[Solved] Toshiba A200-27Z Laptop ... Set up did not find any hard drives installed.

[Ray1000]

Toshiba Satellite A200-27Z
Model PSA E3E-07J027EN
Windows Vista Home Premium OEM Act


I've recently been given the bottom half of a Toshiba Satellite A200-27Z Laptop ... the screen was discarded at some point ... at first I only wanted the HD to test another machine, but now I'm trying to bring it back to life.

I don't have any original discs or a Vista Home Premium OEM Act

I do have a new unused XP Home edition and license.

The 160GB HD is formatted and has a primary partition of 100MB.

For testing purposes it will see, and install, a borrowed Windows Vista Ultimate disc.

It has also had Windows 7 installed albeit in a different Acer laptop.

When I try XP Pro and XP Home it says "Set up did not find any HDD installed ... Make sure any HDD's are powered on and properly connected and any disc related hardware configuration is correct"

I can change to a Vista OS disc and it will instantly start installing.

Will there be something on the machine tying it to Vista?

And if so is it possible to download Vista Home Premium OEM Act and use the original license?

Thank you

Ray

 

[Plastic Nev]

Hi Ray, for your first question=
"Will there be something on the machine tying it to Vista?"
Possibly something in the BIOS as a perhaps, however not sure on that so will leave that for someone who may know one way or the other for sure.

your second question,
"is it possible to download Vista Home Premium OEM Act and use the original license?"

Download one from Digital River as per previous threads and you should be OK I think.

Nev.

 

[Ray1000]

I'll have another look Nev ... earlier when I followed the link I could only find Window 7

Ray

 

[Plastic Nev]

Sorry Ray, just realised you already mentioned it will install from an OS disk I assume you already have?
If so, install it, and use the product key that should be on the label on the machine, just as you did with W7 on the other one.

Nev.

 

[Ray1000]

You were right first time Nev,

The Vista disc I tested it with is not mine ... it is the Ultimate version as opposed to Home Premium the license is for.

I need to download Vista Home Premium or find a way round the bios settings you mention in order to load XP.

As much as I'm used to XP I'm strangely drawn to the idea of having Vista.

Ray

 

[Plastic Nev]

Hi, a bit of a long shot but does the previous owner have any restore disks?
Although possibly not as old as the one I used to have, there is a possibility that it was supplied with restore disks as mine was.

Back to the refusal to install XP, is the hard drive totally reformatted?
If not and there are Vista drivers installed they might also be the culprit.
I will send a PM to Ken see if he knows why it won't detect the hard drive in XP.

Nev.

 

[Plastic Nev]

Back again, Kicking myself as I have just realised something, it will not install XP as XP was not configured for SATA drives or systems, it will only recognise the older IDE type of drive, there may be a way round it though so have now asked Ken to look in.

Nev

 

[Ray1000]

Thanks Nev,

I doubt if the previous owner has any discs.

The HD is totally re-formatted ... unless there is a section not showing up ... and this HD did load Windows 7 on the other laptop.

Before the "Set up did not find any HDD installed" message comes up it does appear to be loading ... it boots from the XP disc, loads the files then announces there's no hard drive.

Ray

 

[Plastic Nev]

Hi Ray, check my last post, is the hard drive a SATA? If so as explained above XP will not recognise it.

Nev.

 

[Ray1000]

Sorry Nev, I hadn't seen your 9:52 post before I replied ... It is a SATA drive so that accounts for the mystery then ... something else I've learned!

I'll continue my search for a Vista disc.

Ray

 

[KenB]

I need to download Vista Home Premium

Hi Ray
As far as I know Digital River is Win7 only.

Take a look in the BIOS.
There may be an option to disable / enable Sata there.
If you can enable SATA the drive should be seen.
This should be in Advanced
SATA mode can sometimes be set to IDE / RAID / AHCI
Select AHCI.

If that isn't an option take a look here:
click here

 

[Ray1000]

Thanks Ken,

I'll let you know,

Ray

 

[KenB]

Hi Ray
If you also try using the IDE option it may see the drive as PATA.
You would lose the SATA functionality ........ but I doubt that you would be too bothered.

 

[Ray1000]

Hi Ken,

There is no reference to the hard drive in BIOS unfortunately.

limited to ...

Legacy USB support
Core multi protection
Dynamic CPU mode
Built in LAN
Wake up on LAN
Wake up on keyboard
Critical battery wake up
Front edge logo

I don't know if it is significant but, on the Toshiba web site there is all the information and drivers for XP for this particular machine.

Ray

 

[KenB]

Hi Ray
Not many options in the BIOS !

XP does not come with the facility to run SATA and as such you will need to install the drivers when installing the OS.
If you have a floppy drive this can be done quite easily.
Failing that you would need to take a close look at my previous link.

 

[Plastic Nev]

Just a small question, if no floppy drive available, can the drivers be loaded from a flash drive? I seem to remember seeing that providing the USB is active that they can!

Just another thought, if all else fails why not try a linux system on it?

Nev.

 

[Ray1000]

Thanks for the replies,

I have someone looking for a Vista disc they had at some point ... he thinks one of his family members borrowed it ... he his interrogating them as we speak!

In the meantime I'll have a read of the link re: XP onto SATA.

Linux might be a good last resort.

Ray

 

[KenB]

he thinks one of his family members borrowed it

Hi Ray,
I am sure you are aware that if one of his family installed it on a system then if you install it too .....this would be illegal ( according to Microsoft )

he his interrogating them as we speak!

Not the water torture again

 

[Ray1000]

Thanks Ken,

I had been thinking with the laptop being licensed for Vista it would be the same as downloading an ISO from Digital River and using the numbers from the base of the machine.

I had assumed if you had a reason to buy a new, but same, Windows OS from Microsoft you could use the new numbers or the old ones.

Ray

 

[KenB]

with the laptop being licensed for Vista

That's different.
If the OS is exactly the same there should be no problem - as long as you use your own Product Code.