Windows 7 doesn't recognize SATA hard drive

[Trath]

To start, I'd like to say hello, and thank you for reading this.


I built a new computer. Rather expensive, but it should perform well. -Anyway-, I bought a brand new hard drive with the expectation of installing windows 7 on it and then working from there. The hard drive is recognized in the BIOS, the CMOS, and anything at all I've checked, but when I put the windows 7 64 bit disk in and try to do a custom install, seeing as I have nothing on the disk from which to upgrade, my hard drive does not show up in the section in which 7 asks where I want to install.

Motherboard is GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard, hard drive is Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive.

The hard drive is plugged into the top SATA port (It has like, 10).

What can I do?

 

[Gandalf]

I think this is a case of definition misunderstanding.
You said "upgrade". To upgrade required an operating system in place from which to upgrade. Example: upgrade from Vista to Windows 7.

If your HDD is new (blank), then you need the FULL version of the Windows 7 not the UPGRADE version.

 

[sminlal]

You should be able to use the upgrade media even if there is no previous OS on the disk. This is a valid thing to do if you've removed the disk with the old OS from your system so that you haven't "burned any bridges" in case there's some problem with the installation. See: http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/clean_install_upgrade_media.asp

Note however, that this is in violation of the license agreement if you don't own a previous OS that will be replaced by Windows 7.

 

[Trath]

I don't have the 'upgrade' version of windows 7. I have the full version. Cost me $200 from best buy.

Trying to install on a blank hard drive.

I do, how ever, have an 'upgrade' version of 32 bit that I put on my laptop, the computer I'm now using.

 

[Trath]

PS, I mentioned upgrade because it gives me the options to do a 'custom' install, and an 'upgrade', with upgrade being above custom.

 

[Gandalf]

Did you partition and format your new HDD during the installation process?

 

[sminlal]

If you select "Custom" install it should give you a screen that lets you select where to install windows. For a brand new disk then it will just show "empty space" on the drive. If you tell it to install into the "empty space" then it will automatically partition and format the available space on the drive.

If you want to partition it yourself then you have to click on the "Advanced..." option on that screen which will give you some more choices.

 

[Crashman]

To start, I'd like to say hello, and thank you for reading this.


I built a new computer. Rather expensive, but it should perform well. -Anyway-, I bought a brand new hard drive with the expectation of installing windows 7 on it and then working from there. The hard drive is recognized in the BIOS, the CMOS, and anything at all I've checked, but when I put the windows 7 64 bit disk in and try to do a custom install, seeing as I have nothing on the disk from which to upgrade, my hard drive does not show up in the section in which 7 asks where I want to install.

Motherboard is GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard, hard drive is Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive.

The hard drive is plugged into the top SATA port (It has like, 10).

What can I do?

If BIOS sees it and it's plugged into a blue connector, Windows Setup should see it too. In BIOS you can also set controller modes, but Windows 7 has generic AHCI drivers and I believe it also supports that chipset's RAID modes.

At any rate, you're also given the option to "load drivers" when it can't find the disk. Did you even notice that? You can click the "load drivers" icon and insert the driver CD, then do what comes naturally.

 

[Trath]

Windows set up does not see it. BIOS sees it. It is plugged into the one of the blue connectors on the motherboard. The motherboard is defaulted to IDE, but even when set to AHCI windows installation does not read it.

The hard drive did not come with a disk that has drivers, and the manufacturer's website doesn't have drivers on it, at least not that I could find.

To clarify, the windows 7 installation process doesn't show me as having any place to install it, at all.

 

[Crashman]

Windows set up does not see it. BIOS sees it. It is plugged into the one of the blue connectors on the motherboard. The motherboard is defaulted to IDE, but even when set to AHCI windows installation does not read it.

The hard drive did not come with a disk that has drivers, and the manufacturer's website doesn't have drivers on it, at least not that I could find.

To clarify, the windows 7 installation process doesn't show me as having any place to install it, at all.

