Thinkpads Forum

Hello:

Recently acquired X60 without docking station. I would like to reformat the hard drive and install Windows XP (without Lenovo's pre-installed software), using a USB Flash Drive.

Problem: After loading Windows XP onto a USB Flash Drive, windows setup will only recognize the USB Flash Drive as the sole partition. I believe this has to be related to USB Flash Drive recognized as a USB HDD during bootup. I am unable to simultaneously bootup both (1) USB Flash Drive as USB FDD; and (2) internal HDD, where I want to install windows XP.


Note: Attempting to install Windows XP in the same method on a T42, the USB Flash Drive is recognized as a USB FDD and the internal hard drive is detected. This enables me to successfully install windows XP from a USB Flash Drive.

The method I used to prep the USB for Windows XP was the following: http://www.ocia.net/articles/xpflashdrive/page1.shtml


Any thoughts of how to resolve the problem?

Thanks!

Eric

Eric:

Windows XP installer will not recognize some of the newer SATA chipsets. If there is an IDE Compatibility Mode setting in the BIOS then try changing to compatibility mode before installing. After the install you can switch it back and then Windows Update should find the correct driver.

Hello Mark,

I appreciate your response. The current operating system is Windows XP. Do you mean the version of XP I am installing may not recognize the newer SATA chipsets?

Thanks,

Eric

Eric:

Yes. The CD may not have the drivers necessary to recognize the hard disk if it is SATA. You can either load drivers with the F6 key (but this requires a floppy drive with XP) or else change the interface mode to emulate IDE to get XP to install. After you have Windows loaded, updating the driver is not an issue.

Update: Successfully installed Windows XP using a Flash Drive.

Mark: I appreciate the assistance. Modifying the SATA setting to ' compataibility ' was the solution.


Additional resources referenced for the install:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=333677

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=202064