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area51m7700 wont boot

post #1 of 17
3/18/08 at 3:26pm
Thread Starter 
hey guys i have an area51m7700 itried 2 load win xp from recovery cd v.1.4 it wont recognise hdd i bought new hdd same prob now it wont rec f6 drivers im running p4 3.6 1iede hd phoenix bios promise raid controller please any help thanks my e-mail is joegreen1967@yahoo.com i had this prob b 4 alienware reinstalled op sys worked fine 4 a while
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post #2 of 17
3/18/08 at 3:48pm
is the hard drive recognized in the bios? does it boot properly?
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post #3 of 17
3/18/08 at 4:04pm
Thread Starter 
yes it also says promise tx2 378 controller i tried 2 hard drives same prob when installing xp then at f6 2 load sata drivers it does nothing
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post #4 of 17
3/18/08 at 4:16pm
Thread Starter 
ive tried multiple discs i even downgraded 2 win 98 it bsods at installing hardware then i try recov disc from alienware and at win install or recovery screen it says no hd
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post #5 of 17
3/18/08 at 5:04pm
Very strange. If you can boot fine (which means your hard drive is fine) then you should have no problems reinstalling an OS.
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post #6 of 17
3/18/08 at 5:26pm
Thread Starter 
i know it should but when i get 2 mass controler screen 2 load 3rd party drivers it does nothing the usb floppy works fine maybe drivers r no good in my post it says promise 378 controller but wont rec when trying xp install
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post #7 of 17
3/18/08 at 5:31pm
Can you please use complete sentences. It's hard to understand you.
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post #8 of 17
3/18/08 at 5:43pm
Thread Starter 
when i boot up laptop it shows sata378 tx2plus bios version 1.00.0.33 it shows my iede hdd but when i try to load xp it says hit f6 key to load third party drivers and i put floppy disk in usb floppy drive and it does nothing if i exit past that then it says no mass storage device detected hit f3 to cancel windows cannot set up ive heard this is common with area 51 m7700 laptops with promise controller thanks in advance for any help
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post #9 of 17
3/18/08 at 6:00pm
All you need to do is boot your computer with the CD in your system tray and it should start the install process for you. You don't need to install hard drive drivers.

If you can get into the bios, search for the section that shows your boot sequence. Make your CD/DVD tray the #1. Then restart with the XP CD in your drive. It should follow with a prompt.
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post #10 of 17
3/18/08 at 6:12pm
Thread Starter 
i did that a few times it wont load windows if it wont recognise hdd and you have to download f6 third party drivers at mass storage screen maybe i need different promise 378 non raid drivers but it will not load from cd because it says it has no sata drivers even though theyre in post and so is hdd had same problem but im out of warranty now and alienware support sucks anyway
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post #11 of 17
3/19/08 at 2:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by joegreen1967 View Post
i did that a few times it wont load windows if it wont recognise hdd and you have to download f6 third party drivers at mass storage screen maybe i need different promise 378 non raid drivers but it will not load from cd because it says it has no sata drivers even though theyre in post and so is hdd had same problem but im out of warranty now and alienware support sucks anyway
You need to turn off the media card reader in BIOS, otherwise windows will think that your main HDD is your 7in-one card reader.
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post #12 of 17
3/19/08 at 10:21pm
Tridge is right, disable the card reader.

Also, make sure your floppy is good, and empty except for the RAID drivers. Have the floppy plugged in when you boot to install the O/S and just so you know, 98 won't install with those drivers, you'll need to use XP.
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post #13 of 17
3/20/08 at 9:39pm
Thread Starter 
i disabled card reader no help there now it says no bios last time alienware fixed under warranty it was software problem im not a newbe i just dont have luck with raid controllers in laptops
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post #14 of 17
3/23/08 at 11:21am
Which USB port do you have your floppy plugged into? I beleive it has to be in the top, back one, any other usb port and it will not see the floppy drive. Hope this is your problem.
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post #15 of 17
3/23/08 at 2:06pm
I've never had a problem with my USB floppy drive and RAID drivers for XP with my 7700. I disable the card reader each time too. Are you sure that the drivers you have on the floppy are the right ones?
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post #16 of 17
3/31/08 at 1:21pm
if your trying to set up raid make sure you use the raid drivers. I believe the m7700 is ata not sata. sure the floppy is made correctly?like everyone else said, disable card reader or your hd won't be c. if you have the right hd drivers. make sure you make a new array for your new hd combo. if your not useing raid make sure to delete the array. hope that helps.
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post #17 of 17
3/31/08 at 4:33pm
My 7700 uses SATA drives. You could order either.
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