I've seated the new hdd properly.

Bios sees it.

Windows installer doesn't.

Was up till 2am trying to get it to work and I give up. Because my laptop is one
From Pcworld ad it's an advent, you can't download the scsi drivers for the installer. They don't exist.

I usually love the challenge of doing this but was literally pulling my hair out last nigh after 6 hours. I actually want to make someone hurt.

Anyone suggest anything before someone gets hurt?

Cheers

http://www.uktsupport.co.uk/advent/laptop/5301.htm

This is my laptop.

Have you tried connected it to another machine in a cady and formating it 1st.

I was gonna suggest using a third party to format the disk. Hirens boot disk is good

Dont know what os you are trying to install, but this is how I managed to get mine to accept os disc (In bios...change system (SATA)configuaration from AHCI to ATA) dont know if its same problem, but mine was doing the same untill i changed this.
Maybe worth a try.

There are no bios options to change, besides boot order. I don't have access to another pc. Just found the disk that came with the laptop do this is my last hope.

what os are you wanting to install.

I have a hdd caddy if you want me to format your new drive for you,

I also have a genuine windows xp with genuine key, if you want to try it

There are no raid / scsi drivers on the manufacturers disk. Ffs

Where abouts are you willo? I need te laptop ASAP or a business meeting on Monday

I formatted the drive using puppy Linux but still not recognised by windows. Proper pissing me off. Had xp working on it yeaterday but was only showing some of the hdd. So, I installed sp2 and got bsod every boot(even safe mode). Now xp has magically disappeared. Great.

I'm trying to install xp now and will try installing windows seven from within, if that doesn't work I'm givin up and buying a new laptop!

sent you pm

Your laptop should have been supplied with a Utility CD which contains a copy of the user manual and all the drivers.

If Not :-

The 5301 is basically a rebadged Uniwill U50SI2 (you should see this printed on the underside of the laptop). I'm fairly certain this is the same as the Gericom Phantom A4 Superlight 53120, the Gericom website contains drivers and a user manual.:-

http://download.gericom.com/NOTEBOOK/Phantom-Serie/A4-Superlight-53120-U40si-U50si/

Yeah those drivers are the only ones on the manufacturers cd. All the installation program's are for windows.

Basically I need a raid/SCIs driver but afaik they have never been released. The sis chipset drivers only alter the graphics / VGA. I have found some intel raid drivers, would they work?

What do you need RAID drivers for on a laptop?

Are you sure that the HDD is seated correctly?

Is there any jumper settings on the hard drive for setting the disk to sata 1 or 2.What hard drive you got.

He has a 320gb HDD Western Digital Blue

Go into Bios or even Boot manager if you have it F8 or F12 on start up and boot straight from DVD, windows doesn't always recognize sata drives that's the trouble.

Reading back Deano am thinking its a bad copy of Windows, try reburning it at a slower speed.

Tried to edit my last post "timed out"
If you have partitioned for XP Vista and then Seven it has to go in that order old then new if I remember right

SCSI drivers etc are not required on a laptop (have you seen the size of SCSI drives lol).

Im thinking this could be one of a few things, I know on NT5 OS's on certain mobo's you had to press F6 to enable AHCI when the Windows Setup was loading, otherwise it would not see hard drives. Never come across this problem on NT6 mind you.

If you're using the disc I gave you, that isn't bad, I'm using my laptop with it now, only burnt it a few weeks back so I could a clean install of Windows instead of an manufacturer install.

It could also be a defective component, given the bluescreens you've been having etc with setup, possibly a memory module/slot.

If you're still stuck mate, I will take a look at it for you, bring the diagnostics kit home from work with me, or can have a look at it on the bench in work tomorrow night and get it back to you first thing Monday morning.

Let me know if you need any more help.

I took the drive back, bought a 250gb cheapie from ebay for £24 and it worked like a charm. No hassle at all.

Sold the laptop now and bought a new one!! Will get your DVD Drive back to you this weekend mate.

Cheers.

Sound, glad you got it sorted, shame you lost faith in the laptop but onwards and upwards eh?!