Cant install Vista on my new computer

[gatsten303]

Hi.

Just bought some new components for my computer: CPU (e6850), Motherboard (MSI P35 NEO-FR) Geforce 8800GT and a new harddrive (Seagate 750GB).

My problem is that I can't install Vista 32- or 64bit, or XP for that matter. When I insert the dvd it spins up and on my screen I can see "Windows installing" for a sec or two. After that it either freezes or turns off and restarts again.

If I replace the new disc with my old I can use it as before (a bit messed up though, had nvidia chipset before and intel now). I can install a game for instance and all hardware seems to be ok. If I however try to install Vista here (which I had before) It reacts the same way as on the other drive.

I don't know what to do and would really appreciate some help with my problems

Kind regards Peter

 

[gatsten303]

lol, I'm sorry

My previous computer was an AMD 64 4000 with Asus motherboard and all the other usual stuff. The problem I'm having with my new computer, and as I tried to explain, is that when I try to install Vista, or XP, on my new computer it freezes or reboots after a few seconds.
When I first saw that I replaced the new drive with the old, just to see if it was a hardware problem. The new computer works fine with my old harddrive so thats where I am now...

I don't know what to do. Could it be that its too big? (750GB) Do I perhaps need a driver for it or something?

Please write if you still don't understand. I am kinda new to this so perhaps I'm not expressing myself correctly

/Peter

 

[ausch30]

The first thing I would do is go into the BIOS and make sure the new drive is being recognized, after that make sure the boot order is optical/HDD/Floopy so that the system is reading from the install disc before the new hard drive. And yes your post is a little confusing, your saying that you replaced the motherboard, CPU and hard drive and it didn't work but when you used your old HDD with the new motherboard and CPU it worked. It usually doesn't work like that, whenever you replace major components especially the motherboard it requires a clean install.

 

[Mongo1961]

Why, oh why, would you want to install Vista in the first place. LOL

 

[ausch30]

Why, oh why, would you want to install Vista in the first place. LOL

Do you have Vista? Have you ever used Vista?

Vista is a good OS now and doesn't suffer from any of the issues it once had. I've been using it since March and it started a little rocky but now when I use a XP system the XP system feels old.

 

[gatsten303]

Hi there. Thx for your answers
Yes, its a SATA drive and its the only one I use. (Im writing this on the "new computer". I didn't think it was possible to connect the old hdd to my new hardware but its working...) The hdd i bought (750) shows up in BIOS. As soon as I got the old drive to work I connected the new hdd as secondary and formatted it. It didn't help however.

The booting sequence is optical driver, then hdd, I haven't got any floppy anymore....

More ideas?

 

[gatsten303]

I'm not running an IDE and a SATA. just the SATA. And its in the #1 SATA port. I've run vista since spring and noway I'm going back to XP. I haven't had any problems and really like the way it looks

More Ideas?

 

[ausch30]

So your saying that both the old and new hard drives are SATA and the BIOS and Windows recognize it when you boot from your old HDD correct? For SATA hard drives there is a setting in the BIOS to choose the HDD order, you have to go in and manually change the 750gb drive to the first drive.

 

[ausch30]

With my BIOS there is a Boot menu and under that it has Hard Disc Drives, yours should be something similar. If you choose that it lists the drives, in my case 500gb, 120gb, flash drive in that order. If your order is wrong the system won't recognize the 750gb as the primary boot drive.

 

[gatsten303]

Ok. I'm sorry if I can't make myself understood. I have to Sata hdd's. One old and one new. It was never my intention to use both, just the new. Since I haven't been able to install Vista or Xp on the new one i Replaced it with the old one. This I did in order to be able to search the internet for answers and ask You at Toms Hardware for advice.

On my motherboard it says "SATA1" I have checked with manual and this is the one its supposed to go into.

Its kinda hard for me to install anything... vista, xp or drivers for that matter. As I have been saying. It freezes or restarts whatever I try to do.

I did try to get it fomatted with MSI's (As i said in my first post its "MSI P35 NEO-FR") Discwizard. Via this I managed to Format it and when I now use my old hdd it appears as ordinary hdd's under "my computer". It didn't help with my problem though, it still freezes/restarts.

What Am I doing wrong? Am I missing something? Could you perhaps write down what you do when you have a new computer... I thought I was just supposed to insert the vistadvd and take it from there. Any 64bit drivers, or any driver for that matter... aren't they supposed to be installed after vistainstallation?

Am I supposed to install something before I begin with Vista?

Hope this helped

 

[gatsten303]

oh, its set to boot from teh 750gb drive

 

[kuniskos]

Okay, SATA hard drives, but how about the optical drive, since that's what you're attempting to install from, right?

Sounds like the optical drive may be the problem. I gave up on my IDE DVD/RW & just bought a SATA optical drive. Have never had a problem since.

 

[Zorg]

I don't believe it is your hard drive either. I would be inclined to suspect the DVD drive or the PATA controller on the mobo. I would pick up a $30 SATA DVD-RW and see if that fixes it first.

 

[gatsten303]

Could it be as simple as there's something wrong with any of the hardware I bought? CPU: e6850, Motherboard: MSI P35 NEO-FR, Hdd Seagate: 750GB
Memory: 4x1Gb...

The Cpu seems to be working fine. Have run some tests and played a game (on the old hdd..)

HDD: It has been formatted and the problems I have with installation on the new one is the same on the old one (I tried to install both XP and Vista on that as well in order to try to find out if the new hdd was broken..

Memory: they appear both in BIOS and in windows so I don't think that they are any problem... Aren't there supposed to be a beep of some kind at startup if they are messed up?

DVDplayer: Its the same as I had before. I have tried to install two games and that worked ok so it seems to work as well.

