1 Topic by tkemmere (edited by tkemmere 2009-11-06 10:55:22)

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Topic: [Solved] Gparted one partition, WinXP install CD: Harddisk not found.

Hi,

I'm affraid I'm stuck with a similar problem as discussed on http://gparted-forum.surf4.info/viewtopic.php?id=13531.

My Question:
I would like to know whether I too will have to go through the lengthy process as described in the thread above, or maybe whether my problem can be solved more easily?

So here I describe my situation:
Laptop: Toshiba Satellite centrino 80 GB HDD. No FDD.
- A Windows XP system file got corrupted and rendered the whole computer unusable because it had no recovery data on it. Reinstallation of XP was needed.
- I decided to use the opportunity to merge the 2 partitions into one.
- I backed up all the data from the machine with an Ubuntu CD (great by the way).
- Then I wiped all partitions that Gparted (System > "partition editor" under Ubuntu) could see. I guess I shouldn't have done that. I thought: Nice and clean, just like my desktop. My desktop has only one NTFS partition that is active and primary and works fine.
- I created one NTFS partition, but the WinXP setup process stalls in no disk to put WinXP on and if I boot without CD it cliams Invalid partition table.

fdisk -lu /dev/sda says:

Disk /dev/sda: 80.0Gb .......bytes.
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 Cylinders, total 156301488 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 - 512 bytes
Disk Identifier 0x3c47ca7c
device boot start end block ID system
/dev/sda1 63 156296384 78148161 7 HPFS/NTFS
(where 63 is under start)

dd if=/dev/sda bs=512 count=1 puts nine and a half lines of gibberish on the screen and gives one beep!

Help would greatly be appreciated! If only with a reference to a more appropriate topic by one of you who knows the forum better than I do.

If I too need to get MBR files across, I could use a usb stick, Ubuntu sees those. It all seems quite daunting, especially cause I don;t know linux, but if I have to, I will, the laptop is worth it and very needed. If only I would have known it beforehad, I would have deleted the second partition and just dragged the first to max size...

Thank you very much in advance,
Regards, Thomas.

2 Reply by class413

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Re: [Solved] Gparted one partition, WinXP install CD: Harddisk not found.

If you have no operating system, no data to keep on the hard drive, then you can create a new partition table on the hard drive. This will overwrite the previous one in the MBR, so you will be able to create new partitions from zero.

You can create the new partition table using the latest stable GParted livecd. The Ubuntu install cd usually contains an older version of GParted.
You must select the "msdos" type (older GParted versions used the term "disk label" instead of partition table).

As you reinstall xp, you could leave the xp installer create the partition itself, after creating the new partition table with GParted.

/Moved to the live media section/

*** It is highly recommended to backup any important files before doing resize/move operations. ***

3 Reply by tkemmere

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Re: [Solved] Gparted one partition, WinXP install CD: Harddisk not found.

Thank you Class413,

Indeed I don't have any data to worry about. All is backed up.

I'm now using Gparted, not as a part of Ubuntu, but the 100Mb ISO from here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/gparted … ve-stable/. It has v0.4.6-1 on it.

Thank you for helping me finding out the "Create partition table" option in Gparted, that I hadn't seen yet. I used it and created an MSDOS Partition Table. Otherwise I left the disk blank, "Unallocated" it says in a grey rectangle. As you wrote I wanted to let XPsetup write the partition. Reboot, XPsetup, but... "Setup did not find any hard disks installed on your computer". "F3 Exit" is the only option.

So back to Gparted, again created an MSDOS Partition Table, just to be sure. Then I created a partition: NTFS, 100% of the space, Primary partition, lable "75gbhdd". Back to XP, but still no disk...

Tried create partition table + Fat32 + 7Mb unalocated "on the left" too. Still no disk.

I have to mention one more thing:
When I go through the XP setup, when "select F6 for other raid or scsi..." I have to select F5 and then choose "Standard PC with C-step i486". Otherwise the setup process will just stall at "Setup is starting Windows".

Maybe you have another advice?
Would a new disk just present the same problems, or do those have the right configuration from the factory that they work?

Thank you very much in advance,
Regards, Thomas.

4 Reply by tkemmere

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Re: [Solved] Gparted one partition, WinXP install CD: Harddisk not found.

...After rereading my post above, I have 2 more additions.

1) I don't think this "Standard PC with C-step i486" thing is causing the invisible disk, cause the laptop sees the disk very well under gparted. And also in the top-post of this thread I showed the text that the fdisk command gives, which is the healthy hard disk.

2) I also tried an NTFS partition with a flag "boot", but that didn't help. Should I try other flags?

Regards, Thomas.

