xp install on dell 1525

I bought a laptop with vista home basic thinking id just be installing xp pro on it when i got it. i tried to install xp on there today but when it got through loading drivers and what not, and after it prompted the recovery or install screen, i hit enter to install windows. right after that a screen prompted me that it cant find the hard drive. tried it a few times now and no go. the hdd is working correctly, i can boot into vista just fine.

laptop is a dell inspiron 1525

any ideas on what to do?

 

windows xp setup does not have the proper driver for your hard drive (probably SATA)

You will need a floppy disk with the correct driver(s) and during the xp setup, there will be a prompt asking you to press f6 to install third party scsi or raid drivers...then it will check the floppy for the drivers. there may be a workaround (there was for me and my ibm thinkpad without a floppy drive) but you will have to check dell's support site.

 

what if i dont have a floppy drive? i have a driver cd, but how can i use that when i try to install xp?

 

Try a flash drive, instead of the floppy.

 

alright ill give that a try quick

 

in the mean time ill check the site for that work around

 

check around the net for workarounds on that issue, it's a little complex, but if you feel comfortable, go right ahead....

does your version of xp pro have service pack 2 already on it? if not, google some ways on "slip-streaming" sp2 onto xp installations. I've done it and it worked for me, wasnt too difficult either, and sp2 might contain the driver you need.

 

yeah it has sp2 on it already.

 

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Install-Windows-XP-On-SATA-Without-a-Floppy-F6-47807.shtml

seems to work, but i've never tried it...

 

well ill give that a try tomorrow. im going to be sneaking out of work in about a half hour or so. thanks both for the ideas, ill get back to work on it tomorrow.

 

will an external usb floppy drive work??

 

figured it out. it was a matter of turning off the flash cache module to allow me to switch the hdd controller to ata instead of ahci. it then recognized my hdd and proceeded with the xp install.


fyi.