my laptop cant find the operating system as i tried to reinstall xp, some how i have by mistake wiped the bootable section from the array of one of my hard disk partition. it had 2 partitions of 60gb each and one of them was unallocated and hidden and i found 2 stripes of arrays if that makes sense to anyone coz it dosent to me. it also had the raid fast track utility built in and thats where i by mistake erased the bootable section.

and now i cant load xp from the cd as the laptop cant find the drivers, its not loading from external cd rom and i dont have a floppy drive on my laptop.

shenzen

Your post is confusing. The terms you use indicate you may have been using a striped RAID array. That would be very unusual for a laptop. Post your exact HP model here.

thanks OtheHill.

Sorry about confusing terms and yes my laptop does have striped raid array. it has 2 separate 60 gb hard disks 1x2 mirror. model number is HP ROCK D87P, product code D870P if that helps.

I have some how managed to load windows Vista on my laptop but its running too slow running like a donkey even after having 2gb ram and pentium-4 3.4ghz processor.

so if you can help me to how to load win xp pls, coz when i put the win xp cd and try to install it says no hard drives found

shenzen

Are you sure you have an HP brand computer? I can't find anything on the model you posted. That said, the information below should still apply.

First of all if you have two harddrives you may have at least three ways to configure the harddrives. RAID 0 is called striping-no redundancy. RAID 1 is called mirroring- data is written to both disks so you have two copies- redundant. Third method is to use both harddrives independently.

What are you using the computer for? Is there an expressed need for any RAID array?

Post back with a response so I can advise properly.

thanks

I exactly dont know what make is it, coz on the lid it says "rock" and on the back it says manufactured by "CLEVO CO" model no.:D87P Product code:D870P.

I have noticed that it has got RAID1 mirroring and i am running vista home premium at the moment. but i dont mind using the 3rd method u have mentioned having both harddrive available to use or i dont mind not having any RAID at all, but i would like to load xp prof if possible and i dont understand how to do that.

coz i have tried everything but it just simply dosent let me.

and just to let you know that when i boot up the laptop: in the beginning it comes up with "Fasttrak 100 built utility Promise Technology" dont know what that means? but i thought it might mean something to you.

pls help.

shenzen

The Fasttrak Promise Technology is a RAI controller.

I found Clevo also, but couldn't find a manual anywhere. You didn't state what you use the computer for yet.

i use it for printing graphic manuals and also use photoshop etc.

is there any way of removing RAID alltogether and just running the OS normally with both hard drives available to use?

shenzen

I am guessing that you should be able to use the drives as basic drives but without a manual I can't say for sure. The problem is that if you wanted to re-install a RAID array you need to have drivers for the RAID. Do you have a floppy drive in the laptop?

no i dont thats the problem, but i do have memory card slots if that helps?

shenzen

i do have the Raid driver cd somewhere, i will start looking for it now.

shenzen

Do you need to recover any files from the one good disk if that is possible?

no i dont, coz its a fresh installation of vista home premium. so there is no data yet. all i want is xp up and running on my laptop pls. thanks a lot in advance for all your time and help.

shenzen

You didn't state if you have a fixed floppy drive in the laptop.

i did mention that i dont have floppy drive on my laptop in my post number 8.

shenzen

so do you think is there any way we can load xp on without having floppy drive?

shenzen

OK, then if you want to re-install using the RAID 1 option you will need to first find the RAID drivers and then slipstream the drivers into your WinXP CD files.

ok. and how do i do that pls?

and if i dont want to have RAID at all then? is it possible?

shenzen

I just thought of something. If you have a branded vesion of WinXP it may already include (slipstream) the RAID drivers, as well as any other drivers needed. What OS came on the laptop from the factory?

If you don't want to use RAID you should be able to set the BIOS to install to one of the disks. Right now you have them set as a RAID array. You will still need at least MBoard chipset and other drivers. I don't know if your harddrives are SATA or not. If SATA I don't know if the SATA controller is native or if drivers are required at the beginning of the OS install. Do you have a manual for this laptop.

i do have a genuine win xp prof cd and also should have the manual for my laptop somewhere. once i have got everything together i will post my next reply to you and thanks once again. speak to you soon. its too late now for me and i need to catch up with my sleep.

shenzen

OK, then talk tommorow.

OK victor, I found the correct site for your laptop. It is a Clevo D870P. Below is a link to the site. Your harddrives are IDE so no special drivers are required if you wish to eliminate the RAID. Because the jumper I mention below is used I don't believe you need to install any RAID drivers either. It is your call which way you wish to proceed. I don't see any Vista capable drivers listed on the Clevo site. That does't mean Vista won't install. I can't say because the Clevo site doesn't readily show any specs for the computer.

