Win 7 Nightmare Installation

[RobtheSwede]

Friday I started to build my custom PC, I'm not an expert at building computers, but
I have built three before this one, and haven't had any problems I couldn't solve
myself before. This time however, it's been a total nightmare. I just can't get
an OS installed on this thing, and it feels as if I have tried everything by now,
getting various advice from different people, trying them all, and still getting
the same old BS error message. This is what comes up during the installation:"Windows
cannot be installed to this disk. This computer’s hardware may not support booting to this disk.
Ensure that the disk’s controller is enabled in the computer’s BIOS menu."

Now, I have looked at that stupid BIOS a million times by now, and tried pretty much every
combination of settings related to the issue I can find, and it just makes no difference.

I have tried to install Win 8 as well. Same problem.

I have tried different brand new hard drives from different manufacturers. Same problem.

I really have no clue anymore and to tell you that my patience is running very low by now
is an understatement. For four days I have been trying to get this heap of junk up and running,
and at this point, it feels like I'm gonna end up in the madhouse soon if I can't get this fixed.

So, can any kind soul please, PLEASE help me out of this nightmare...

My MB is a Asus Crossblade Ranger.

 

[USAFRet]

What drive are you trying to install it on?
From what media are you installing it..USB or DVD? Where did this come from?

Anyway....
Disconnect ALL other drives except the desired target drive.
Boot from the install media
When it asks 'where', select Custom
Select each partition, Delete. Resulting in one large space.
Format
Let Windows install to that partition, creating what it needs.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Have you contacted Asus telephone support and asked them to walk you thru it ?

 

[RobtheSwede]

USAFRet;

I'm installing from a DVD.

I have no other drives. It makes no difference how and what
I try to partition and format the disc as; it just gives the same
error message.

JackNaylorPE;

No, I'm really not keen on calling tech supports, but if no one
on this forum can help me I suppose I will have no other choice.

Thanks for your replies guys.

 

[USAFRet]

USAFRet;

I'm installing from a DVD.

I have no other drives. It makes no difference how and what
I try to partition and format the disc as; it just gives the same
error message.

JackNaylorPE;

No, I'm really not keen on calling tech supports, but if no one
on this forum can help me I suppose I will have no other choice.

Thanks for your replies guys.

During the install, deleting ALL partitions and letting Windows format the drive does not work?
Possible bad drive?

 

[RobtheSwede]

USAFret;

No it can't be the drives, I have tried two different ones (no, not plugged in at the same time), both brand new, one Samsung SSD, another Western Digital Red. Unless I'm the unluckiest man on earth and managed to purchase two faulty drives from two different manufactures at the same time. The odds for that gotta be pretty astronomical.

Formatting and partitioning the disk makes no difference, whether I try it via command prompt, or via the installation process with the DVD.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

The reason I suggest calling TS in a situation like this is:

1. You paid for it.
2. You have done this before 3 times so I assume you know your way around the process. DVD => HD / SSD is rather straightforward
3. If board is faulty, you going to have to do this anyway to get an RMA

This is Win 7-64 right ? HD size ?


Bah... THG web software is truncating the url. Hit REPLY to my post and then copy / paste the link into your browser


http://www.hgst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/techdocs/869E4925CC72E233862577E100235119/$file/Deskstar_3TB_FAQ_finalwebv2.pdf

 

[JamesSneed]

What drive are you trying to install it on?
From what media are you installing it..USB or DVD? Where did this come from?

Anyway....
Disconnect ALL other drives except the desired target drive.
Boot from the install media
When it asks 'where', select Custom
Select each partition, Delete. Resulting in one large space.
Format
Let Windows install to that partition, creating what it needs.

This is what I was going to suggest as well. If you followed these steps then my next thought is that you have a bad drive assuming you are not doing any type of raid setup.

 

[USAFRet]

I can't visualize how installing from known good install media results in that specific error.

