[Agon]

So after trying Vista on one partition and XP on the other, I decided that Vista was the best for me. So then I deleted the whole drive and gave everything to Vista. Now when I try to install Vista I get the error:

"Windows could not determine if this computer contains a valid system volume."

I was wondering what this means, and if anyone would happen to know any fixes, I would really like to get back on my feet with Vista.

[Dave Hybrid]

It means the install cannot find a hard drive.

I'm guessing you are booting from the Vista CD and have SATA hard drives?

[Agon]

Yes I am booting up from it and I do have a SATA hard-drive. So how do I get Vista to recognize it?

[Dave Hybrid]

When you originally installed Vista did you do it by booting off the CD?

[Agon]

Yes I was booting off the CD but I also had XP installed. So then maybe that told Vista that there really is a SATA HDD and it installed. Right now I can still see the SATA HDD but when I go to it, it gives me that message.

[Dave Hybrid]

Na, XP wouldn't do that.

So what is on the hard drive at the moment?

[Agon]

Nothing is on it. It is completely empty. I deleted everything.

[Dave Hybrid]

I'm guessing the partition is messed up.

Try booting from the XP CD and see if that will detect the HD, then partition it but exit before formatting.

Then try Vista again.

When you run the Vista install does it ask for a SATA driver disk at any point, I can't remember.

[Agon]

I tried creating a partition with XP but it did not work. So what can I do Vista still gives me the same message. So what can I do?

[Dave Hybrid]

When you say it did not work what happened?

You will need the SATA driver disc for XP setup.

I think Vista doesn't need SATA drivers so there is no reason for it to not detect the HD, that's why I'm suggesting partitioning it in XP.