Down grade question: HP G50-126NR

... but it could be the video too. Usually, when you encounter a SATA problem, it will say something like 'disk not found'. Also, if it's a driver issue, it doesn't usually BSOD until after a partial install is done and you reboot.

Where did you get the WinXP w/SP3 disk? Is it slip streamed from another system? Is it an OEM disk? Retail? Volume?

And did you remove the Recovery Partition that has Vista on it?

Now what should happen is you get the [b]Press Any Key to Boot From CD[/b] message then the screen goes black momentarily while the Windows XP installer checks the HDD or to see if there is one and then you should get some sort of Error Message like [b]No HDD Found[/b] or if there is a Partition on that HDD with Vista on it you will stop right there and get some sort of message that XP [b]Can Not[/b] be installed on this system.

You need to wipe the HDD with a Utility like Boot & Nuke available here

http://www.dban.org/

Then without formatting the HDD proceed to install XP and let the Windows Installer format the HDD in the way you require.

The HP XP Drivers for this system are located here too

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareList?os=228&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=en&product=3896843

Col

Reasons to not delete the HP Recovery Partition
A small partition on the hard drive contains a record of all software installed at the factory and shipped with this system. This includes images for the Microsoft Operating System and supplemental products. If you have a problem with the operating system or device drivers, the programs on the recovery partition can restore the PC to proper operation.
If you decide to delete all of this information and remove the Recovery Partition you will make a small amount space available for other programs. If you back up your data, and you create a set of Recovery disks before deleting the partition, you can restore the PC later.

If you download and create this Recovery CD you will be able to use Diskpart to manipulate your Partitions. Make sure that you have created your Vista Recovery DVD before attempting this. Follow the directions below and you should be good to go.

The Windows Vista Recovery CD can be used to Boot your PC. Check your BIOS settings to make sure that you are booting from the CD first.

Creating a Windows Vista Recovery CD

http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/window-on-windows/?p=622

Download from here:

http://coblitz.codeen.org/neosmart.net/downloads/guides/Vista_Repair/Vista_Recovery_Disc_x86.iso

Burn it to a CD with Nero or equivalent software.

Boot from the CD and on the first screen click Next, click Repair your computer, click Next and select Command Prompt.

Type in DISKPART and press Enter. This opens the Microsoft DiskPart application. You need to select the active disk, so type in:

The primary disk is generally Disk 0, so type in:

select disk 0

type in:

clean

Now type

EXIT

Keep us informed as to your progress if you require further assistance.

If you think that any of the posts that have been made by all TR Members, have solved or contributed to solving the problem, please Mark them as Helpful so that others may benefit from the outcome. ;) :D :-bd

have you resolved the issue ???? can you post it as i have the same problem.

rgds/ali

..I've been really busy to pursue a fix to install XP on this laptop and Ubuntu ?just works? so I let it ride. The other day I took some time out to remedy this and I had XP installed with in an hour...

What I accomplished?

I do believe I removed the hidden partition and reclaimed the space thanks to Jacky Howe's suggestion.

I opened a terminal window with in Ubuntu (LiveCD would work as well) on the HP laptop and typed ?sudo lshw?. You could also use ?lspci? and in the terminal window spews forth a list of your systems hardware as long as an arm. The only part I'm worried about is this one here:

id: storage
description: SATA controller
product: ICH9M/M-E SATA AHCI Controller
vendor: Intel Corporation

In addition to that it also listed my chipset as ?Intel Mobile 4 Series? along with my sound and ATHEROS AR5007(or something close) wifi chips.

So then its off to Intel's website. Basically I went under their laptop download section for ?Mobile Intel? 4 Series Express Chipset Family? downloads and found the Intel? Matrix Storage Manager .zip version NOT exe here:

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&ProductID=2991&DwnldID=17413&strOSs=44&OSFullName=Windows*%20XP%20Professional&lang=eng

You might as well grab the XP video drivers labeled winxp14381.zip as well while your here:

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&ProductID=2991&DwnldID=17403&strOSs=44&OSFullName=Windows*%20XP%20Professional&lang=eng

I also went out and grabbed my wifi drivers for XP I found here for 32/64 and a wide range of models from Atheros:

http://download2.dvd-driver.cz/atheros/drivers/ar5xxx/xp3264-76.1.184-whql.zip

I have tried quite a few sound drivers for the 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller in my HP G50-126NR laptop and NOTHING has worked yet.

So NOW that I collected the SATA drivers I needed so badly along with a few others just to make XP life easier! I need to get these on to my XP boot cd properly. This is where nLite comes into play to slip stream these drivers into my Windows XP Professional SP3 CD.

If you don't know what that is then http://www.nliteos.com/nlite.html Its VERY easy to use and to me I don't see it much different than using something like WinRar or Nero CD burner...

I already had that installed on one of my desktops so I just makes the necessary changes, not changing anything else about the boot CD except adding those drivers for my HP laptop...

It worked... Booted it up from the CD I made and again the screen went black for 2-4 minutes, but in stead of a BSOD I saw the WinXP text mode setup. I followed through and low and behold I was booting in to XP with my video and wireless really to go to boot.

Now to the strangeness! Lol.. It setup my sata 250G hard drive as E:, card reader as C:, and my CD/DVD as D:... ARHGGG.. :-P
The later 2 you can change the drive letters easy enough, but the /Windows hard drive can not be changed while in use even under safe mode.. Does anyone know a way of doing this under Recovery mode or even a Linux live CD??

Other than this and the no sound issue its running awesome, glad I dumped Vista for XP/Linux. I haven't found a drive for the modem in it either, but I could care less about a modem...

I went through the exact same thing. I was also surprised by the black screen as it was also a first. You are correct with the blue screen of death...BSOD..the Sata drivers are what is needed to get around it. My model is a tad different : HP G50-116CA but after a cross reference on HP website, you have the same chipset so you can use the same as I did. You will need to invest into a USB floppy drive. I found one on kijiji for 15$ so no need to break the bank. Not to have you running around but refer to this link, a post I did for the problem and solution on HP help forums :

http://forums11.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/bizsupport/questionanswer.do?threadId=1347245

Its a long one...hope this is your solution.