 

[RobtheSwede]

Yep, it's win 7 64bit I want to get on there. But, yeah I tried Win 8 just to rule out there wasn't any OS specific issue, but it's not, got the same error message. So, it's not an HDD issue, and it's not a OS specific issue. So, I guess I could have gotten a faulty MB, that's really all I can think of at this point. I still have a vain hope there might be some BIOS setting I have erred on instead though.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

The issue iI was addressing is that ya can't use the old file system if HD is bigger than 2.2 TB.... ya need to select GPA as the partition type and UEFI BIOS.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-performance/i-have-a-3-tb-drive-windows-7-ultimate-wont-format/b1cc3811-f25f-e011-8dfc-68b599b31bf5

http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/218619en

 

[RobtheSwede]

Yep, Jack, I know, but I get the same error message on my Samsung SSD drive, and that one's only on 250gb... =(

 

[JackNaylorPE]

I understand.... but what I am getting at is I agree that getting a bad SSD and a bad HD is a bit of a stretch .... but a bad SSD and a 3TB drive doesn't sound outside the realm of possibility.

 

[USAFRet]

So to remove "Windows" from the problem food chain:
Create a Linux LiveCD
Boot from that
Check your memory, and see if it might install to one or more of those drives.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Could also check memory by making a Memtest 86+ CD .... assuming of course that you have access to another PC to make it on.

 

[RobtheSwede]

Guys! It may be solved now! Win 7 is currently installing and it seems to be going ok! (I got past where the error message showed up, which was at the very beginning.)

What the heck did I do? I wish I could tell you. I was fiddling around in BIOS with various boot-related settings, as I have done like 100 times before, trying everything out. I restarted it, and, this time, it just worked. Omg.... lol... 4-5 days of my life down the drain and now I seem to have solved it by pure happenstance.... hahaha.... 😀 The funny thing is that I can't imagine that I haven't tried these settings before, but then it didn't work... Computers sure are mercurial....

Well, I will update you guys on how this installation goes, if something else hellish comes up, but it looks very good at the moment at least.

Thank you very much for trying to help me. =)

 

[JamesSneed]

Guys! It may be solved now! Win 7 is currently installing and it seems to be going ok! (I got past where the error message showed up, which was at the very beginning.)

What the heck did I do? I wish I could tell you. I was fiddling around in BIOS with various boot-related settings, as I have done like 100 times before, trying everything out. I restarted it, and, this time, it just worked. Omg.... lol... 4-5 days of my life down the drain and now I seem to have solved it by pure happenstance.... hahaha.... 😀 The funny thing is that I can't imagine that I haven't tried these settings before, but then it didn't work... Computers sure are mercurial....

Well, I will update you guys on how this installation goes, if something else hellish comes up, but it looks very good at the moment at least.

Thank you very much for trying to help me. =)

Happen to mess with the SATA type under advanced/sata connections on chip SATA type set to AHCI?

What I was going to suggest as having this set to IDE can cause this issue.

 

[RobtheSwede]

JamesSneed;

Nope, that particular one was correct, but it must have been some combination of other settings I had put the wrong way. And I can't believe it, because, I have done so many trial and error things it's ridiculous. I guess it was the final last combination of boot-related settings I hadn't tried. 😀

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Gotta love the F9 key (or F whatever) ... Set all BIOS settings to default solves 99.5% of BIOS issues.

 

[imrazor]

Guys! It may be solved now! Win 7 is currently installing and it seems to be going ok! (I got past where the error message showed up, which was at the very beginning.)

What the heck did I do? I wish I could tell you. I was fiddling around in BIOS with various boot-related settings, as I have done like 100 times before, trying everything out. I restarted it, and, this time, it just worked. Omg.... lol... 4-5 days of my life down the drain and now I seem to have solved it by pure happenstance.... hahaha.... 😀 The funny thing is that I can't imagine that I haven't tried these settings before, but then it didn't work... Computers sure are mercurial....

Well, I will update you guys on how this installation goes, if something else hellish comes up, but it looks very good at the moment at least.

Thank you very much for trying to help me. =)

Happen to mess with the SATA type under advanced/sata connections on chip SATA type set to AHCI?

What I was going to suggest as having this set to IDE can cause this issue.

+1 That was my first thought when I read the OP's message. Having it set to RAID might also cause problems.