XP Pro installation

I recently ordered a Toshiba A205-S5804 Laptop (1.6GHz Dual core w/ 1GB RAM) on eBay.
It came with the HDD wiped.
It included a restore disk with Vista Home Premium.

The problem is that I need this laptop to have XP Pro installed not Vista (there is specific software that I need to run on his machine that is incompatible with Vista).

BIOS finds the HDD with no problem.
When I try to install XP, it loads all the preliminary drivers but then stops and reports that there is no HDD installed on the machine.
The Vista recovery disk however, loads just fine.

I tried 3 different HDDs and the results were the same.

I used the XP install disc on another laptop using each of the HDDs and had no difficulty.

Any ideas would be welcomed.

 

i would assume the hdd that the laptop you bought is sata, so for sata hdd's, you would need the hdd drivers. When you do the install of xp you would need to press F6 during the XP install to use additional drivers.

I would recommend downloading the drivers necessary for your toshiba laptop, and then copy those drivers to either a usb floppy or floppy drive

 

Indeed the HDDs are SATA.

Apparently the chipset does need a configuration utility driver to access them.
I have a request in at Toshiba for the proper one.
Thank you very much

 

This is not primarily because the drive is SATA, it is that the BIOS is using AHCI, which is the best method of accessing SATA drives.

There should only be one driver for your laptop model on the Toshiba site, so it is not worth you waiting for the tech support request to come back, as they are likely to say that XP is not supported.

Another thing. I hope you have a USB floppy drive because you will need a floppy drive to install AHCI drivers.

You may be able to disable AHCI in the BIOS if you do not have a floppy drive.

 

Thank you.

I have been researching this question and am learning a lot about this.
I do have a USB floppy drive.
There doesn't appear to be anything in the BIOS that allows me to alter the ACHI setting.

 

do you see any options for switching from AHCI to compatibility mode?

 

No there are no such options in the BIOS

 

From what I see Toshiba doesn't have the driver on there website.

I think you just get it from Intel (select XP as OS) and take the Floppy Configuration Utility. Write the floppy and try it at F6 during install.

 

I tried that but the Intel Floppy Configuration Utility gives me several (8, I believe) versions.
I tried each one but to no avail.

 

Are you running the the f6flpy3289.exe and letting it write to the floppy disk then using that floppy at F6?

 

Yes f6flpy3289.exe is one of the several zip files that I have tried from Intel.
It produces a floppy disc that I am using (F6 at install).
No luck with any of the options.
I also found a file that is Toshiba specific:
http://askiris.toshiba.com/ToshibaS...iceId=&dialogID=99278314&stateId=1 0 99282078
Again, no go

 

Is your XP installation disc SP2 or higher?

 

Actually no.
I usually install from the XP Pro disk I have (First release-No Service Packs) and then manually update to SP3.
Could this be the problem?

 

Hi Joel, when i have to deal with situations such as this, i always just slipstream SP3 and the SATA drivers onto the install disc.

Take a look here... http://www.digitgeek.com/how-to-slipstream-sata-drivers-into-xp-cd/


It is a very easy process to do, just make sure you use a blank CD and NOT a blank DVD!

Q

 

I'm not sure because I have never slipstreamed myself. I am just going by several links I have read about your laptop and a few put cautions that you need SP2 or must slipstream but don't give an exact reason why. But it comes up when talking about the SATA drivers.

Here is a link on slipstreaming taht series notebook. The ati_78enu is just an old version of the ati_89enu in that floppy disc.