That leaves the motherboard.... I have switched between the different SATA ports, thought that perhaps the one I tried first was broken but came up with the same result...

I have pretty much spent all day with this crap and I'm sick and tired of it by now First of all let me say thankyou for all your help in this matter. Is there anything you can think of more or should I just go back to the store and try another motherboard?

Kind regards / Peter

 

[gatsten303]

Yes, was actually thinking of that... If nothing else to get rid of the huge IDE-cable

 

[niz]

I have vista ultimate. It sucks. Don't bother with vista.

 

[Zorg]

Like I said, if you are using a PATA DVD, buy a SATA DVD. They are relatively cheap and may fix your problem. A few years back when the 965 mobos came out everyone was bytching about not being able to load XP because of the Jmicron PATA controller. The PATA is not on the ICH9R controller. I haven't heard much about load problems on the PATA with the P35, but it still is on a non Intel controller, it's on a Marvell 88SE6111. It is the next logical step to get a SATA DVD. If that doesn't work get a Gigabyte mobo.

 

[newnerd]

Hello gatsten:
Your motherboard was manufactured after Vista came out last Janurary so the chipset controller that runs the hard drives needs to have drivers installed during the Vista O.S. installation. The procedure is to go into bios and tell the motherboard how you want your drives set up: IDE should say Legacy, then select SATA AHCI "or" RAID. Then when you start installing the operating system you need to load either SATA or RAID controller drivers for your chipset when it offers the option to "load other drivers". You should download the chipset drivers from the manufacturer's website and have them ready for this. You can use either a cd or USB driver for this. When you click on "load other drivers" it will ask you to insert the media. If you have the correct drivers Vista will show them to you on the screen. After Vista loads the drivers, leave the media in the computer so Vista can copy it while it is loading all it's components. You can take it out when Vista says it's starting for the first time. Don't forget to partition and format your drive during the installation process. 750 GB's is a very large drive and you might want to install the O.S. on a partition of 50 - 80 GBs or so. Leave the rest of the drive unpartitioned and you can partition and format it as desired after the O.S. is installed. Good luck!

newnerd

 

[Zorg]

Holy crap, are you saying that Vista won't load on the SATA set as IDE in the BIOS, or are you only talking about AHCI? That mobo use an intel P35 chipset with an ACH9R sata controller. I don't understand why they would need special drivers. The standard AHCI drivers are in Vista. There really is no reason to set the SATA as AHCI anyway unless you need RAID. Another mobo manufacturer scratched off my list.

 

[notherdude]

Vista is great. ZERO problems here. 3 machines. No reason to pay for it if you already have XP, unless you really want dx 10, but there is nothing broken or wrong with Vista. That's FUD!

 

[apache_lives]

Why, oh why, would you want to install Vista in the first place. LOL

And why would you Install XP In the first place for that matter?

 

[bydesign]

Why do you think it a problem with the HD? I have read nothing in the post which remotely would suggest the drive is a problem.

Vista will not tolerate unstable hardware like XP.

Try using 1 stick of RAM at a time. Manually set the voltage in the bios to RAMs spec. Is the RAM approved for the MB? Normally not an issue but good to know.

Best I tell from the post you're at the initial Vista installation process (PE), driver aren't yet the issue nor are they likely to be a problem for Vista

I also believe that you have posted that the second drive results in the same problem. Seems to rule out a drive issue. Perhaps the SATA cable but I would be surprised.

That leaves you with PSU, MB, CPU, or RAM. I would rule out the RAM first.

Also are you booting to the Vista DVD or loading from within XP?

Newnerds post doesn't show first hand experience with Vista and new hardware so take it for what it's worth. You shouldn't need to install any drivers in your case until Vista has completed the installation. Then you may need the MB driver disk for the chipset and graphics card. Best I can tell you can't even select the installation location.

Anyway try these steps and post your results.

 

[newnerd]

"Newnerds post doesn't show first hand experience with Vista and new hardware so take it for what it's worth."

My pc's bigger than yours!

 

[newnerd]

"Newnerds post doesn't show first hand experience with Vista and new hardware so take it for what it's worth."

Quote below from Intel website for P35 Intel boards:

Configuring the BIOS

In order to enable RAID or AHCI mode on an Intel® motherboard, you will need to do the following:

To enable RAID mode:

1. Enter the BIOS
2. Select Advanced
3. Select Drive Configuration
4. Enable Intel® RAID Technology
* If you want to set up your RAID configuration, reboot and press CTRL-I when prompted. This will allow you to enter the Intel® Matrix Storage Manager option ROM user interface, where you can set up your RAID.
* If you want to make the system RAID Ready, no further action is required.
5. Save changes and exit the BIOS configuration

To enable AHCI mode:

1. Enter the BIOS
2. Select Advanced
3. Select Drive Configuration
4. Disable Intel® RAID Technology
5. Enable SATA AHCI mode
6. Save changes and exit the BIOS configuration

NOTE: If you are using a SATA hard drive, the best choice is to set your BIOS to RAID mode and install the operating system using the F6 installation procedure; RAID mode allows your system to be "RAID Ready" and also enables AHCI. This mode provides the greatest overall flexibility and upgradeability.

 

[newnerd]

Hi Zorg:
In his posts I wasn't able to determine his primary choice for his drive(s). Since he has a nice 750 GB SATA drive I would assume he wants the best possible performance and I wasn't sure if Vista O.S. would contain compatible RAID/SATA AHCI drivers since the AHC9R sata controller didn't come out until after Vista. Sure, he could run in IDE mode but wouldn't that limit the speed of his late model Sata drive. Also my suggestion would allow him the option to use RAID if he adds additional SATA drives later. I don't claim to be a genius and would never diss someone else's opinions when we're all just trying to help others in here.