Hi, Bill.

How is your SATA drive interfaced to the motherboard? I don't think you've
mentioned either the make and model of your mobo or of your SATA
HD/controller.

Some mobos (like my EPoX 8KDA3+) have built-in SATA, supported by the mobo
chipset (NVIDIA nForce3 for mine). Others don't and the user must add a
SATA controller card to support the HD. (Many SATA HDs come with such a PCI
card.) It sounds like your mobo does not have built-in support since your
SATA HD is not detected by the BIOS. Do you see a "banner" from the BIOS on
the SATA card soon after POST and before Windows starts loading? If your
computer can't even see the SATA drive, you're not going to be able to
install WinXP on it. If SATA is built-in, the drivers should be on the CD
that came with the mobo. If you are using an add-in card, you'll need to
get the drivers from the card maker.

Figure out the hardware first, then install WinXP.

Once the SATA HD is detected by the BIOS, you may have a new set of problems
if you also have one or more IDE HDs connected. Most BIOSes insist on
seeing the IDE HDs first, even if the CMOS is set to boot from SATA. You
may need to remove or disable any IDE drives before booting from the WinXP
CD-ROM to run Setup.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
rc@grandecom.net
Microsoft Windows MVP



"Bill Ridgeway" <info@1001solutions.co.uk> wrote in message
news:dkompr$qo0$1@newsg1.svr.pol.co.uk...
> On trying to install Windows XP doesn't detect the SATA hard disk drive.
> (CMOS doesn't detect it either).
>
> I know the hard disk is working -or at least it is partially booting which
> is why I want re-install Windows XP. How do you persuade it that a hard
> disk drive is installed please?
>
> Regards.
>
> Bill Ridgeway
>