[brethrap]

Hi,
I recently bought a VAIO VGN-FZ11S notebook which came preinstalled with VISTA. As an electronic student I need and use XP and need to downgrade to XP. Thinking things would be straight forward I used a gentoo live cd to partition and format my hard drive preparing for a xp/linux dual boot. The XP installation cd runs well until the part where I'm supposed to select the partition where to install XP. For so reason I get a report that no hard drive has been found in my system. I have tried re-partitioning using a gparted live cd and still get the same error. In some forum I visited someone mentioned possible RAID problem but no solution. Has anyone managed a complete VISTA wipeout? And How? Please I need help as my laptop is now useless.

My system specs are:

PHP Code:

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System Information
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System Manufacturer: Sony Corporation
       System Model: VGN-FZ11S
               BIOS: Ver 1.00PARTTBL
          Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU     T7100  @ 1.80GHz (2 CPUs), ~1.8GHz
             Memory: 2046MB RAM
       Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GT
       Manufacturer: NVIDIA
          Chip type: GeForce 8400M GT 


Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[PangingJr]

the system spec looks pretty decent, it would be ashamed if it turned out that you cannot use it well under different OS. i hope someone will be able to help you out soon.

[mkk]

See if the BIOS has a setting for enabling/disabling RAID support for the SATA interface and set it to disabled. When RAID is turned off most motherboards allow for Windows to identify SATA drives without manually adding drivers for bootup support. If there is no such setting you can try locating WinXP boot drivers for the SATA interface of that moderboard, and have them ready on a floppy when installing WinXP. Or integrate such drivers into the WinXP installation by creating a custom disc using a program like nLite.
nLite - Deployment Tool for the bootable Unattended Windows installation

[vocau]

Hi everybody,
I have the same problem but with my laptop Fusitsu Siemens. They report that "no hard drive has been found in my system." Sure , I have the XP Pro Disk bootable.

The solution of Mr MKK with the floppy seems unrealizable because we don't have the floppy disk connected to laptop.
Maybe the problem can be resolved with RAID,
Anyone can help us ? Thank you very much

[PangingJr]

Hi, more info from you might help, the hardware details and what you tried to do but failed and in full details?

[hopings89]

I have the Same problem,

I think Formating the Drive might help but i don't know how to do that on Vista.

if someone happened to have found out how to format on Vista , Please share.

Thx!

[hopings89]

i did alot of searching and all you have to do is go into BIOS mode and disable the Native SATA.

then just try reinstaling XP. Its Easy

To get on BIOS All you have to do is press F10 or F8 depending on your Computer

[hopings89]

if something is deleted because of formating search your computer and then suport,
should lead you to the manufacturers page and have downloads.

Hope all this Helps!

[khat17]

http://www.driverheaven.net/windows-xp-2000-nt-9x-forum/145702-sony-vgn-c240e.html

See if the info in that thread is similar to your problem. If it does the download link is in the thread and also below.

Link To Download File


PeAcE

[Cannyone]

In order for SATA drives to be recognized, when they are in SATA mode, you have to enable a setting in BIOS called "Interrupt 19 Capture". And you need "OEM text" drivers properly installed to a floppy, or copied from a floppy onto a USB drive. Truthfully, this case is one of the few reasons to still have a floppy. And, personally, I keep a USB floppy drive around just for that purpose.

The other thing that you might try, at least with XP. Is to Integrate your HDD controller drivers into your install CD. But you still have to identify the correct drivers and be prepared to burn a CD. Instructions for this can be found from several sources on the Internet.