no hardrive recognized by bios

<snip>

ck into my laptop now, bios won't
> recognize it. I thought this was a problem with the drive, so I tried
> to install a new hard drive. The new drive is a Fujitsu Handy Drive,
> 100gb. I used a friend's computer to format the drive to NTFS and then
> tried to install, and it was the same problem, bios returned the error
> "no bootable disk". So, I have no idea what the problem is. What do I
> do??? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
>

that's correct...
a formatted drive is not bootable..
that does not mean the bios does not recognize it
 >> Stay informed about: no hardrive recognized by bios 

<bygracealone.japan.RemoveThis@gmail.com> wrote...
> ok, how do I make it bootable? I can't even run a partition program at
> this point.

Actually you can -- from a bootable floppy or CD.

Use the installation disk or CD that came with your computer or OS, or which you
created when you fired up the new computer. Otherwise, you'll have to get the
CD from the computer mfgr or buy a new copy of an OS.
 >> Stay informed about: no hardrive recognized by bios 

I'll order a new OS, but the bios reads no hard drive installed, and
the Norton Partition Magic boot disk I was using won't recognize boot
up with either drive. It errors and says no drive available... Are
sure its just matter of installing an OS? Its never done this with
blank drives before.
 >> Stay informed about: no hardrive recognized by bios 

> Krackerjackwrote:
I'll order a new OS, but the bios reads no hard drive installed, and
> the Norton Partition Magic boot disk I was using won't recognize
boot
> up with either drive. It errors and says no drive available...
Are
> sure its just matter of installing an OS? Its never done this with
> blank drives before.

Might I suggest a simple test/ fix. Boot up with an old ME, or 98
emergency disk. Type fdisk.exe /mbr

That will rewrite your master boot record. It sounds like you may
have screwed it up.
 >> Stay informed about: no hardrive recognized by bios 

On 26 Jan 2006 18:36:59 -0800, "Krackerjack"
<bygracealone.japan DeleteThis @gmail.com> wrote:

>I'll order a new OS, but the bios reads no hard drive installed, and
>the Norton Partition Magic boot disk I was using won't recognize boot
>up with either drive. It errors and says no drive available... Are
>sure its just matter of installing an OS? Its never done this with
>blank drives before.

Forget any FDISK, Partition Magic, or operating system until
the bios recognizes the drive. The bios must recognize it
first.

However, if the drive were connected to an alternate, such
as RAID controller, it is possible the function of drive
recognition is passed to the RAID bios module and then the
main bios module is only instructed to try booting from this
alternate controller.

If the latter is the case, you may need drivers loaded to
view the drive with any DOS utilities such as FDISK or
Partition Magic, or successfully install WinXP. It may be
that the DOS driver isn't available, doesn't exist but even
so the WinXP driver would necessarily exist.

If it is not a matter of being connected to a (raid)
controller but rather the main controller then jumper
problems or general drive failure become most likely.

If the situation is whatever the original post in this
thread were trying to describe (which was wholely inadequate
to know what's going on) then the attempt to set up XP
should not be done over USB.

Primary focus is on getting the bios to recognize the drive
connected to the primary IDE controller if applicable.
 >> Stay informed about: no hardrive recognized by bios 

dannysdailys wrote:

>>Krackerjackwrote:
>
> I'll order a new OS, but the bios reads no hard drive installed, and
>
>>the Norton Partition Magic boot disk I was using won't recognize
>
> boot
>
>>up with either drive. It errors and says no drive available...
>
> Are
>
>>sure its just matter of installing an OS? Its never done this with
>>blank drives before.
>
>
> Might I suggest a simple test/ fix. Boot up with an old ME, or 98
> emergency disk. Type fdisk.exe /mbr
>
> That will rewrite your master boot record. It sounds like you may
> have screwed it up.
>

You can't fdisk a drive the BIOS says isn't there.
 >> Stay informed about: no hardrive recognized by bios 

Krackerjack wrote:

> I'll order a new OS, but the bios reads no hard drive installed, and
> the Norton Partition Magic boot disk I was using won't recognize boot
> up with either drive. It errors and says no drive available... Are
> sure its just matter of installing an OS? Its never done this with
> blank drives before.
>

O.S.s and utilities aren't going to do you any good till you get the drive
recognized by the BIOS.
 >> Stay informed about: no hardrive recognized by bios 

<bygracealone.japan RemoveThis @gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1138243830.492775.33810@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Hey guys, I have a Dell Inspiron 8500. Not homebuilt, I know, but I've
> swapped so many parts in that thing that it's pretty close to
> homebuilt. Here's my trouble...
> I reformatted my Travelstar 60 gb 7200rpm hard drive, but windows xp
> would not reinstall on the drive. I thought the problem was my xp cd,
> so I tried to partially install it with a friend's pc using a usb
> connection. Of course, the install did not complete because of the usb
> connection, but i thought it would format the drive and make it windows
> ready. When I put the drive back into my laptop now, bios won't
> recognize it. I thought this was a problem with the drive, so I tried
> to install a new hard drive. The new drive is a Fujitsu Handy Drive,
> 100gb. I used a friend's computer to format the drive to NTFS and then
> tried to install, and it was the same problem, bios returned the error
> "no bootable disk". So, I have no idea what the problem is. What do I
> do??? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
>
First, my knowledge is quite limited. Nonetheless, a little theory: by
using a proper adapter, could the laptop drive be connected into a working
desktop, whose mbr is ok? Might the desktop then recognize the hd in its
bios? If so, install an OS & get it working properly. Then, install the hd
in the laptop, and using the XP-disc, format/install new OS in one step. s
 >> Stay informed about: no hardrive recognized by bios 