I see where you can eliminate the RAID. It is an unusual method. You need to reset a jumper inside the laptop. Look at pages 7-17/18. Using the harddrives in this manner will double your storage capacity but you will have no redundancy (built-in backup). You never mentioned why you were re-installing Windows. Did you attempt to upgrade to Vista and after that failed return to XinXP?

http://www.clevo.com.tw/en/e-servic...

You may need to download the various drivers from the Clevo site. Links are on the page I am linking to below. Manual is also available there for download. Good idea to download it even if you have a hard copy.

http://www.clevo.com.tw/en/e-servic...

Features & Specs:
• Clevo D870P Intel 3.2Ghz 17" Wide Screen Notebook w/ATI 9700 256Meg Graphics, 512MB, 80GB
• Memory: 1x512MB DDR 400, 2x 64-bit wide DDR data channels, 2x 200-pin SODIMM sockets, supporting DDR333/400 (DDR400 512 Ram installed), Expandable Memory up to 2GB, based on 256/512/1024MB SODIMM Module
• Video controller: External VGA: ATi Mobility Radeon 9700 high performance chip
• Sound system: AC"97 2.2 Compliant Interface
• I/O ports: 3x USB 2.0 ports / 1x Mini IEEE 1394 port, 1x S-Video jack for TV output / 1x Serial port, 1x Parallel port(LPT1), supporting ECP/EPP, Infrared Transfer, IrDA 1.1 FIR/SIR/ASKIR, 1x DVI output / 1x PS/2 port supporting mouse and keyboard, 1x Microphone jack / 1x Headphone jack, 1x S/PDIF output jack / 1x DC-in jack, 1x RJ-11 for MDC Modem / 1x RJ-45 jack for LAN, 3x Built-in instant keys: www, E-mail and Applications Keys, 1x S-Video jack for Video Input (option with TV Tuner Module), 1x Line-in jack for Audio input (option with TV Tuner Module)
• Storage: 1 x 80G HDD 5400rpm, Support 2x Hard Disk Drive - 9.5mm IDE ATA66/100/133 (Ultra DMA), Built-In RAID controller, 8x DVD+/-RW, 7 in 1 Memory Card Reader
• Communication: Infrared Transfer: 115.2Kbps SIR/4Mbps FIR, 1cm~1M operating distance, IrDA 1.1compliant, 1000 BASE-T(Gigabit) LAN on board (10/100 BASE-T compatible), CMOS Camera Module, Integrated V.90 / 56K MDC Modem (V.92 compliant), 802.11g WIFI, Built in bluetooth
• Dimension: 393(W) x 280(D) x 42(H) mm, 15.5"(W) x 11.0"(D) x 1.7"(H), 4.3Kg with 8-cells Lithium-ion battery
Operating System:
• Windows XP Home/ Windows XP Professional
Below is a link to the graphics drivers for WinXP

http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_c...

Below is what ATI has to say about driver support for Vista with your graphics chipset (ATi Mobility Radeon 9700)

http://support.ati.com/ics/support/...

If you wish to slipstream anything into your original WinXP CD files you can do that using the program called nLite. Find nLite below. Download nLite final version 1.4.1

http://www.nliteos.com/download.html

thats great, i dont know how to thank you and i really appreciate your help and assistance that you have provided me with. i looked for the manual that came my laptop but no luck, couldnt find it but as you mentioned i will have a look at the manual from the site and proceed with resetting the jumpers to eliminate RAID and will reinstall winXP.

i will keep you informed, and thanks once again.

shenzen

I think you will be able to sort it out now. If not, don't hesitate. Let us know how it turned out at any rate.

Are you located in Australia?

thanks Hill.

i have managed to reset the jumpers and install xp atlast successfully. all the credit goes to you.

and this forum lol... and ye i am located in london, where abts are u from?

shenzen

Suburb of Detroit, MI USA. I asked because I hadn't heard of the brand of computer you own and I did find some australian links to that brand. As far as credit goes, Google deserves alot of the credit. Glad to hear you got it going. Just remember to backup you personal data regularly.

alright. i heard the news about the floodings in u.s, how is the condition now like?

ya i noticed about clevo manufactures so many different makes and uses their logo like toshiba, rock, hp etc.

i will back up all my data now on, will probably get an external hard drive.

shenzen

If you haven't already, I suggest you get everything related to your laptop off the Clevo site. If they are anything like some of the other manufacturers thea data won't be availble for ever. I suggest you burn it to optical disk for safe keeping.

The flooding is mostly is in the midwest and south of us. I live about three miles from a part of the Great Lakes watershed. Flooding in my area would be very unusual.

The only news on local TV here today concerns the mayor of Detroit. He and his ex-girlfriend were indicted on a total of 15 felony counts by the county prosecuter. Another Detroit claim to fame.

Hi sorry i was bit busy with work.

Its good to hear that you dont get flooding where you live.

And Whats the mayor and his ex-girlfriend lol..

I was wondering if you know any good site to download free antivirus and spyware tools and also Trojan removal tools please?

shenzen