BOOTING XP ON LAPTOP'S OR DESKTOP'S IN WHICH THERE IS A HARD DISK ERROR:

OK many old laptops will have this problem, in which while installing windows xp or vista or win 7, when it comes to hard disk partition selection there a message will be there saying something like "152654 MB HARD DISK AT ID0 ON BUS0 ON atpi". At this point you will have no partitions shown on the xp screen

which has atleast look like this

Even if the hard disks are shown it will give a error msg showin windows cannot be installed on the selected drive or partition.

If the problem is as above then there is only few solutions 

1. To change the hard disk and buy a new one.

2. To use this HD as second HD on any desktop and format it properly and then partitioning it there using partitioning software you can find on the web.

3. You can use any boot-able Cd's like hiren boot CD and then partition HD from there.

If there is a DVD or CD drive in the lap or desktop then u can any boot-able Cd's like hiren if not you have to use USB to format then better use hiren because they have created a way for there boot-able CD to work from the USB. 

HERE IS HOW.

NOTE: This method only works with the hiren's boot CD if you want use other boot CD then you will have to change the config file.

Step 1
Connect USB Pen Drive (1GB or more)

Step 2
Download and Run USB Disk Storage Format  USBFormat.zip (34KB)

 Step 3
Download grubinst_gui  grub4dos.zip (179KB) and Run as Administrator

 Step 4

Insert the BootCD (10.3 or newer) in the CD Drive and Copy everything from CD to USB Flash Drive

Step 5
Copy grldr and menu.lst from grub4dos.zip (or from HBCD folder) to the usb drive

Make sure you set your computer to boot from USB Flash Drive

To Enter the BIOS press the "Del" button on your keyboard. Alternatives are "F1", "F2", "Insert", and "F10". Some PC's BIOS might even require a different key to be pressed. Commonly a PC will show a message like "Press [Del] to enter Setup" to indicate that you need to press the "Del" key. Some AMI BIOS require you to enable the option "USB Keyboard Legacy support"!

For AMI BIOS:

• Go to "Feature Setup". "Enable" these options: "USB Function Support", 
  "USB Function For DOS" and "ThumbDrive for DOS". Go to "Advanced Setup". 
  Set the "1st Boot Device" to "USB RMD-FDD".
  Reboot the PC and it now should boot from the Usb Stick.
  
• Go to "USB Mass Storage Device Configuration". Select "Emulation Type" 
  and set it to "Harddisk". Go to the "Boot Menu" and set the "1st boot device" to "USB-Stick". Exit the BIOS, saving the changes. 
  you can try "Emulation Type" to "Floppy" or "Forced FDD".

For PHOENIX/AWARD BIOS:

• Go to "Advanced BIOS Features". Go to the "1st Boot device" and set it to "USB-ZIP".

YOU CAN FIND THE ABOVE DATA HERE: http://www.hiren.info/pages/bootcd-on-usb-disk

YOU CAN DOWNLOAD LATEST HIREN BOOT CD FROM HERE: HIREN'S BOOT CD LATEST DOWNLOAD