to go that route instead. You need to enter the BIOS configuration (I think you hit either delete or F2 to enter BIOS setup, it depends on the Dell) and on the drive options change the drive mode to "Combined". Then Windows setup should detect the drive with no issues and no need to load extra drivers."

 

[kermit01de]

Just a comment:
I had to setup a Fujitsu-Siemens Econel 50 Server with SATA-HD and ran into the "no HD found" error. I had a look into the BIOS and there is a possibility to set the SATA to "emulate IDE Channels". After doing that, setup was no problem any more.

Bugs will appear in one part of a working program when another 'unrelated' part is modified

 

[bcastner]

kernut01ide,

Thanks to you for renewing this thread. MSFT will hold to the floppy drive under XP; you can use an USB pen drive under Vista, next year.

I have clearly told the product teams at MSFT that this is desirable; I alwo was told that an alternative to a floppy install of drivers will not happen for XP.

As far as I know, there is no way to change this. I did try.

Best,
Bill Castner

 

[micker377]

Would it be possible to use a USB floppy drive with "Legacy USB" turned on in BIOS setup? As for simplicity: YOU WILL UPGRADE TO VISTA...or else!

 

[cheerful]

Most Dell's that have SATA have an option in the BIOS to make an SATA drive be detected as and IDE drive for compatiblity, it's called "Combined Mode".

One the installation is successful, can I switch it back to Enhanced mode?

Thanks!

 

[cheerful]

Can anybody point me where the BIOS setting is? I can't located it.

Thanks!