[keerbear412]

What i was hoping wouldn't happen, happened... I am praying that i can get some help from one of you genius' out there... Here is my problem...
I got a new laptop from dell that has two sata hard drives installed (both assigned the c running Vista Home Premium, from the minute i turned it on it was sssooooo ssslllooowww!!! i have 2g ram installed, i have used a laptop that had similar specs of mine (if not less) that ran like a dream. I finally got fed up and decided to downgrade to xp (that i legally own) and i deleted the partition and attempted to install xp, i received an error stating that no hard drive can be found. so i entered the bios and changed the sata operation from raid on to raid autodetect/ata (i have done it in the past, on a different laptop and it let me install xp) this did not work. i then tried to reinstall vista home premium and IT could not find a hard drive??? does anyone have any recommendations for me??? please?

[managed]

Looks like those 2 drives are set up as a Raid array.
Check for a Bios option to set the drives to 'IDE' or any option without the word 'Raid' in it.

If you want to keep Raid do you get to the point where the XP install has 'Press F6 to install Raid/Sata drivers' at the bottom of the screen ?
If you do you can try to load the driver using an external USB floppy drive, you will have to get the driver at the laptop maker's website but some new laptops don't have XP drivers.

What make and model is your laptop ?

[keerbear412]

I am going to look into that a little more... Thank You! i am in "raid array" right now and it gives me the option to "delete the array" is that something that could work? i have a dell inspiron 1721.. Thanks!

[managed]

A lot depends on what Xp and Vista disks you have.
Were they supplied with the laptop ?

[keerbear412]

i have xp and vista discs supplied by dell, that came with the pc.

[foofoo]

Install Mac OS

[gammaster]

hey what you gotta do is repartition the hard drive

[managed]

The disks are probably Dell restore disks and should have all you need on them, what does it say on the disks themselves ?

Basically I think you need to delete the existing Raid array and create a new one but I'm not sure what your Disks will do, they might do all that for you or you might need to get Raid drivers before you start an install.

I would wait for someone who has tried this before or is familiar with it to post, I don't want to give you bad advice.

[keerbear412]

If i delete the raid array and do not re-create one, what will happen? They are dell restore disks but i also have the purchased edition of xp also (it does the same thing though)... at this point i just want xp or vista to install, because neither will.... but i also would really like to know how to "fix" this problem too.... thanks.

[keerbear412]

okay, deleting the raid array did not help, i think that i am in way over my head now? i think that i have a really expensive paperweight right now? i really need help now?

[RootbeaR]

Originally Posted by keerbear412

i have xp and vista discs supplied by dell, that came with the pc.

They don't usually ship with two OS discs.
Where did you get the XP CD?
With a different computer? OEM? It won't work on any computer but the one it came with, tied to hardware and what-not.
Linux can be had pretty cheap.
Got a disc you can burn to?
http://www.pclinuxos.com/

[keerbear412]

I had the XP cd from a different computer, dell said that it would work okay, I would just have to install the drivers from the website. This is where I am at now, Just incase someone else has this problem as well. I deleted the raid array because I could not find the drivers for my hard drives. I then tried to install windows xp and it would not install, it said that it could not detect a hard drive. I then went into the bios once again and it had changed back to RAID on, so I turned it off again, and tried to install again, but this time with success! Now my only problem is finding the drivers for this laptop for xp, and i have seen that not many people have been very successful with this.... any suggestions? I will mark this as solved since I was able to fix my initial problem... THANK YOU FOR ALL OF YOUR HELP... It is greatly appreciated!!!!

[RootbeaR]

Go to dell and search your model.

Look for drivers and/or downloads.

I think some come in a bundle and some you select individually.

Either check in device manager for specific drivers you need or get them all. Keep a pen and paper handy, write down the driver you are downloading and what it pertains to, they do not label them as "sound driver," it is numbers and letters.

Burn them to a disc and put it away for future.

To install, just double click on the icon of the driver you want to install.

Look for instructions too. It may say to install in a certain order.

Unsolve this thread for now too please. I am no expert and welcome others help. Besides, until you get all of your drivers you aren't really up n running.

If you post your PC model I will look for drivers for you.

[keerbear412]

I found the proper drivers for my make and model other than the bluetooth adapter, they do not have one available for xp. the drivers were under latitide d531, for video and audio, just incase someone else comes across the same issue. I want to thank everyone for all of their help. My Make and model is a Dell Inspiron 1721. Incase someone knows a secret for the bluetooth driver... thanks!!!

[RootbeaR]

Originally Posted by keerbear412

I found the proper drivers for my make and model other than the bluetooth adapter, they do not have one available for xp. the drivers were under latitide d531, for video and audio, just incase someone else comes across the same issue. I want to thank everyone for all of their help. My Make and model is a Dell Inspiron 1721. Incase someone knows a secret for the bluetooth driver... thanks!!!

Check MS or the maker of your bluetooth device.