Missing drivers

[RogerO]

No, I really don't know about all of the devices.  I was relying on my increasinly shoddy memory which I should no longer attempt to do.   Without a Lenovo manual either in a hardcopy or on the laptop it's kind of like shooting in the dark...

I really do appreciate allof the info and advice you've provided thus far!  I'm getting closer with each reply...

[topmahof Community Moderator]

That's okay, I'm an old guy, I can't remember where I was yesterday.

Dave

Edit:  It looks like System Update is supported on your machine.  That will be an easy way to get your drivers installed.  On your download page, under ThinkVantage, look for System Update, version 3.14 for XP.  You'll need SP3 for it to run and read the installation instructions for it.  You'll need a MS net.framework installed.  

Try the above post for the SATA driver though.  I doubt if System Update will find and install it with the drive set to IDE. 

[RogerO]

Hi Dave,

I did what you suggested, from the control panel through to choosing the driver to install.  There were two items on the list: Primary IDE Channel and Standard IDE/ESDI Hard Disk Controller.  Both gave a window to install but neither resolved the issue.  When I rebooted after changing the setting in the bios, I got the blue screen flash and the safe mode screen.  

So I went to option 2 where I chose the folder where the driver was downloaded to (Drivers/WIN/IMSM) but the IMSM folder would not open to access the driver.  I just dead-ended there.

I found it interesting that under the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers there were multiple listings w/ duplicates of two.  It looked like this:

Primary IDE Channel

Secondary IDE Channel

Secondary IDE Channel

Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller

Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller

Standard IDE/ESDI Hard Disk Controller

Is this normal?  I thought perhaps the last one was added when I attempted option #2 above.  

Still open to suggestions,

Roger

[topmahof Community Moderator]

Hi Roger,

I hate to say it but that driver wasn't meant to be installed the way we're trying to do it.  I just tried the same thing on an x60 that I have here running 7 and xp and it did the same thing that it did for you.

You're going to have to sit through another XP install.

Go on your driver page and open the driver for XP and open the read.me file.  There's instructions on how to copy that driver onto a flash drive and install it during the XP install.  You might want to print those instructions out before you start.  Before you put xp back on there, make sure you put the setting in the bios back to AHCI.  If you look at the read.me file, it will show you what the driver will say, it won't say IDE standard or anything like that.  Trying to install that driver any other way isn't going to work.  

There is one  thing you might be able to do and that is to go on Intel's site and run their update utility and see if it comes up with that driver.  If it does, it should put it in that list that you saw when you tried to update from the list.  If it does, you should be able to update the driver from the instructions above.  It's worth a try.

Don't download and install anything else from Intel, just the driver for the hard drive controller.

Dave

[RogerO]

Good morning, Dave.

Just a couple of points for clarification. When you say "go to your driver page and open the driver for XP" do you mean on my laptop already or on the Lenovo page where I've d/l'ed all the other drivers? I looked there and I don't find anything that looks like what I assume you mean...

Same question for the Intel site you mentioned. I assume that you mean Intel's website but want to be sure.

I don't mean to appear dense; just wanting to be sure. At this point I'm starting to feel like I'm in way over my head...

Thanks!

Roger

[topmahof Community Moderator]

Sorry bout that,

Yeh, the Lenovo Driver page.  When you click on the driver, there will be a read.me file.  There's pretty good instructions on how to copy it to a flash drive and how to get the Windows install to pick up on it.

Before you do this though, click on the blue Intel link in my post above and it will take you to Intel's site to their update utility.

It will scan your system and come up with missing drivers. You only want the AHCI SATA driver, nothing else at this point.

If it picks it up and installs it, great.  If it does install it, it is only going to install it to the list that you find when you manually update the driver.  So, you'll have to manually update the driver again.  Just let me know if it finds that driver and installs it.  Don't do anything else.

Don't worry, we'll figure this out, have patience.

Dave

[RogerO]

Hi Dave,

I'm still working on the problem(s). I've been trying to use the Intel update utility you mentioned above but I have no Internet connection, either wireless or hard-wired. Brought it to work today to see if perhaps it was just not communicating w/ the home service but still no connection. The only connection showing is 1394 Net Adapter and shows it is enabled. No wireless, no broadband, nothing else. I tried to create a broadband connection but keep getting "Error 769" and something about a problem w/ the port. Previously this laptop was my work computer and was wired-in. BTW: the lights are blinking on the computer where the cable is plugged in indicating (to me) that the connection is working. Even shows to be working when I check the properties for the 1394 Net Adapter.

Still scratching my head...

Roger

[topmahof Community Moderator]

Hi Roger,

That 1394 is only for connecting to another computer.  It won't get you online.

You're going to have to copy this driver onto a flash drive from another computer.  Then copy the file from the flash drive onto the N200.  Then it's going to have to be connected to the LAN wire and then run the driver and install it.  That should give you wired internet.

Then run the Intel utility and see what it comes up with. If the Intel utility runs, see if it comes up with a wireless driver.  If so, install it too.  That should give you wireless and you can do the rest of this from home. If it doesn't give you a wireless driver, then you have a wireless card in your machine Other than an Intel card.

Dave

[RogerO]

Hi Dave,

The driver for the Internet worked like a charm! Was able to connect just fine. Not so much luck w/ the Intel update utility however. The installation failed and I was given a note to troubleshoot the issue. It found that the Active X/Java installer needed to be installed so i downloaded that program. When I attempted to install I got an error message stating a "network error occurred while attempting to read from the file (location)." I've tried numerous times to d/l and install to no avail. Even tried running from the d/l rather than saving and opening but that didn't work either.

On a bright note, the Internet is now working, both wired and wireless!

Roger

[topmahof Community Moderator]

Ok, that's cool you have internet now, at least.

Is Windows up to date with its service packs and everything.  Don't let Windows update install any optional updates for hardware, you might get buggy drivers that way.  The reason the Intel utility didn't work is probably because Windows isn't up to date.

If Windows is up to date, download and install TVSU .  Read the installation instructions first to see what the requirements are.  You'll need a net.framework first, you should be able to get that from the optional Windows updates. 

See if it finds your SATA driver.  If it does install that one first. Then try to update the SATA driver from the instructions in the previous post.  Don't download and install everything there at once.  It works better if you install the updates one at a time and reboot after each one.

If TVSU doesn't run, post the error here and we'll see what we need for it to run.

Dave