You need to download the sata driver and point to that. You have not filled out your system specs, do that so somebody can help you locate the driver. You can even ask for help in the drivers subforums. Then follow this tut.
SATA Drivers - Load in Windows Recovery Options
I have the SATA driver on a flash drive and I can follow until step five. I don't have any folders, and trying to just use the file I downloaded gets the same error as before. I opened it up and tried the files inside, but none of those worked either. Do I have to install it, then copy it over?
I found the SATA driver, found the right file, and got to choosing a SATA controller. I ran through every one it came up with, and none of them worked. I even tried it without selecting one and left it sitting for hours. This one hung up on searching for windows. Now what?
Hello again. I'm not too sure. This is a dell xps you said, it would have come with a diagnostic CD from Dell. Can you please try running that and see what it says about the hard disk.
Another thing you can try is running Seatools diagnostic which is downloadable from their website. Use the one for DOS, not windows.
Seatools is saying that no hard drives have been found and no controllers have been detected. Now is my hard drive screwed?
I just got off the phone with Dell's tech support. The hard drive did fail, which is odd since I have had this laptop about a month. They're sending a new hard drive, which is supposed to get here before I leave for college on Wednesday. Thank you for helping, all the same. I guess this makes it solved.
Thankyou for posting back with the update.
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