Member Avatar for joelmlauzi

i am running windows xp sp2 on my hp compaq was attacked by a virus a few weeks ago which made it imposible for me to open my drive c or d.after i cleaned the laptop with avg antivirus i realised the virus had made folder options,run,search and other facilities inaccesible.i decided to format the pc but when i start installing it gives me an error saying drive not found,even if i try to repair the OS it still gives the same error.the pc is able to boot though and most programs are running okey. i really want to format the pc,how can i go about it?

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Dani AI

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This is a common laptop/XP symptom: the running Windows can still boot, but the XP installer (or repair) claims the drive is "not found." That usually falls into two categories: the installer lacks the correct mass‑storage driver or the disk/partition table has been damaged (sometimes by malware). Since can boot the machine, use that session to back up any irreplaceable files before trying destructive fixes.

Start with these non‑destructive checks and diagnostics:

  • Confirm the BIOS/UEFI detects the drive and note the SATA controller mode (AHCI / RAID / Compatibility/IDE). If the BIOS does not see the disk, treat it as a hardware fault.
  • From the working XP, run Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc) to see partitions, sizes and drive letters. If partitions are missing or marked as unknown, grab a live rescue disk (GParted Live, a Linux live CD or a rescue toolkit) to inspect the raw partition table.
  • Run SMART and surface tests with the drive vendor's diagnostic utility from a boot CD/USB to rule out hardware failure.
  • If partitions exist but the boot/partition table is corrupt, try non‑destructive recovery tools (TestDisk) or, from the XP Recovery Console, these commands to repair filesystem/MBR:
chkdsk /r
fixmbr
fixboot

As and indicated, driver/controller mode is often the installer problem. If the controller is in AHCI/RAID and XP setup cannot see the disk, either switch the BIOS to Compatibility/IDE mode (note: changing this after an OS install can make that OS unbootable) or provide the correct mass‑storage driver during setup. If no floppy is available for the classic F6 method, create an XP install CD with the controller drivers slipstreamed (nLite) or use a WinPE-based installer that can load drivers from USB.

If diagnostics show drive failure, replace the drive and restore data from backups. If malware is suspected, run an offline AV rescue scan before reinstalling to avoid reintroducing an infection.

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Member Avatar for jbennet

you need the SATA drivers and a floppy disk + floppy disk drive

XP does not come with built-in support for installing onto SATA hard disks

Member Avatar for joelmlauzi

you need the SATA drivers and a floppy disk + floppy disk drive

XP does not come with built-in support for installing onto SATA hard disks

i will give the solution a shot.will installing vista help since it may have SATA drivers?u know what i formated the laptop before using the same xp cd.everthing installed okey except for a few drivers which i managed to find.so why is it failing this time around?saying drive c not found when i didnt have that problem the first time.

Member Avatar for jbennet

vista may work

its wierd if it worked the first time around though ?

maybe the disk is bad?

try booting from a dos disk and running fdisk.

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