WinXP reboot loop, XP CD won't recognize HDD Closed

Question

Hi, everyone.  I've got a combination of problems with a laptop, and I haven't found a solution yet, so I'm hoping that one of you can help me.

The laptop has a virus that sent it into the infinite reboot loop (logs on, then immediately logs off, then logs on, then logs off, etc.).  

I can't boot into safe mode.  It goes back into the log on/log off loop.

I've tried booting from the XP CD so I can repair the installation or just format the drive and start from scratch, but it tells me that no hard drive is found.  

At first I suspected that the XP CD might not have drivers for the SATA drive, but it was able to find the SATA drive on my desktop computer.

I'm stuck.  Where do I go from here?

xpcman · Answer

It's not the SATA drive that Windows XP has problems with. It's the SATA controller in the laptop that is the problem. I don't know if you can do it with your laptop, but try going into the BIOS set-up and have a look to see if you can tell it to use the SATA controller in IDE or PATA mode.

mysticdreams · Answer

Hi Eric,

I think your HDD crashed in the process, so you will have to change for another one !

xpcman · Answer

It will be a little slower for hard disk reads.

WinXP reboot loop, XP CD won't recognize HDD

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