hard drive not recognised compaq nc 6320

[airchairmaster]

Do not have original Restore op sys disc.  Op sys is XP Pro.  Using another Xp Pro CD and entering recovery console, hard drive is visible , chkdsk ok and format ok. 

 BIOS shows hard drive.  When using XP Pro cd, when prompted to continue and install op sys, get message, no hard drive installed? no passwords enabled in bios.

SATA hard placed in caddy and able to format hard drive.

Any idea's please?

Regards

Airchairmaster

[Huffer · Accepted solution]

You need the SATA ahci ich7 storage driver loaded at the F6 prompt at the start of XP installation. You can do this either by using a usb floppy drive or by slipstreaming the driver into the XP install CD using nLite. Post back for further instructions if you need them. I note the driver you need is not on the driver page for the nc6320, but this one will work...makes a floppy disk or can be used with nLite:

F6 SATA driver

http://www.nliteos.com

[airchairmaster]

Thanks for fast reply, will give it a go and respond.

Cheers,

Airchairmaster

[i_mac]

I have a similar problem in that I have cloned a 250Gb WD250BEVE from the existing 80Gb drive in an nc6120.  I cannot get the laptop to recognise the new drive whether it is set as single master or cable select.  This drive is EIDE though.  Any thoughts?

[Huffer]

The issue is not the same. You have an ide drive and the nc6320 has a SATA drive. Yours might be an issue with the BIOS hard drive size limit, although I think the nc6120 should accept a drive larger than 120 gig. Did you upgrade to the latest BIOS?

[i_mac]

Yes - upgraded to the latest BIOS.  I noticed that the firmware upgrade referenced Fujitsu HDD but the new drive is WD. 

The laptop can access the drive if connected via a USB caddy but not when connected as the primary HD - all I get is a flashing cursor.

Incidentally, in other versions of BIOS, you can view the details of connected drives but the BIOS for the nc6120 does not appear to give this info.

[Huffer]

Did you apply the Fujitsu firmware update? It should have stoppped if you tried it but if not I am a bit confused and maybe concerned.

[capintxu]

Did you get your hard drive working?? I ran into the same problem and the chipset your motherboard uses appears to be the same as mine (Intel 915GM Chipset. My laptop is a V4382ea). Apparently the chipset uses LBA48 addressing so "in theory" a big EIDE HD should work. But because I am not sure I haven't bought my HD replacement yet..

capintxu

[i_mac]

I got someone in the trade to contact HP for me and was informed that there is indeed a size restriction on the capacity of the drive which the bios would support.

Now I have spare USB 250 Gb backup drive thanks to the retailer where I got both the laptop and drive from being unaware of this limitation.

[capintxu]

Thanks i_mac. I am going to stick with the 120GB one.