Acer Aspire One Netbook

[mmmaanny]

Hello fellow techies!

Has anyone encountered a problem reinstalling Windows OS on the netbook? For example, creating the NTFS partition but no drive exists?

After wiping Ubuntu on the Netbook, recreating a Windows partition no longer works because the SSD partition does not exist. That is, during the initial Windows OS installation, the part where you create the NTFS partition cannot be done because no drive exists.

The drive appears in BIOS setup, but Windows OS installation does not detect any drives or partitions. Since the netbook uses an SSD, could it be possible that I deleted the partition or drivers? Do you know how to restore the drive or know what drivers to load?

Much appreciated,
Manny

 

[jbradt]

Have you tried installing the drivers particular to the hardware in the machine?

 

[Vyper28]

Try switching the SATA mode on the SSD to compatible/IDE or something similar?

 

[mmmaanny]

I can't install the drivers because there's no recognized drive to install the OS. Basically, the OS cannot be installed until there is a recognized drive to create an NTFS partition.

 

[mmmaanny]

Try switching the SATA mode on the SSD to compatible/IDE or something similar?

During POST and BIOS setup, the only recognized drive is what the Netbook came with. I believe the original partition that the Netbook came with was deleted, which is probably why Windows OS setup doesn't recognize any drives during OS installation.

 

[seedubya]

Your understanding of what is happening is flawed.

The Windows installer cannot see the drive because it is not equipped with the required driver to see the drive - yes, drivers are required when installing an OS, Windows or otherwise.

Vyper's suggestion is to switch the hard drives operating mode from SATA to IDE\legacy etc. in the BIOS is valid. Otherwise you will need to load a driver from USB during Windows setup using the f6 key or other method

 

[NYJimbo]

Has anyone encountered a problem reinstalling Windows OS on the netbook?

Is that windows 3.1 or Windows 8 or something in between ?

 

[Altster]

Is that windows 3.1 or Windows 8 or something in between ?

Could it be.......3.11 WFW? Heh, heh

 

[Vyper28]

During POST and BIOS setup, the only recognized drive is what the Netbook came with. I believe the original partition that the Netbook came with was deleted, which is probably why Windows OS setup doesn't recognize any drives during OS installation.

This should not matter?

In the bios there should be an option like "SATA Controller mode" or similar. Usually it is under "advanced" mainboard features or something.

It will have the options AHCI or Legacy or IDE or something. IDE/Legacy/Compatible mode is what you want.

Then your disc should see the drive so you can install windows, then you can install the chipset drivers, then change the sata mode back, and you are good.

 

[ohio_grad_06]

Try this, for the sake of argument. Since you wiped the drive anyway, maybe boot into Parted Magic, and zero write the drive in case there's any leftover partitions/data from ubuntu. After that windows should be able to see it as though you'd just put it in the netbook I would think.

 

[ohio_grad_06]

However, yes, I agree with the above posters, IDE mode should be what you are looking for. Try that first.

 

[angry_geek]

I've seen this once or twice on other machines with Windows 7. The solution was to remove the drive, plug it into another machine, use disk manager or other disk utility to remove all partitions on the drive. Not sure that will work for you with the little bit of info posted, but, sometimes, I enjoy throwing darts blindfolded.