This solution posted by: Siva BGD on HP SUpport forum
First, let me explain about this. While install XP proff, it won’t detect the harddrive or it will ask to install the SATA driver.
For this issue, we have to alternate solutions. Both will work. You can use any one of them.
One is to disable the SATA support in BIOS. Here are the steps to disable then steps:
1. Turn on or restart the notebook.
2. Press the F10 key when the “HP Invent” logo appears on the screen. This will open the BIOS menu.
3. Select the “System Configuration” tab.
4. Select “Disable” for the “SATA Native Support” item.
5. Press F10 to Save and Exit. Choose Yes for “Save configuration changes and exit now”.
Now it will allow you to install the XP OS without any issue. But you should enable SATA support in BIOS after completing the installation. You have to use XP without SATA support.
If you want to install the SATA driver, then you need one external floppy driver and then follow the below steps:
You can install SATA drivers on a Retail OS by following these steps:
1) Enter F10 Setup, and go to System Configuration/Device Configurations/SATA Native Mode
to Disable.
2) Install Windows XP Service Pack 2 in whatever manner is typical for your organization.
3) Download the Intel SATA AHCI Controller Driver, SoftPaq SP32478.exe, from www.hp.com.
4) Extract all the files from the SoftPaq. A USB floppy is necessary for this step. Run sp32478; this will create a floppy disk. The files will be located on this floppy.
5) These files should be located on the floppy disk.
a. iaahci.cat
b. iaahci.inf
c. iastor.cat
d. iastor.inf
e. iastor.sys
f. license.txt
g. readme.txt
h. txtsetup.oem
Note : You can use the steps 4 & 5 on a Desktop system having floppy drive and then transfer those files to a CD-R.
6) Download and run the Intel Chipset Installation Utility for ICH7, SoftPaq SP32781, from www.hp.com .
7) In Device Manager, right-click the IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers/Intel ® 82801 GBM/GHM (ICH7-M Family) Serial ATA Storage Controller and select ‘Update Driver’.
Follow these steps to complete the Hardware Update Wizard:
a. At the first dialog, select ‘No, not this time’ when prompted to connect to Windows Update.
b. At the next dialog, select ‘Install from a list or specific location (Advanced).
c. At the next dialog, select ‘Don’t search. I will choose the driver to install’.
d. When prompted to select the device driver you want to install for this hardware, choose the first one in the list: Intel® 82801GBM/GHM (ICH-7M Family) Serial ATA Storage Controller - 27C4.
e. When prompted to insert the manufacturer’s installation disk, browse to c:\SWSetup\SATA AHCI Drivers\, and click OK.
f. When prompted to select the device driver you want to install for this hardware, select the Intel® 82801GBM SATA AHCI Controller
g. A warning that Windows cannot verify that the device is compatible with your hardware will appear. When asked if you want to continue installing the driver, select Yes.
h. The installation will complete.
9) Shut down Windows and restart the computer. Enter F10 setup when prompted during the boot.
10) Go to System Configuration/Device Configurations/SATA Native Mode and change it to Enable, then save settings and exit F10 Setup.
11) After Windows restarts, the additional SATA components will be updated. A System Settings Change will appear. When asked “Do you want to restart your computer now?” click Yes.
12) When Windows restarts, the SATA AHCI drivers will be completely installed.
That is the entire history and solution for this issue.
A typical installation usually takes around 30 to 45 minutes. Now imagine you need to do four installations, now ten, now twenty. You can see where this could take a long time. If you charge per hour, 20 computers could cost your clients a pretty penny.