5 Reply by class413

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Re: [Solved] Gparted one partition, WinXP install CD: Harddisk not found.

Perhaps there is something in the BIOS setup that prevents windows installer detecting the hard drive.

EDIT
I did a search and found related info:
http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/10/2 … ahci-mode/
According to this publication, the standard win xp install doesn't contain drivers for AHCI mode for SATA hard drives. So, you need to check in the BIOS setup this detail for the drive and if so, change it to ATA (IDE) emulation mode. Otherwise, you need some special OEM xp version by the laptop manufacturer, containing the missing drivers.

GParted and late Ubuntu versions detect well the hard drive because they contain a Kernel up to date. Perhaps, if you find some old version (before Linux kernel 2.6.19), you would encounter the same problem.

*** It is highly recommended to backup any important files before doing resize/move operations. ***

6 Reply by tkemmere (edited by tkemmere 2009-11-03 11:32:26)

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Re: [Solved] Gparted one partition, WinXP install CD: Harddisk not found.

Thanks again class413!

I dug through the BIOS but no such settings can be found. I think the drive is plain IDE. The term SATA nor AHCI is mentioned in the BIOS. I also put the whole Bios back to default, but no result.

I plan to google further, cause it seems not to be a Gparted problem. But rather a Toshiba problem. I'll also check the Toshiba site. And I will report back here too at a later stage.

Regarding Gparted, Class413 could you confirm a few things on how I should use it?
1) Wipe everything;
2) Create Partition table, "msdos";
3) Make new partition, "Primary", "NTFS", "100% of disk space";
4) set flag "boot";
5) Exit & reboot.
That should get my laptop ready for XP installation right?

Thanks, regards, Thomas.

7 Reply by class413

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Re: [Solved] Gparted one partition, WinXP install CD: Harddisk not found.

These 5 steps are right.

The step 2 covers step 1 too, because making a new partition table deletes and overwrites the older partition table.
About steps 3 and 4, it would be possible (even better) to leave them to the xp installer too.

However, you have to check about your hard drive model and the BIOS setup options. SATA controllers can usually work under 2 modes: legacy IDE mode (that is like IDE drives) or AHCI mode (this is specific for SATA drives only). You must check if the BIOS detects the hard drive (I hope it detects it, because GParted and Linux detects it too). Perhaps this option is called Enhanced or Advanced. Default BIOS settings in desktop motherboards often put SATA on IDE mode. BIOS defaults aren't the same for every motherboard or every BIOS. Manufacturers in many cases make changes to adapt settings to the specific computer. It is possible (if the HDD is SATA) that the default setting is AHCI.

Installing xp on a SATA AHCI drive needs extra disk drivers, not contained in the standard xp installation cd (that's why I mentioned some Toshiba OEM xp version).
Laptop computers usually come with the operating system pre-installed, so any special drivers needed are installed in factory. Of course, it is better to look at any Toshiba user forum.

*** It is highly recommended to backup any important files before doing resize/move operations. ***

8 Reply by tkemmere (edited by tkemmere 2009-11-05 00:32:30)

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Re: [Solved] Gparted one partition, WinXP install CD: Harddisk not found.

Indeed the laptop came preinstalled. A Toshiba OEM xp cd I don't have.
Dug through the bios, no Sata nor AHCI indication anywhere.

Ok,

I'm again a step further: I decided enough is enough, opened up the laptop with screwdriver and discovered that the disk is indeed SATA! You were so right Class413. Good I didn't buy a new harddisk yet, cause it would have never worked. Indeed separate drivers are needed, and that is why probably nothing is found in the bios.

By the way, this has slowly become a huge LOG of what I went through. Maybe it is useful for others, I hope. (It is also a bit to share with the world that is the most tedious reinstall-job that I've ever come across! I've been at it the whole day!).

I googled on "Windows XP setup cannot detect harddisk toshiba" and went here:
http://forums.computers.toshiba-europe. … eID=178827
From here I found a couple of options:

Option one:
http://aps2.toshiba-tro.de/kb0/HTD9401AN0000R01.htm
How to integrate the AHCI driver during Windows XP setup.
Problem 1: I don't have a (Toshiba) USB-Floppy drive.
Problem 2: I don't have a WinXPsetup disk with SP2 integrated.
Problem 3: I can't tell whether I have chipset IHC7M or IHC8M.

So I thought of option two:
Upgrade the bios from 1.3 to 1.7.
Probably in vain cause I'll need AHCI drivers anyway.
But I went here: http://eu.computers.toshiba-europe.com/ … 0000000b07
Notebook PC BIOS update, by Toshiba.
Traditional way (not windows cause I have none) Satellite M70 Update with CD-ROM.
Download the package. And what do you find? A package that doesn't match the descriptoin at all.
No bootable flash software.
I gave this one up.

