BIOS not detecting laptop SSD, but Windows XP installer does?

April 1, 2014 8:58 AM

After a hard drive failed me, I tried replacing with an SSD, but neither BIOS nor Ubuntu from a USB could detect it. But for some reason, an XP installation USB could detect it, but said it was corrupt. Any ideas on what to try next?

One day my laptop (IBM T60p) would not boot, but would put up "Error 2100 - Hard drive initialization error." So I tried running Ubuntu from a USB drive, and the hard drive did not show up on fdisk -l.

So I replaced the hard drive with a used SSD (SATA II or III I think) and again BIOS and fdisk -l did not detect it. But when I tried installed Windows XP from a USB drive, the installer (the initial non-GUI part) could detect it, but said it was corrupted. I tried setting the SSD in both compatibility mode and AHCI in BIOS with no luck.

I'm getting a USB-to-SATA cable and SATA drive I know 100% is working tomorrow; if the new drive does not work, does this narrow it down to the motherboard? I've heard Win XP does not install on SATA without drivers, but shouldn't compatibility mode fix that? Is there anything I can try with the converter cable?

posted by SouthCNorthNY to Computers & Internet (1 answer total)

Sounds like there may be an issue with the hard drive controller on the motherboard. At that point, it's buy a used motherboard or scrap the project altogether. Do you still have the old hard drive? If you do, hook it to that USB<>SATA bridge and see if it works.
posted by deezil at 9:20 AM on April 1, 2014