[TrickyP]

Check the bios for the sata setting and then disable the sata native mode. This should then allow the Vista setup connect to the HDD. This is common on new laptops as the vista install disk does not have the controller drivers embedded therefore disabling sata native forces IDE emulation.

[vrm]

i take the opportunity of being here to tell you that i succeeded to install windows xp on its hard drive while vista still not working. According to an advice, i run the hdd regenerator but with no success for vista. I tested the hard drive with hard drive health and shown nothing wrong so the full hard disk is good and it's ovious that it's only windows' fault. While i'm happy that my notebook it's ok i'm mad for this vista problem. Keep eyes open when buying a computer, it may be incompatible with the os you have!

[vrm]

One week ago I bought a brand new HP note book (HP 530 notebook core duo processor) and I'm still unable to install Windows Vista on its harddisk. I was glad to buy the cheapest HP notebook with core duo processor, but I didn’t expect to not work.
During Windows Vista installation I always get an error that hard disk was not detected, however the harddisk is good because I succeeded to install Linux on this note book.
I got advised to add the HP drivers trying to edit the Windows Vista CD installation kit with a free software called Windows Vista setup editor vLite.
Since I'm not a 'computer person' I don't know how to work with vlite software or with any other Vista editor to edit or configure Windows Vista. Also I’m not sure that this is a real solution.
If anyone had the same problem, I would be glad to get a simpler solution to make my new notebook to work with Win Vista. Also, a CD with drivers was not included in laptop kit.