Option three.
http://maxeasyguide.blogspot.com/2008/0 … on-cd.html
Slipstreaming SATA driver into WinXp boot cd using nLite.
I stopped this option for a while, cause I'm not sure whether I can trust this nLite software.

Option four:
The link given by class413:
http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/10/2 … ahci-mode/
It tells me to create a slipstreamed XP install disc with the Intel Matrix Storage Manager. Which leads me back to the Intel site, which I find hoplessly complicated. When I read the quick start guide for the Intel Matrix Storage Manager is nothing but Raid raid raid. how am I supposed to create a slipstreamed XP install CD with that?
I give up on this one. Way to complicated.

Back to Option three. I guess I'll have to trust Nlite.
I need the Driverfiles 'IAAHCI.INF', 'IAAHCI.CAT', 'IASTOR.INF', 'IASTOR.CAT', 'IASTOR.SYS', and 'TXTSETUP.OEM'. But the right ones. So I had to establish my chipset, which is tough without windows running.
I have a Satellite M70-215, PSM70E-01300FDU, which is not listed here:
http://nl.computers.toshiba-europe.com/ … service=NL
But these are:
Satellite M70-122, PSM70E-00U00FDU: Intel® 915GM Express chipset <--
Satellite M70-147, PSM71E-00W00FDU: Intel® 915PM Express chipset
Satellite M70-148, PSM71E-00X00FDU: Intel® 915PM Express chipset
Satellite M70-264, PSM71E-01T00FDU: Intel® 915PM Express chipset
Satellite M70-350, PSM70E-02500FDU: Intel® 915GM Express chipset <--
So beacuse of the PSM70E I assume I have a Intel® 915GM Express chipset.
Next to Intel for the SATA AHCI drivers. They need to be extracted from the Intel Matrix Storage Manager. I persisted and managed. According to this instruction:
http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/i … 020825.htm
I got them from here:
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/SearchR … ge+Manager
with 17 results. I filtered on XP proff and then on Drivers and then took the latest.
So I came here:
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_ … p;lang=eng
915-Chipset based platforms is included, so I was happy so far.
Download.
Next, To extract these files, I ran the executable (IATA89ENU.EXE) with the following command line options: -A -A -PC:\tmp.
(Actually I did: Start, Run... "c:\IATA89ENU.EXE -A -A -c:\tmp", ok, run).
Then I found the drivers here: C:\program files\Intel\Intel Matrix Storage Manager\driver.
I created the file unattended.txt with the code from the link above, just be sure.

For the incluision of the drivers in the WinXPsetpCD I followed the Blogspot-link as mentioned above.
The nLite software ran like a dream. Recognised my CDRW, didn't ask for files to make the CD bootable. Easy.

Next: Install Xp on the Laptop...
Nope... "Setup did not find any hard disks installed on your computer"

It is iaAHCI.cat, iaAHCI.inf, iaStor.cat, iaStor.inf, IaStor.sys, TXTSETUP.OEM and UNATTEND.TXT that I added to the Win-XP-SP0-setup-CD.
- I should take a closer look at what they contain, in nLite.
- Or the problem could be that SP2 is not included.

I'm tired now. Time to sleep.

9 Reply by tkemmere

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Re: [Solved] Gparted one partition, WinXP install CD: Harddisk not found.

...So I contunue.

Downloaded SP2 for Xp from microsoft.com.

(nLite is actually a really nice program. The amount of options to set in the Unattended window is enormous). Anyway, I slipstreamed SP2 and the SATA AHCI drivers into the XP cd.

Unfortunately, still not. "Setup did not find any hard disks installed on your computer"

I'm going to try to get my hands on a USB floppy, so I can try:
http://aps2.toshiba-tro.de/kb0/HTD9401AN0000R01.htm
How to integrate the AHCI driver during Windows XP setup.
I have the drivers, and I have XP+SP2.

Class413 or any other moderator, if you think I shouldn't be logging all this here, let me know.

10 Reply by tkemmere

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Re: [Solved] Gparted one partition, WinXP install CD: Harddisk not found.

Last post. I managed!

I made another slipstreamed CD with Windows XP, SP2, the drivers and I made it an unattende one. somewhere there I must have hit a setting right, that made it work. Though I don't see the logic behind that: Attended it shoudl also have worked, but it really didn't.

Anyway. Setup ran, and it redid the whole drive into NTFS and I'm already well into the installation and update process and have rebooted several times from the harddisk. It is working!

Regards, Thomas. big_smile