Missing SATA drivers after rebooting during XP install

Hi Everybody,

I'm reformatting a former Vista machine to XP. It's a Toshiba Satellite laptop, and is fairly new. Everything was going fine up to the beginning of installation. It tells me it cannot find the file "asms" and that I need to either insert the DVD into D: or browse to another location.

I've researched this problem, and from what i can tell, all I need to do is somehow re-install the device drivers for the dvd drive, and the rest of the windows install should function normally.

I can shift + F10 to get to DOS / a command prompt during install.

From there, I can see the machine recognizes the C:, which has a windows directory and a documents and settings directory. If i try to switch to the D:, I get a DOS message telling me the device is not ready.

I have 2 USB ports available, and I've been playing around in the BIOS trying to find a way to get the DVD drivers installed, so I can complete the Windows XP installation.

Does anybody have any suggestions on the best way to do this?

Otherwise, I think I'll have to format a thumb drive so that I can boot off of it, and try to install that way.

Any suggestions/tips/ideas would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Drew

Did you make sure that there were windows xp drivers for all the associated hardware on your computer, and why are you downgrading?

Thanks for the reply!

I did not verify any of the hardware drivers before I tried to reformat. I was under the assumption that the installation would work normally.

I'm downgrading because of software performance issues. (I would hesitate to call XP a "downgrade," as I much prefer it to vista :D ) A few programs I use function much better in the XP environment than they do in Vista.

I poked around the Toshiba site, and they really don't have much help for XP..... Don't know how the drivers could have gona missing, but it appears they are gone.

-Drew

What are the specs of your lap top?

You need to reinstall Vista and search for the drivers through other means.

It maybe impossible to install XP due to the SATA Controller, as you will be required to put them on a floppy disk.

The problem I have is that the installation disks that came with the computer are long lost.

I'm going to try formatting a USB drive so that I can boot and install off of there, as those drivers seem to have remained intact. Hopefully I can get that to work?

I'm using this procedure: http://www.vandomburg.net/installing-windows-xp-from-usb/

If that doesn't work, I think the only option there is to install either Vista or 7. At this point, I just want to get the thing up and running. The only windows installation disk i have is for XP, alothough, i might have some recovery disks w/ vista that came with a gateway laptop I purchased lying around somewhere.

Do you think it'd be easier to try to install Vista onto the Toshiba using the Gateway recovery disk, or should i try the USB XP install? Would I just be opening up a whole new can of worms and creating more problems for myself?

-Drew

Using other recovery disks made for another computer will not work.

You never did answer my questions:

What are the specs of your lap top, what applications are you saying that "they do not perform well under vista?", and a USB Install may fail as you will still need the SATA Controller drivers. At this point and time call Toshiba to get the recovery disks sent to you for your particular lap top.

Hi, sorry!!!!!

The factory Specs for the laptop are:

Toshiba Satellite A135-S4427 Specs:

Processor: Intel Core Duo T2250 (1.73 GHz/2MB L2 Cache)
OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium
Hard Drive: 120 GB SATA @ 5400RPM
Screen: 15.4" WXGA TruBrite Widescreen (1280 x 800)
Graphics: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950, Up To 224 MB Shared
RAM: 1GB DDR2 SDRAM @533 MHz (2x512MB)
Optical Drive: DVD SuperMulti Drive (CD/DVD burner)
Battery: 6-cell lithium ion
Wireless: Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 802.11 a/b/g
Weight: 6 lbs.
Dimensions: 1.47” (H) x 14.2 “ (W) x 10.5" (D)
Ports/Slots: 1 IEEE 1394 (FireWire); 4 Universal Serial Bus (USB 2.0); VGA monitor out port; S-video out; RJ-45 Ethernet LAN; RJ-11 modem; Type I/II PC Card Slot; headphone/speaker jack; microphone; 5-in-1 bridge media adapter supports Secure Digital, Multi Media Card, Memory Stick, Memory Stick PRO and xD Picture Card; Secure Digital slot supports SDIO

I use ProTools for audio editing and SolidWorks for 3D CAD modelling. Both run cleaner in XP (less crashes, better hardware performance, etc)...


I'm going to try the USB install this weekend, and I'll here if that's successful. Otherwise, do you think if I got my hands on a Vista or 7 hologrammed cd, would I be able to pop that in the DVD and boot from that using BIOS?

I was hoping to leave calling toshiba to get the recovery disks as a last resort....

Thanks!!!!

-Drew

Nothing worked. However, I was able to install vista using a CD, and that fixed all the problems. The laptop is working fine now. It's unfortunate they make it so difficult to "downgrade" to XP on some of these vista machines....

Thanks for all your help!!!

-Drew