The hard drive never needs drivers, not even with an old OS. If windows needed drivers for anything, it would be the MOTHERBOARD. And if that didn't come with a driver CD, you have a whole different set of problems.

But you don't need drivers for IDE mode, so unless you have a bad drive or a bad cable, I don't know what the issue is. Windows should be showing "unpartitioned space" at the prompt you mentioned.

 

[Trath]

I put computer together. It powers on. It goes to the motherboard screen. I hit f12 for bootmenu, boot from CD drive. In the CD Drive is my windows 7 64 bit full disk. It is not an upgrade disk. I hit the custom install button. It asks me where I want to install the operating system to. It does not have the hard drive that I have plugged into my computer on the screen for options.

Please just tell me where I can go from here?

The manual for the motherboard specifically states that the OS needs to be installed before you put the motherboard's disk in.

 

[Ijack]

Have you tried the SATA2 driver or SATA2 Preinstall driver?

Edit: Looking at the manual, there appear to be three different SATA controllers on this m/b. Have you tried using different SATA connectors. You say you're using the top one; try using the 7th one or the 9th one.

 

[Trath]

Have you tried the SATA2 driver or SATA2 Preinstall driver?

Which one would I use? Thank you for pointing this out, by the way.

 

[Ijack]

I'd try the Preinstall one first and the other if that doesn't work. Also see my edit to my previous post.

 

[Crashman]

I put computer together. It powers on. It goes to the motherboard screen. I hit f12 for bootmenu, boot from CD drive. In the CD Drive is my windows 7 64 bit full disk. It is not an upgrade disk. I hit the custom install button. It asks me where I want to install the operating system to. It does not have the hard drive that I have plugged into my computer on the screen for options.

Please just tell me where I can go from here?

The manual for the motherboard specifically states that the OS needs to be installed before you put the motherboard's disk in.

First of all, you're ALREADY using the CORRECT ports, which are the blue ones. Second of all, if you clicked the button that said "Add Drivers" at the prompt you mentioned, Windows Setup would ASK for the motherboard CD...really! Third, you don't need drivers for IDE or AHCI mode with the blue ports and Windows 7, soooo...

If you have both the data cable (probably yellow) and the power cable (probably black) connected to the drive, and Windows can't see the "unpartitioned space" at the prompt you mentioned, you probably have either a bad cable or a bad drive.

 

[daship]

Agreed, bad cable or bad Hard Drive.

 

[Trath]

When I inserted the drivers disk and spent time going through all the folders, some of the drivers, while compatible, still didn't make my hard drive show up. I'm going to try another cable, but I have tried all the available ports for the SATA cable at this point.

Will try new cable, pre-install software, and another hard drive.

 

[Gandalf]

If that doesn't work, recommend you try the default installation approach instead of the custom install.

If that works, you'll at least know your hardware is good.

 

[Trath]

Default? The only options are custom and upgrade. Is there some default install I'm not aware of?

 

[Trath]

Tried all the drivers linked, all the SATA cables the motherboard came with, all the slots on the motherboard. Is it the hard drive? If it's the hard drive why would the BIOS say that there i an attached drive with 1000gb free?

 

[Trath]

Also, when ever I hit anything besides Delete (BIOS settings) or F12 (Boot menu) it goes through a few screens very quickly and then gets stuck on 'Verifying DMI Pool Data'.

 

[Gandalf]

This might be of some help to you...
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Installing-and-reinstalling-Windows-7

Click on "Using the Custom installation option if no operating system is installed".

 

[Trath]

This might be of some help to you...
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Installing-and-reinstalling-Windows-7

Click on "Using the Custom installation option if no operating system is installed".

My problem is that at step 7, no hard drive is shown. There is nothing in the box where a hard drive should be listed.

 

[Gandalf]

Can you not "click Unallocated Space if no partitions are listed"?

 

[Ijack]

Surely a bit difficult if no disk is listed!