No UEFI Option in BIOS

[yobrobob]

http://pcpartpicker.com/b/Lh1
Let me give you a bit of background. This PC was built for Christmas, and It had a few glitches at first. The computer wouldn't restart if the SSD was set to UEFI mode, but Windows wouldn't boot if it was set to "P0." Those were somehow fixed (I don't know how)

I recently tried to install Linux Manjaro to a 1 TB HDD. There was an error during formatting and some of the windows files I had on the disk went bye bye. I reinstalled Windows, and first thing I noticed: No HDD, I tried everything. The drive turned on, but was not detected by the BIOS or Windows. Now, after adding some different drives to use as storage, the SSD won't boot. There is not no option for UEFI in the BIOS. How can I fix this?

 

[VincentP]

You don't set individual hard drives or SSDs to UEFI mode, this doesn't make sense.
At a BIOS level you will get options like Legacy IDE, AHCI or RAID.
Unless using RAID, AHCI is what you want.

It is important to get the drive mode above right before you format the drive, otherwise you may have to partition and format the drive again.
When partitioning the drive you choose between GPT and MBR. GPT supports drives over 2TB and stores two copied of the partition table so it is more robust. Despite the limitations of MBR however, it has far wider compatibility with different hardware and operating systems because it has been around a lot longer.

In order to boot from a GPT disk, the motherboard and operating system must support UEFI. You also need a 64-bit processor, but all Intel and AMD processors have been 64-bit for a number of years.
You enable UEFI in the bios as a boot option so that the bios tries to boot the computer in UEFI mode.
This then means you are booting from your operating system install DVD in UEFI mode to install on a GPT hard drive or SSD.

If you are using GPT disks, look for UEFI with the boot options in the BIOS.
You can avoid worrying about UEFI at all if you just stick to MBR partitioning on your boot hard drives or SSDs.
Other hard drives can be GPT disks, as long as you don't need them to boot.

 

[yobrobob]

You don't set individual hard drives or SSDs to UEFI mode, this doesn't make sense.
At a BIOS level you will get options like Legacy IDE, AHCI or RAID.
Unless using RAID, AHCI is what you want.

It is important to get the drive mode above right before you format the drive, otherwise you may have to partition and format the drive again.
When partitioning the drive you choose between GPT and MBR. GPT supports drives over 2TB and stores two copied of the partition table so it is more robust. Despite the limitations of MBR however, it has far wider compatibility with different hardware and operating systems because it has been around a lot longer.

In order to boot from a GPT disk, the motherboard and operating system must support UEFI. You also need a 64-bit processor, but all Intel and AMD processors have been 64-bit for a number of years.
You enable UEFI in the bios as a boot option so that the bios tries to boot the computer in UEFI mode.
This then means you are booting from your operating system install DVD in UEFI mode to install on a GPT hard drive or SSD.

If you are using GPT disks, look for UEFI with the boot options in the BIOS.
You can avoid worrying about UEFI at all if you just stick to MBR partitioning on your boot hard drives or SSDs.
Other hard drives can be GPT disks, as long as you don't need them to boot.

I see two options for every device I have in my PC: UEFI: Kingson(Insert gibberish here) and P(Number) Kingston(Insert Gibberish here)

When I first booted Windows 7, it was probably in GPT, but one of the Partitions on my 1 TB was what Linux called "ext4." Would that have anything to do with the 1 TB drive not shwoing up?

 

[VincentP]

ext4 is a file system, like NTFS for Windows.
These file systems exist in an individual partition.
The disk has to store other information about where this partition starts and ends and how it is addressed. This is the partition table.
If the 1 TB was partitioned by linux it may be a GPT disk.
Even if you can't see it from the MBR bios however, you should still be able to access it in Windows and from there modify the disk type or format it with NTFS.

 

[yobrobob]

ext4 is a file system, like NTFS for Windows.
These file systems exist in an individual partition.
The disk has to store other information about where this partition starts and ends and how it is addressed. This is the partition table.
If the 1 TB was partitioned by linux it may be a GPT disk.
Even if you can't see it from the MBR bios however, you should still be able to access it in Windows and from there modify the disk type or format it with NTFS.

Thanks for the clarification. How should I fix the original problem of Windows not booting?

 

[VincentP]

If you are sure that UEFI boot is what you want:
CMS Support should be set to Never.
Boot Mode selection should be set to UEFI Only.

