I've been having this issue with my laptop after installing a newly formatted drive where XP refuses to install. I know about the AHCI/SATA issues, but my laptop has a Phoenix BIOS which doesn't allow me to change any advanced BIOS options, including disabling AHCI. Help!
I had the same problem on my HP laptop awhile back. After loading all the drivers, the installation said it couldn't locate the hard drive. I also thought it was a SATA/AHCI problem. After fiddling with all sorts of drivers, I switched "SATA native mode" to off and that's what worked. Hope this helps.
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