Two OS's: "Windows cannot format the system partition on this disk"

[Delta Mike]

I'm trying to format an old hard drive with Win 7 after installing Win 7 on new hard drive and get the error message above. I removed the old disk and chose "startup repair". Repair disc completes and diagnostic reads "root cause found the partition table does not have a valid system partition". When PC restarts I still get an error reading "No IDE Master H.D.D. Detected!
The BIOS will not let me change the drive configuration or boot order. I have DELL dimension 8300 with BIOS revision A03. I cannot update it as I get message "flash access denied" even though I am logged on as administrator. I believe it can be done from DOS but I don't know how. Can you help?

 

[DeadRam]

Did you leave the old HD connected when Windows 7 was installed on the new HD? Windows can place important files on multiple drives so this might be the cause. Reconnect both drives and see if Windows boots. You can use EasyBCD or the command line version BCDEdit to edit the boot configuration.