Windows 7 Install Issue - Hard Drive not detected

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thegeorge613

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Hi, already posted about this issue in the Gigabyte section of the forums. Thought I'd post here for some more feedback, since the issue overlaps (admins please feel free to remove this thread if you think it's redundant).

Building my first computer, and I managed to get it running. I got the Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit ISO off Digital River and made a bootable USB flash drive. Computer powered up, I set it to boot off the USB drive, and install process started. However, when it prompted me to choose which drive to install Windows to, my hard drive did not show up. I rebooted, set the hard drive to AHCI in the BIOS (native IDE by default), and tried to install the drivers from the Gigabyte website off a flash drive, and still nothing. I also updated the BIOS and tried again in both IDE and AHCI, but still didn't work. I ordered a new hard drive and will try again later, but I'm doubting it's the hard drive (no signs of mechanical failure).

Specs:

AMD 2.4GHz Phenom X3 8750
GA-MA785G-UD3H motherboard
WD Caviar Blue 7200RPM 250GB hard drive
G.Skill 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 800 RAM
Rosewill 500W PSU

Right now I'm pretty stumped, and any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance.
 

Gandalf

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I commend you for trying to build your own computer.

One of the problems often faced with this endeavor is proper seating of connectors. That is where I would start my search for the culprit.

Also, be aware that if your BIOS doesn't see your drive then Windows won't see it either. Same goes for memory strips.

Hope this helps.
 

racermx187

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I am having the same issue with the GB P55-UD3r board and a WD Black 640gb HDD. Just assembled the computer and HDD shows up in BIOS but I can not for the life of me get Win7 to see it while trying to load the OS. I plan on spending another few hours tonight trying to get it to work so I will report back if I have any luck
 

racermx187

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That utility only works on PCs with windows and mine is a new build so I have no OS to run it on. Thank you though
 

thegeorge613

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@Gandalf:

My BIOS does see my hard drive, it's just that Windows does not. I'm planning to work on it more tonight, and I'll double check the connectors and check HPET support in the BIOS.

@racermx187

Glad to see I'm not alone lol. I'll also report back if i make progress.
 

thegeorge613

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I'll double check it, but I believe I solved part of the problem in detecting the hard disk. I dug around Microsoft's site, and found this:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927520

I ran method 8, and the Hard Drive is detected finally as 'Disk 0 Unallocated Space". However, when I tried to proceed, I got an error: 0x80300024. Says Windows is unable to install to the selected location. I tried to create a new partition from that point, and an error popped up, saying I cannot create the partition.

EDIT: There's only an Enabled and Disabled option for HPET Support in the BIOS.
 

Gandalf

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My BIOS is by Phoenix Technologies. Its HPET is selectable for 32 or 64bits.
You might want to determine who wrote your BIOS and look into if enabled means 64bits. Just a suggestion.

My research suggests one possible work around. Do you have more than one
HDD installed? If so, disconnect all HDDs but the one you wish to install Windows 7 on then try to install Windows again.

 

thegeorge613

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My BIOS is by AwardBIOS, and I could not find whether its HPET means 64-bit or not.

I did dig around and found that workaround you found, but I only have 1 HDD installed. It did give me another error code when I tried to partition the drive during setup. I'll look into that error code later on.
 

thegeorge613

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Well, this problem seems to have resolved itself. After performing disk cleaning and being unable to install Windows in the newly-detected hard drive, I shut down the computer for several hours and played some WoW on my laptop. I started the computer up, and voila! I was able to create the system partition and primary partition for the install process.

 

thegeorge613

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Thanks! :)

However, some new problems during the install popped up. Since the problem seems to be moving out of the realm of drivers, I made a new thread in the General Discussion section: Windows 7 Installation Keeps Repeating Itself.

Glad to have at least gotten over the hard drive problem though! Making real progress lol.
 

racermx187

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Thanks for posting that link to Windows website George. I used step 8 and then everything worked perfectly. Now I am just trying to figure out why windows says I have 4gb of ram but only 2gb usable
 

Gandalf

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I had a problem with my system seeing only 4GB of my 12GB.
After testing each of the strips individually, I discovered that when I reseated all the strips the system saw the full 12GB OK.

I agree with George. Reseating the strips is a very good suggestion.
Again, if you're running in 64bit, make sure your BIOS is supporting HPET for 64bits.
 

christianvs

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Hi there

I'm having a similiar problem and wondered how you could do method 8 in the link you posted when you have no Windows installed? How do you get access to Cmd so you could make a partition clean?

Thanks!
 
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