On Sat, 28 Jan 2006 10:02:25 -0500, "sdlomi2"
<sdlomi2.DeleteThis@spam.yahoo.com> wrote:


> First, my knowledge is quite limited. Nonetheless, a little theory: by
>using a proper adapter, could the laptop drive be connected into a working
>desktop, whose mbr is ok? Might the desktop then recognize the hd in its
>bios? If so, install an OS & get it working properly. Then, install the hd
>in the laptop, and using the XP-disc, format/install new OS in one step. s
>

If the XP install disc isn't working in the first place,
what would be the gain of installing XP on the desktop,
knowing that won't run on the laptop, then being back at
square one needing to install XP again on the laptop?

Given an adapter, I'd probably put the laptop drive in an
desktop system, then decide which filesystem to use.

If it'd be FAT32, only one partition is necessary, but a 2nd
"might" still be desired. If NTFS, 2 partitions.

Either way, while in the desktop the 1st partition is made
FAT32 (even if it will be NTFS later), then IF NTFS is
needed, the 2nd partition is made FAT32 and the WinXP setup
files copied to a folder on it from the CD. If final OS
partition would be FAT32, the windows files could be copied
to the first partition, or a 2nd one.

First FAT32 partition made bootable. For faster setup, an
autoexec.bat file loading smartdrv.exe and a config.sys
loading himem.sys (and of course these two files also on the
partition along with autoexec.bat and config.sys). After
doing this, it is tested on the desktop to boot to dos and
load smartdrive. If it doesn't succeed, the problem with
why it doesn't work is fixed on the desktop. If it does
succeed, finally a networking driver is also copied to the
same partition as the WinXP setup files, to facilitate
communication and other files as needed, later.

Having been prepped, drive is returned to laptop. It boots
to dos, windows setup is ran from the windows folder, I386/
winnt.exe

If the drive is a non-starter, simply won't do anything in
the desktop either then it's time to run the HDD
manufacturer's utilities on it as it may be failing.
 >> Stay informed about: no hardrive recognized by bios 

"kony" <spam RemoveThis @spam.com> wrote in message
news:1g4nt1l3o6m12j895h2inio8ps333ifgin@4ax.com...
> On Sat, 28 Jan 2006 10:02:25 -0500, "sdlomi2"
> <sdlomi2 RemoveThis @spam.yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>
>> First, my knowledge is quite limited. Nonetheless, a little theory:
>> by
>>using a proper adapter, could the laptop drive be connected into a working
>>desktop, whose mbr is ok? Might the desktop then recognize the hd in its
>>bios? If so, install an OS & get it working properly. Then, install the
>>hd
>>in the laptop, and using the XP-disc, format/install new OS in one step.
>>s
>>
>
> If the XP install disc isn't working in the first place,
> what would be the gain of installing XP on the desktop,
> knowing that won't run on the laptop, then being back at
> square one needing to install XP again on the laptop?
>
Here's where I thought an un-formatted hd (with XP installed from the
desktop) might be recognized by the laptop, at which place a proper XP disc
would allow a 'format-and-fresh-install' of XP. Again, just guessing within
limits of my knowledge. s
 >> Stay informed about: no hardrive recognized by bios 

On 25 Jan 2006 18:50:30 -0800, bygracealone.japan.RemoveThis@gmail.com wrote:

>Hey guys, I have a Dell Inspiron 8500. Not homebuilt, I know, but I've
>swapped so many parts in that thing that it's pretty close to
>homebuilt. Here's my trouble...
>I reformatted my Travelstar 60 gb 7200rpm hard drive, but windows xp
>would not reinstall on the drive. I thought the problem was my xp cd,
>so I tried to partially install it with a friend's pc using a usb
>connection. Of course, the install did not complete because of the usb
>connection, but i thought it would format the drive and make it windows
>ready. When I put the drive back into my laptop now, bios won't
>recognize it. I thought this was a problem with the drive, so I tried
>to install a new hard drive. The new drive is a Fujitsu Handy Drive,
>100gb. I used a friend's computer to format the drive to NTFS and then
>tried to install, and it was the same problem, bios returned the error
>"no bootable disk". So, I have no idea what the problem is. What do I
>do??? Any help would be greatly appreciated.


Sounds like Dell used a special utility to make XP see the Travelstar
HD, (and in fact, may use it for other disks as well).

Not knowing this, you've mucked through as best you can, wiping out
that setup like dynamite.

You need to contact Dell tech support, and follow their procedures,
for this.

There may be an updated BIOS, but I doubt it. Most likely you'll have
to re-format the disk after loading up another utility program.

Good luck. I know you're trying to be handy and resourceful, here, O
Son of McGyver, but here, you clearly need advice from Dell. No more
partial formatting off the desktop's usb.

Adak
 >> Stay informed about: no hardrive recognized by bios 

thanks! I will call dell and sit on the phone with their tech support
for a good half a day. But at least now I know I have to do it. much
appreciated.
 >> Stay informed about: no hardrive recognized by bios