Laptop hard drive won't let me install OS

[brandonwh64]

if your able to install the windows xp on the 20GB partition that that is indicating a bad HDD. Since your only using 20GB of the whole HD then i seems to have pushed the bad sectors to the unpartitioned and your using only good ones. this happend to an old 60GB hard drive in a socket A machine i worked on a while back. Emachines had it formatted with two partitions. (one for system and the other for small storage) when i formatted it and deleted all partitions to make one, the OS would refuse to install. after much working i tested the hard drive in a enclosure to find out that it had bad sectors at the very end of the scan which lead me to believe that the bad sectors was on the storage part of the partition.

 

[brainpup]

ok I guess thats a last resort before I go buy some parts.

 

[CJCerny]

Check the BIOS of the laptop to see if it will let you boot to a USB device. If so, buy a $5 SATA to USB converter and connect it to a regular SATA DVD drive you have. If there are no issues with the hard drive, I suspect XP will install fine on the laptop. Still convinced you have a problem with the laptop's optical drive at the very least.

 

[brainpup]

Hi again, Hey I just now finaly got it install all the way thru and then after the Windows XP screen showed up it said it was missing a file (usp10.dll) and for me to restart & use the recovery console, ow when I do that, it asked for an administator password. I've never changed it, I thought the last time I looked it was the word "Clear" but that didn't work. I just restarted and am going to try again.

any help ?

 

[digibucc]

the only reason you would be missing any files immediately after install is if it didn't install properly. it happens more often when the media is bad - but you should get errors during install when that happens. if it gets through install without errors but then can't find files, then chances are the HDD is shot and not holding information properly.

as for the password - im sorry idk off the top of my head. it must require an admin account, i don't know the default password. but seriously, it sounds as though this hard drive is only going to cause more problems.

if you get it recovered, make sure to do a disk check for bad sectors, i would bet you have many. find a SMART monitor (your drive should have it) and see what it says.

 

[brainpup]

ok but shouldn't I be able to go into the BIOS ona restart and either find the password or create a new one ?
DIgibucc I just shot you a message before this about this so you can ignore that, thks for the help by the way. and yes if I ever do get this lappy up and running I will do a chkdsk.

 

[digibucc]

did you try nothing for the password, as in a blank field? unless it's specifically the bios password, it has nothing to do with BIOS and resetting anything in there won't touch it. another install is the only thing.

what i think happened is recovery console expects an admin account, and is asking for the password even though you haven't set it. lets hope. so just press enter instead of typing a password.

 

[brainpup]

yes I tried just pressing enter & that didn't work it said invalid, admin didn't work either,

On the BIOS screen it says Supervisor PSW is Clear, User PSW is Clear, HDD password is Clear

 

[digibucc]

it must depend on the type of laptop then? i don't know if you said but what is the brand/model?

 

[brainpup]

its an Acer Aspire

 

[digibucc]

I was having this problem a little earlier, and started investigaing a way to find this password, then i remembered it and did not have to go any further.

The password is stored in a file on the hidden partition. The best way to get at this is to use something like "The Ultimate Boot CD" that will run a complete system from a cd. Once it is booted, you can navigate to the file %drive letter%\TOOLS\AIMDRS.DAT

use any text editor or notepad to view this file and find the password. THats all i was able to find out. As i said, i did not need to try this solution myself.

-----

I just confirmed this works on an ACER 5100 (WinXP) and 5104 (Vista).

Booted with Ubuntu 7.10 Live Cd.
Browsed to PQSERVICE hidden partition.
Opened "aimsdrs.dat" with text editor. (in root folder not "tools")
and "password" PD= "____" and "hint" HD="____"
are given and can be edited.

quotation

 

[brainpup]

hey thanks, dig, I just copied your post and printed it so I'll have it on hand.
The reason I was needing the Adin password was because I needed it to run the recovery Console to do a repair.
well after trying 3 times with no luck, now when I boot back up, it shows the Windows XP screen and instead of going anywhere else it gives me that blue screen that says Window has stop to protect your computer, if this is the first time you've seen this..blah blah blah.
This definetly sounds like a HDD problem, I'm just pissed that I was finally able to get the OS at 100% and now I can't do anything with it..
Think I should try one more time to do a quick format or just buy another drive ?

 

[digibucc]

I would definitely buy another drive. but after you do, and get windows installed you can plug the other in via usb adapter, find out where the bad sectors are, and partition between them if you want to find a use. I don't even recommend that, as at this point they are getting alot cheaper and it's not really worth the time to mess with them. it is definitely on it's last leg anyway, so wouldn't be of any safe use anymore.

 

[brainpup]

You know I think thats just what I'm going to do, it ain't like there's any info on it to try and save because I copied everything to 2 8GB USB drives before I started the reformat, so its just going to be a paperweight now I reckon.
and yeah I'm sure it would just fail again.

Well thanks for the effort, and I will definetly keep that post about using my UltimateBootCD or Linux Ubuntu Live CD to find a hidden password in the future.

Hey have a nice afternoon, I'm getting ready to fly on my motorcycle to a couple of Computer stores and see what I can get a cheap HDD for.

later, oh and hey when I do get this lappy hooked up I'll come back and give you a progress report. I almost feel like buying an optical drive while I'm at it.

 

[brainpup]

oh shit dig this, I just hit the button to try and do a quick format while I get my riding gear on, and it said, "Setup did not find any Hard drives installed in your computer" .

 

[HookeyStreet]

oh shit dig this, I just hit the button to try and do a quick format while I get my riding gear on, and it said, "Setup did not find any Hard drives installed in your computer" .

As I suspected, that HDD is on its last legs (or probably dead now) If your BIOS doesnt detect an HDD, its curtains for it lol (so check yur BIOS)

PS: when I install an OS from a USB flash drive, I use this program (its fast, simple and best of all FREE) : http://wintoflash.com/home/en/

PPS: have you tried connecting the said HDD to another system or an external HDD caddy and doing a ZERO format on it?

 

[Indra EMC]

I'm reformatting a Laptop with a 120GB HDD that was partitioned into two 50GB's and 20 GB was just lost somewhere. So during the install I deleted both partitions and now I have like 11445MB free and about 8446 unpartitioned or so.
When I reformatted it with Windows XP Pro, ( I have a Volume License and I have installed it on several rigs before with no problems) it went thru all the setup and then froze at 80%.
I have run MEMtest86, no errors, I have used Ultimate BootCD, no errors, I tried a System Rescue disk, doesn't do anything.
Anybody got any suggestions ?

NOTE: I have built over 30 systems and probably built/rebuilt/upgraded/brought back from the dead/clean installed at least twice that many so I'm not a rookie, but this laptop has me frustrated.

if stuck, please make sure your Laptop ODD hasn't any problem yet, and reset your laptop BIOS to default (you can open it bios and set to default value)

turn OFF "SMART" capability on your HDD from bios (if capable)

backup your data first, and delete all partition in your laptop HDD, create a new one, and fresh install your OS.

i do that with my DELL Inspiron E1505, and it's works.