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Article ID : S500010941 / Last Modified : 11/04/2018Print

What to do if the SATA hard drive cannot be recognized?

The SATA hard drive on some VAIO computers cannot be recognized while installing Windows XP Operating System.

    This symptom occurs because the installation disc doesn't contain the suitable SATA device for the VAIO notebook. Therefore, it is required to install the SATA driver manually.
    Please refer to the steps below to install the driver:
    1. Find one external floppy disk drive and connect with the unit.
    2. Insert a blank formatted floppy disk into the external floppy disk drive, and unzip the downloaded zip file.
    3. Copy these unzip files to the blank formatted floppy disk.
    4. Restart the computer and press F2 function key.
    5. Select Advanced tab and then enable External Drive Boot option.
    6. Select Exit
    7. Start the Microsoft Windows Operating System setup by booting from the installation CD.
    8. At the beginning of the Operating System setup, press theF6 key to install a third-party SAST or RAID driver.
    9. When prompted, insert the floppy disk with the SATA driver files.
    10. After reading the floppy disk, the SATA Controller will be presented. Select Intel ICH9M-E/M SATA AHCI Controller by using PageDown function key and then press Enter. Finish Windows Operating System installation and install all necessary drivers.