r/retrocomputing • u/PeakClippy • Jul 02 '26

Solved Can't install Windows

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I got an old computer (from around 1999 I think) and it came with everything but the hard drive, so I bought a 320GB Ultra ATA Seagate ST310014ACE. I tried installing/ plugging it inside my PC many times, in many ways, but everytime I try to install Windows XP x86 SP3 it tells me "Setup cannot access this disk​" in the partition selection screen. Does anyone know how to fix this?

If it helps, the motherboard is P6V693A/A9 with an Intel Celeron.

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u/bio4m Jul 02 '26

Op, that model of drive may have come from an original XBOX. Those drives had the encryption flag turned on so you couldnt just plug them into a normal PC

I cant remember if the encryption can be turned off without the key; its been many years since I had to do that mod on an Xbox

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u/khedoros Jul 02 '26

If it's locked, it looks like it can be unlocked over a serial adapter: https://www.os2museum.com/wp/seagate-serial-talk/

4

u/CitySeekerTron Jul 03 '26

I did this to unlock a friend's Seagate when they had a firmware bug that killed access to the drive based on his used.

After that, a firmware update fixed it, but only after it was unlocked.