how can I change sata mode to IDE on a compaq presario CQ57-339WM? (no bios option)

chuky53

Estimable
Oct 30, 2014
9
0
4,510
[strike]I am working on a friend's laptop, a compaq presario cq57, He wanted me to remove windows 7 because it was screwing up badly and replace it with windows xp pro sp3. So I went to work as usual by first wiping the hdd to get rid of win 7 so it wouldn't block the xp installation. That is where the trouble began. After first just wiping the c drive, trying to leave the "system", "recovery" and "hp tools" partition, I tried to install xp, booted from cd without a hitch but after loading set-up it went into bsod so I decided to just completely wipe the disk of the other partitions also.
After having wiped the rest of the hdd and rebooting to boot of the win cd I now have the problem that it refuses to boot from cd nor usb.

All I get is a message saying "missing operating system". When I boot up the laptop, I get the bios start-up screen, then the promt screen to go into boot manager and if I let it go it goes to the missing operating system message, if I go into boot manager I am able to select the cd/dvd drive and the usb. Once in the boot manager if I select to boot from either the cd/dvd drive or the usb stick, the screen flashes a few times showing just the bootmanager bar during the flashes and then it goes to the missing operating system message again, refusing to boot from cd nor usb.

I have tried making a bootable installation cd out of my usb stick, did not work, tried even to install windows xp on the usb stick to try and boot win xp from the usb to then start the setup via windows. Even the windows installed on the usb wont start up, giving the same flashing screen and then the missing operating system message.

As soon as a friend can come by to drop of a hdd case to use the hdd as a external hdd I will try formatting the drive and installing xp on it while using it as a external hdd and let you guys know how that works out. But if any of you have any suggestions to get this fixed before my friend drops of the hdd case, I would greatly appreciate it. This is the first time I have ever experienced this problem in all my years of fixing pc's. :s[/strike]

******UPDATE*******
I am sure that the whole problem I am having is caused by the sata mode. Seeing as there is no option in the bios to change the sata mode to IDE, is there maybe a jumper I could switch up to change the sata mode on a compaq presario CQ57-339WM? if so, where is it located?

 

chuky53

Estimable
Oct 30, 2014
9
0
4,510
That was the first thing I checked when I got the first bsod, but there is no option in the bios to change the sata mode. I have worked on many computers before but never before have I had this problem of not wanting to boot from removeable media. Not even the live operating system I installed onto the usb is booting up... tried both a live xp and slax neither of which boot up, but have no problems booting up on other systems...
 

chuky53

Estimable
Oct 30, 2014
9
0
4,510
if only I could get something to boot wether install cd/usb, boot cd full of tools or live usb os, I could get it fixed... but like this im screwed. :p been working on this problem for 4 days now and kind of running out of options. Should mention that there was no problem with booting anything up until I performed a bad sector check/fix run, after the run finished and I rebooted the laptop, it wouldn't boot anything anymore..
 

chuky53

Estimable
Oct 30, 2014
9
0
4,510
So I bought myself a hdd enclosure to use the hdd in question as a external hard drive and installed windows on it that way. The installation was successful and was able to run and update the windows while it was still in the enclosure connected to my personal laptop. Then I installed the hdd back into the CQ57 and let it boot up.

Guess what, now the message that appears has changed to "no bootable device -- insert boot disk and press any key" and it still wont boot up from any of the physical windows cd's, windows install usb, nor my hirens cd.
Hope I dont have to open it up all the way to get at some cmos battery to fix this...
 

chuky53

Estimable
Oct 30, 2014
9
0
4,510
My best guess is that it is indeed the sata mode that is blocking the whole thing.

Does anyone know if there are some jumpers on a compaq presario cq57-339wm that I could use to change the sata mode to IDE ? and if so, where they are located?
 

Agent Fox Mulder

Estimable
Jan 30, 2015
1
0
4,510
You need BIOS with unlocked options in menu. I suuggest that change AHCI to IDE not help you to install XP SP3.The vendor of your BIOS is H2oInsyde.Vendor chosen ACPI version is 3.0 or above as default (This version cannot supporting by WinXP and you get blue screen with acpi.sys).You need to integrate SATA-controller's driver to WinXP's CD by NLite.Then try to seek unlocked BIOS with Power Management and youi will solve you problem!
Good Luck!