Can't install Windows

[KeyboardDemon]

I now have my new hardware, I spent ages trying to get everything installed so that I would have minimal cables visible inside the case. Everything boots fine, when it does my BIOS shows a 1tb HDD and my CD/DVD drive as expected. When I boot into my Windows installer disk it can't see a hard drive to install Windows to. I have tried moving the HDD to different ports but that hasn't help, I have tried it in AHCI and IDE mode but still no luck. I have even tried installing drivers when the Windows installer gave me the Load Drivers prompt and flashed the BIOS to 1504 (latest version) but still no joy.

I am trying to install into a rig with:

Asus Sabretooth Z77 mobo
Intel i7 3770K
8gb RAM (@1333mhz)
Seagate 1tb HDD (Also tried two 500gb HDDs)
HD6990 GPU
OCZ Fatal1ty 750watt PSU

Does anyone have any ideas about why it's not installing.

[ben1066]

What version of Windows are you trying to install? I'm not sure if XP would like to install on that modern a PC.

[KeyboardDemon]

Sorry, I can't believe I told you everything else except that, it's Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit.

[ben1066]

Strange issue, I don't suppose you could burn an Ubuntu install CD or something to see if the HDD can be read by any OS, or if it is a driver issue? I'm pretty sure Ultimate Boot CD (http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/) could also check the HDD. That said if other drives aren't working too it'd indicate a motherboard issue, strange that it "sees" the drive though...

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

MS wants you to install Windows 8!! Oh Noes!!

[KeyboardDemon]

Strange issue, I don't suppose you could burn an Ubuntu install CD or something to see if the HDD can be read by any OS, or if it is a driver issue? I'm pretty sure Ultimate Boot CD (http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/) could also check the HDD. That said if other drives aren't working too it'd indicate a motherboard issue, strange that it "sees" the drive though...

I have put the 1tb hard drive into a Windows 7 PC using a caddy where I was able to open it and look through the folders on it, I had to do this as I have two identical drives, one had my backup copies of my data and this is the other one, which is formatted but otherwise empty.

[ben1066]

Have you tried resetting the BIOS and seeing if it can install on totally default settings?

[KeyboardDemon]

No, I'll give it a go.

[KeyboardDemon]

Still the same issue, the UEFI *drive* oops I meant BIOS (sorry) shows a HDD but when I get to the Install Windows dialog box I see the Where do you want to install Windows? and at the bottom a Yellow exclamation mark and "No drives were found. Click Load driver to provide a mass storage driver for installation."

* edited

[ben1066]

Hang on, is the drive formatted? I'm not sure, but if your booting the Windows disk in EFI mode and the drive is partitioned as MBR then it won't appear, it'll need to be GPT partitioned.

[KeyboardDemon]

Hang on, is the drive formatted? I'm not sure, but if your booting the Windows disk in EFI mode and the drive is partitioned as MBR then it won't appear, it'll need to be GPT partitioned.

I'm not sure I understand what that means, in fact I'm certain, I don't know what that means.

Would you mind talking me through it?

Also I just noticed that I typed the UEFI drive, I meant UEFI BIOS. I'm kind quite stressed at the moment, but I do appreciate your time on this. Thanks.

[ben1066]

Right well, the MBR partitioning method is used by the old BIOS, where as GPT is used by EFI. I shan't go into the specifics but suffice to say GPT is superior. MBR can be used on EFI in BIOS emulation mode, however your board is probably booting the Windows disk in EFI mode. So what I'd recommended is using your caddy, and connecting the drive to a Windows box. From there you can use diskmgmt.msc to completely wipe the drive, until it is all unpartitioned space. Then right click on the disk bit and click "convert to GPT", it should then work to install Windows too. If my instruction sucked you can refer to http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials...-gpt-disk.html

[Jonj1611]

Hi,

Try this, taken from sevenforums, its Shift + F10 at the first screen where you are asked about language and location to get to the command prompt then :-

run diskpart command from a prompt.

Then each of these commands, followed by the enter key after each one.

list disk (to show the ID number of the hard disk to partition, normally Disk 0)

select disk 0 (change 0 to another number if applicable)

clean (this deletes all partitions)

create partition primary size=80000 (creates a partition with 80 GB space; to use the entire disk as one partition, omit the “size=value” parameter switch; use a similar command to create more partitions if needed or create in Windows 7 after installation)

select partition 1

active

format fs=ntfs quick

exit

[KeyboardDemon]

Right well, the MBR partitioning method is used by the old BIOS, where as GPT is used by EFI. I shan't go into the specifics but suffice to say GPT is superior. MBR can be used on EFI in BIOS emulation mode, however your board is probably booting the Windows disk in EFI mode. So what I'd recommended is using your caddy, and connecting the drive to a Windows box. From there you can use diskmgmt.msc to completely wipe the drive, until it is all unpartitioned space. Then right click on the disk bit and click "convert to GPT", it should then work to install Windows too. If my instruction sucked you can refer to http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials...-gpt-disk.html

I don't have the caddy, I checked my drive using a caddy at work on a PC while I was there today, I don't have access to the office before Tuesday now!

It's always the simple things that turn out to be the most stressful. Once I'm done you know I'll be reading up on GPT and why it's better than MBR but right now I just want to install Windows and go to bed.

Hi,

Try this, taken from sevenforums, its Shift + F10 at the first screen where you are asked about language and location to get to the command prompt then :-

run diskpart command from a prompt.

Then each of these commands, followed by the enter key after each one.

list disk (to show the ID number of the hard disk to partition, normally Disk 0)

select disk 0 (change 0 to another number if applicable)

clean (this deletes all partitions)

create partition primary size=80000 (creates a partition with 80 GB space; to use the entire disk as one partition, omit the “size=value” parameter switch; use a similar command to create more partitions if needed or create in Windows 7 after installation)

select partition 1

active

format fs=ntfs quick

exit

Thanks, I got as far as select partition 1 but that gave me an error to say the disk is not initialized.

*** edit

Ok. That wasn't working quite as expected so I tried googling diskpart + gpt and found that I needed to use the convert gpt command, everything it working now.

So thanks guys, I probably would have tried to RMA the board without your help, you've made me a very happy man.

[Jonj1611]

Did you use :-

create partition primary

[KeyboardDemon]

Oh, no. I didn't do that. Is that bad??