If you want to always use MBR boot:
CMS Support should be set to Always.
Boot Mode selection should be set to Legacy Only.
Storage Boot Option Control should be set to Legacy Only.

Once you are the settings above correct:
If what you want is to just get the computer working, remove all drives except the SSD and boot from a Windows DVD to repair or install.
Once this is working, you should be able to install the data disks without causing problems.

If you are going to try and install a dual boot machine with Linux, the linux partition can be on a second disk but the boot record is still on the same hard drive. Linux should detect Windows and allow dual boot. You shouldn't be changing bios settings to get Linux working because you will likely break Windows in the process.

 

[yobrobob]

If you are sure that UEFI boot is what you want:
CMS Support should be set to Never.
Boot Mode selection should be set to UEFI Only.

If you want to always use MBR boot:
CMS Support should be set to Always.
Boot Mode selection should be set to Legacy Only.
Storage Boot Option Control should be set to Legacy Only.

Once you are the settings above correct:
If what you want is to just get the computer working, remove all drives except the SSD and boot from a Windows DVD to repair or install.
Once this is working, you should be able to install the data disks without causing problems.

If you are going to try and install a dual boot machine with Linux, the linux partition can be on a second disk but the boot record is still on the same hard drive. Linux should detect Windows and allow dual boot. You shouldn't be changing bios settings to get Linux working because you will likely break Windows in the process.

I cannot the setting "CMS Support" Under which tab should it be found?

 

[VincentP]

I misread the manual, you only get the CSM Option if the OS Type is set to Windows 8.
Here is the manual:
http://download.gigabyte.us/FileList/Manual/mb_manual_ga-970a-d3p_e.pdf

 

[yobrobob]

I misread the manual, you only get the CSM Option if the OS Type is set to Windows 8.
Here is the manual:
http://download.gigabyte.us/FileList/Manual/mb_manual_ga-970a-d3p_e.pdf

When I set the other settings correctlyit said that no bootable drives were found

 

[VincentP]

Put in your Windows DVD and boot from it. You have probably overwritten the MBR or GPT boot sector while trying to install Linux. Choose repair in the Windows installation.

 

[yobrobob]

Put in your Windows DVD and boot from it. You have probably overwritten the MBR or GPT boot sector while trying to install Linux. Choose repair in the Windows installation.

Okay, I'll try that when I get time.

Just to be clear, when I was partitioning the 1TB, Linux had an error, and Windows wouldn't boot because I had some of my libraries and stuff on it to save space, etc. And I reinstalled Windows on the SSD, and it was working fine until I turned the computer off, unplugged it, and put in two HDD's. I saw it wouldn't boot, disconnected them, and it still woudn't boot. And that is how this thread came to be.

 

[VincentP]

Put in your Windows DVD and boot from it. You have probably overwritten the MBR or GPT boot sector while trying to install Linux. Choose repair in the Windows installation.

Okay, I'll try that when I get time.

Just to be clear, when I was partitioning the 1TB, Linux had an error, and Windows wouldn't boot because I had some of my libraries and stuff on it to save space, etc. And I reinstalled Windows on the SSD, and it was working fine until I turned the computer off, unplugged it, and put in two HDD's. I saw it wouldn't boot, disconnected them, and it still woudn't boot. And that is how this thread came to be.

This doesn't make much sense. You could take it to a store but they are likely to configure the SSD as your boot drive and perform a clean Windows install on it.
If you have just flattened the boot record, the Windows repair should be able to fix this without any further data loss.

 

[yobrobob]

Put in your Windows DVD and boot from it. You have probably overwritten the MBR or GPT boot sector while trying to install Linux. Choose repair in the Windows installation.

Okay, I'll try that when I get time.

Just to be clear, when I was partitioning the 1TB, Linux had an error, and Windows wouldn't boot because I had some of my libraries and stuff on it to save space, etc. And I reinstalled Windows on the SSD, and it was working fine until I turned the computer off, unplugged it, and put in two HDD's. I saw it wouldn't boot, disconnected them, and it still woudn't boot. And that is how this thread came to be.

This doesn't make much sense. You could take it to a store but they are likely to configure the SSD as your boot drive and perform a clean Windows install on it.
If you have just flattened the boot record, the Windows repair should be able to fix this without any further data loss.

Thanks, just reinstalled. (Oh boy, steam downloading) Even got the 1 TB HDD working with my ninja HDD skillz