Windows 10 Pro won't detect hard drive, need drivers??

[Matt26]

hey all,

I have an HP G42-154CA that I'm trying to get Windows 10 Pro installed on.

I ran into an issue with the installation disc not detecting the hard drive (ie, no hard drive is listed when the screen appears to select the hard drive to install Windows on).

I've tried various drivers (latest from HP and Intel website, OEM OS installation discs etc) with no luck.. at the very least, the Windows 7 driver from HP's website for that laptop should work for installing Windows 7- same results, does not detect hard drive.

At this point I'm wondering if maybe it's a BIOS setting that's causing this? I don't recall changing anything in the BIOS when I last installed Windows (which was v8), but it was awhile ago, so can't be certain.

Anyone know what's causing this?

Any help is appreciated, thanks!

Laptop Link:
http://support.hp.com/ca-en/product...ies/4121912/model/4172564/document/c02105098/

 

[Tim Locke]

The PC was/is working with whatever OS is on it now?

Are you doing an update type install or a clean install from media? Sounds like a clean install from a DVD.

Have you looked at the BIOS setup? Should be DVD first ( or USB ) Internal HDD second.

Strange that Windows doesn't at least see the HDD and then perhaps complain that it cannot use it. One of the first things W10 installer does is look for a partition it can use.
Booting from a Linux distro will get you Gparted that will sort out the HDD. If Gparted can't see the disk then it REALLY isn't working! Terminal window then sudo gparted. The disk will be sda probably

 

[Matt26]

PC was working fine before i wiped the drive (had Windows 8).

clean install with installation disc.

i haven't had a chance to look at the BIOS yet (it's at home), but the boot sequence/priority is set correctly.

the disk should be fine, as i used parted magic to wipe it recently in preparation for clean installing Windows 10.

i know there's some kind of hard disk mode/setting in some BIOS setups that determines how the hard drive is detected, something like that? wondering if maybe that's it.. don't recall changing anything like that when i installed Windows 8, but again that was awhile ago.

 

[Tim Locke]

I wonder if the problem is that you wiped the disk. Did you leave it with no partitions at all? All I allocated space?
If you have any thing that will boot and has parted of some sort it might be worth generating a single partition of any size .
If you attempt to boot the machine with no dvd do you get the old message that is something like 'no os detected...'

 

[Matt26]

I wonder if the problem is that you wiped the disk. Did you leave it with no partitions at all? All I allocated space?
If you have any thing that will boot and has parted of some sort it might be worth generating a single partition of any size .
If you attempt to boot the machine with no dvd do you get the old message that is something like 'no os detected...'

i've never done a clean install of any OS with a hard drive that already has existing data/partitioning on it.. and i've done plenty of clean OS installs that's not to say you couldn't just re-format the hard drive with the OS disc of course.. and yes, i get the "no OS" message on screen if i try booting the laptop without the installation disc.

 

[Tim Locke]

Waiting to hear what is happening...

 

[Matt26]

Figured it out..

Discovered that the disk wipe method used in parted magic makes a difference.

You can do secure (just writes 0's to the drive) or enhanced wipe (writes predetermined patters to the drive set by manufacturer), I first tried enhanced, then tried again with secure- voila! Didn't realize that Windows has an issue with different wipe methods.

And I did a clean instal, not an upgrade.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Walldoo99]

hey all,

I have an HP G42-154CA that I'm trying to get Windows 10 Pro installed on.

I ran into an issue with the installation disc not detecting the hard drive (ie, no hard drive is listed when the screen appears to select the hard drive to install Windows on).

I've tried various drivers (latest from HP and Intel website, OEM OS installation discs etc) with no luck.. at the very least, the Windows 7 driver from HP's website for that laptop should work for installing Windows 7- same results, does not detect hard drive.

At this point I'm wondering if maybe it's a BIOS setting that's causing this? I don't recall changing anything in the BIOS when I last installed Windows (which was v8), but it was awhile ago, so can't be certain.

Anyone know what's causing this?

Any help is appreciated, thanks!

Laptop Link:
http://support.hp.com/ca-en/product...ies/4121912/model/4172564/document/c02105098/

You could have done an update from windows 7 but a clean install might be tough. turn off your wifi and bluetooth and try again. Just because they gave you the win 10 update, doesn't mean HP supports it on your computer. I ran in to the same issue on my laptop and turning off the wifi worked. My wifi and bluetooth are on the same switch. It did install the driver for my wifi, but not the bluetooth, which I don't use anyway. Sadly MS has screwed over a lot of people with win 10. My desktop qua core doesn't even support win 10 so they offered ads to sell me a new computer, like that's going to happen.
I just checked your model and it is not supported for windows 8 or 10. this doesn't mean you can't install it, it just means you likely lose some feature. As far as the hard drive, when you get to that part, try clicking the advanced settings and see if you find it. Then format it. If you don't find it there, you can remove the drive and connect it to another PC with either a bridge or a dock, format it to NTSGF and then put it back in your laptop. GL
It is also advised that you do the update to 10 before you do a fresh install. Your COA won't work on 10 until you do it as an upgrade. this way 10 identifies you bios and activates on it's own

 

[Matt26]

Figured it out.. discovered that the disk wipe method used in parted magic makes a difference.

You can do secure (just writes 0's to the drive) or enhanced wipe (writes predetermined patters to the drive set by manufacturer), I first tried enhanced, then tried again with secure- voila! Didn't realize that Windows has an issue with different wipe methods.

Thanks to everyone for the help!