Installing XP on Tobshia Satalite X205 Laptop (XP Does Not See HardDrive)

SubDude199

Member
its a Tobshia X205 7483 satalite. I would like to put XP on it.

When I boot from cd and load the XP install stuff its all normal until its looks for hard drives, it says it can not find any hard drives to install it on. there it 2 harddrives in the computer. I dont believe they are in raid (they show up as two hard drives in windows vista, I dont really know if its two phisical hard drives or just one hdd with 2 partitions)..

anyway, any info on this would be apreciated. I think it might need some kind of driver slipstreamed into xp or maybe I need to load third party drivers off a jump drive on floppy while its loading xp?.

Thanks
 
Do you have a link for that model? If an older model like a 939 or P4 you most like need to create a driver disk you can access while booting with the XP installation cd. Or you have to go into "special devices" and choose the chipset in order to see the XP installer actually detect the drives installed.

On two different 939 desktops not portables one needed a driver floppy(nFoce chipset) while the other needed a review and selection of the chipset from a list(VIA) so the installer could see the drive in each. Review the manual or support site on installing the OS to see what they say there too.
 
That's the problem with Toshiba and other portables when trying to get more detailed information like the chipset used. Being a laptop not seeing a floppy drive leaves you with the press S for special devices option during the installation to test each one out there until siddenly XP sees the drives.

Most likely an Intel chipset will be the one. But that's not written in stone, With any laptop or prebuilt desktop the preinstalled OS sees what it needs for recovery on disk and on a hidden portion of the main drive. Plugging in a usb floppy drive for a driver disk would be an option for XP while Vista now sees it's own generic drivers included.
 
The System Info for Windows(SIW) tool is a quick freeware that will give you almost a total breakdown on just about everything including the programs installed. That will display information on the exact make and model cpu, board, memory and how much installed, and it's works in Vista as well as XP. http://www.gtopala.com/

The main problem without having a link for the support site is downloading the actual drivers for board as well as seeing the XP installer detect the drives. With a preinstalled OS all of what you need is right there where you simplly follow the restoration proceedures. Starting fresh means just that! You first need to locate anything and everything you will need.
 
that prodived some info, i was able to find a driver, but it was only an EXE,. I cant slipstream that.. I couldnt extrAct it either,
 
For a custom build the process is a wee bit easier since you have a separate software disk for the board itself. When browsing that you will find a utility folder where even without loading the main menu with the auto run when first putting the disk in you can browse to the folder and manually start the driver disk creation tool at times. That then copy the drivers to a bootable floppy made that way by the disk creator tool there.

When a friend borrowed an ide drive for a new build where the XP installer failed to see a new sata drive he bought a driver floppy still didn't work due to the chipset while the board had the driver disk tool. While running the installer again I pointed out the press S for special devices where you then chose a chipset. The XP installer suddenly recognised the sata instantly.

That may work there too if you can't locate the main support site for that model. But you noticed all too well that Toshiba's only outlet is Best Buy when searching around. For replacing a preinstalled OS you first have to locate the download page there for all of the drivers you will need.
 
i think your hdd connection is loose with your pc and you can check your computer cmos setup for knowing how many hdd in their.....
 
Both drives are seen while Vista is running showing that they are plugged in. The Disk Management or device manager>storage devices section will easily show the two drives there as well. The problem is generally seen with the installer itself when going to install XP on some boards due to the chipset on them.
 
so I need to find a driver for the chipset and slipstream in into the xp install so i loads the driver with all the other generic drivers.

I have nlite and I know how to slipstream drivers if I can find them in ini format.
 
Generally when getting to the first install screen you will see the press F6 for sata/raid drivers where you would browse to another drive like a floppy preprepared for that. The other option is waiting until the next screen or two where you will see the press S for special devices option. That's where you select the chipset from the list shown.

These types of drivers won't be found in an ini type format as a rule. Finding the actual support pages would be the plus item to find. The sata driver sets as well as updates for that model will be found there.
 
Doe the laptop there have a builtin floppy drive? Most newer models lack a floppy or are designed to allow for fast swapping out drives from floppy to optical on some. With a floppy along with the optical you can then create the needed driver disk using the tool found at the support site.
 
well nothin I have tried yet worked. does this sound like its posable or would work.

taking all the drivers off the vista install disk and slipstreaming them into an xp disk?.. I know that its not xp drivers, but there is still a chance it will work?

or. maybe there is a gutted version of vista that will look and run just as good as XP?
 
Vista drivers won't work on XP in general. Those are written for a newer version of Windows there. On a desktop a friend had here when the XP installer refused to see the 200gb WD sata drive despite redownloading and creating multiple driver floppies the actual surprise was simply choosing the S for special devices option seen after the press F6 first screen later and simply chose the VIA chipset from the list to see the drive suddenly seen.

Vista itself contains it's own driver sets since sata is more commonly used in the years since XP was first released. Then ide was the typical unless adding in a separate controller card for a SCSI or RAID setup then. The XP installer can be touchy at times for various boards seeing different chipsets. On the newer build here XP immediately saw the two sata drives already in use on the AM2 board while needing a driver floppy for the old 939 build. Those have nForce chipsets while the VIA saw the press S option as the means with a VIA chipset.
 
Hey guys,

New here. I've been looking into trying to install the XP on my x205 also. I can get to the screen where it asks to insert the "Intel Storage Manager" disk. I press enter and nothing happens. It's like my computer can't see the floppy drive anymore. Can you guys help me out?


~m
 
Try skipping the F6 driver disk option and proceeding until you see the press S for special devices on one of the following screens. That will bring up a list of chipsets where you select the one for that model. That would be one idea unless the driver disk wasn't done right.

Sometimes you have to use the tool for formmatting the floppy rather then Windows to see one that works. On the last desktop build here you had to first boot with the board's software disk to format the floppy there first and then run the create driver disk tool while in Windows to see it work. Bad floppy drive? or simply typically a bad floppy disk?
 
Back
Top