setup not detecting drives :(

[goatboy]

Hi Guys, I really hope someone can help cos Im tearing my hair out here! Sorry about the long post but it needs explaining.

Athlon 64 3200 Processor
2 x Seagate SATA Disc Drives
1GB Ram

My PC was getting sluggish so I decided to do a total reinstall. I admit I dont know really what I doing so I may be responsible for the problem I now have (lesson learned!) Here is the problem:

-After inserting the XP disc I opted for a clean install. It then did a few things and rebooted. But it now will not continue with the reinstall.

1.
If I boot up and dont press any key to boot from cd, I get 2 options. If I choose to continue setup, I get this message:

"Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
<Windows root>\system32\hal.dll>
Please reinstall a copy of the above file"

If I choose to just start xp normally, I get this:

"Windows could not start because of an error in the software. Please report this problem as:
load needed DLLs for kernel"

2.
Or if I boot from XP cd and try to continue set up from the XP cd, no matter which options I choose I end up with a message saying that Set up cannot detect any hard disc drives on my system. It asks me to insert the manufacturers diskette, and when I do I get this error:

"file txtsetup.oem caused an unexpected error (512) at line 1742 in
d: \xpsp1\base\boot\setup\oemdisk.c

press any key to continue"

Setup wont even let me go into the repair mode or anything because it cant detect any drives! So Im totally stuck basically. I have checked all the cables and connectors and everything is plugged in fine.

If you guys have an answer please explain it in simple terms like Im a 5 year old!
Thank you

[GX1_Man]

Do you have a SATA hard drive? What computer make/model and the hard drive make/model?

Is this a real Windows CD, or some sort of restore CD?

Do you see the hard drive correctly in the BIOS/setup? The key to get there should be displayed on the screen when the computer starts. Again, this depends on the manufacturer.

Hang on, we'll get you there.  

[goatboy]

Thanks for the quick reply

Yes, both drives are SATA drives. They are Seagate Barracuda. 1x80GB (Model:ST380013AS) and 1x120GB (Model: ST3120026AS). I have no idea what I doing when it comes to this kind of thing, especially SATA drives (I not even sure what SATA means!)

The motherboard is MSI K8T Neo (MS-6702 v1.X)

I had my PC made up by an independent computer shop 2 years ago (which is now nowhere near where I live!) so it isnt branded as such.

Yes the windows CD I have is the real, normal XP home disc.
Sorry but although I know how to get into the BIOS, I will need you to tell me how to check the drives are correctly set up! What am I looking for and where in the BIOS?

Thanks so much for trying to help!

[GX1_Man]

You need to download the SATA drivers from the seagate site and put them on a floppy. Setup will ask for this, and insert it and press F6 (I think, but it will say). Without the SATA drivers, setup will not see the hard drive. Is that SP1 on the CD you have?

In any case, have a read here:

http://www.seagate.com/support/kb/disc/howto/sata_install_tshoot.html

[goatboy]

Hmm
Well ive actually already tried that. I put the seagate Disc wizard onto a floppy and I get a similar error message! I tried it on 2 different floppies!

Any other ideas?

[GX1_Man]

SATA controller driver

Your Motherboard or SATA controller card requires a driver to work properly. If you did not get a Floppy Disk with the SATA driver included with your Motherboard you will have to make one. The SATA drivers can be located on the installation CD that came with your Motherboard or preferably, download the latest SATA controller drivers from the manufacturers site. Once you have located the drivers copy them to a formatted floppy disk. Make sure they are in the root directory i.e. not contained within any folders.

Did you download the correct file?

[goatboy]

hi, here is the update...

The floppy I was given which contains the drivers for the drives wont work (I get that error message).
I went to the seagate site and they said I dont need to install specific drivers, but they provide a disc wizard that you burn to cd and then boot up with to install your drives.

So the disc wizard detects my drives no problem and it allowed me to format my boot drive (at least it told me that was what it was doing anyway!). After formatting it tells me the drive is now ready to start my xp installation.

I then reboot and set up begins but always ends up with the same message about being unable to detect and hard drives! Arrrgh!

If I do not boot from cd and just see what happens, I get

"NTLDR is missing"

??

If I look in the boot order in BIOS it shows the drives that are connected, but if I look in the CMOS it says primary IDE master and slave are not installed. If I click on that it is set to autodetect.

I wouldnt mind paying for someone to come have a look but Im totally broke

Hope Im not giving you too much of a headache!

[GX1_Man]

If I look in the boot order in BIOS it shows the drives that are connected, but if I look in the CMOS it says primary IDE master and slave are not installed. If I click on that it is set to autodetect.

If it is a SATA drive, then you wouldn't expect the primary IDE to be there. WHat about if you turn it to OFF. Of course you will want to have the secondary ON so the optical drive(s) will work.

Were you messing inside the case before any of this, or in the BIOS? How many IDE channels doo you have? How many optical drives?