Windows 7 not detect SSD though it shows on BIOS

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saddietaz

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Dec 30, 2007
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I recently decided to upgrade the HDD to SSD to my Asus UL30VT-X1. Finally getting a G.Skill Phoenix PRO 120GB SSD. After installing the SSD, I made sure the SSD with AHCI is shown on BIOS. Then I inserted the Windows 7 DVD, it just found no drive is available for the install. In other words, BIOS sees the SSD but Windows 7 does not install since it can't see the SSD.

I tried updated the BIOS but no go. I also loaded the recovery image but after finishing it Windows can't find a bootable drive.

I used an enclosure to check on the SSD and everything seemed fine, reformatting the SSD and reinstall, no go. Now I am stuck with my new SSD. I do not know where goes wrong.

I wonder if there is anyone experiencing the same issue and got a solution. Any other input is certainly welcome.

Thanks.

(English is not my native language. Hope what I asked above is understandable.)

 
Solution
neural0
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Try the OS in IDE mode NOT AHCI.

That should install the OS.

To get AHCI to work, do this:
1. Open up regedit. (Windows Key + R > "regedit" ).

2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SYSTEM > CurrentControlSet > Services > Msahci.

2. In the right pane, right-click "Start" (look under the Name column) and then click Modify.

3. In the Value data box, type "0" (this is a zero, not a "O" ), and then click OK.

4. Restart PC, go into BIOS and set it to "AHCI".

5. Windows should start and install the Microsoft AHCI drivers.

Below applies ONLY to an Intel chipset based board
6. Reboot and then go online and download the latest chipset drivers for your chipset from the Intel website.

7. Install the drivers. Reboot once done.

8. Congrats! Now you have AHCI using the Intel drivers!
 
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So, I purchased 1 x64 GB SSDNOW V series from eBay, It is my new build so I thought of installing the OS on SSD, but was getting soem sort of error (0x80007004) so I removed the SSD and the installed it on 1 TB HDD.

So now, when I login , to the OS it shows me the SSD there but as soon as I right click it it gets disconnected.

Things tried:
1)Update BIOS, no luck.
2)Changed SATA cables, ports.
 
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I recently went through the same thing and found one fix to "In other words, BIOS sees the SSD but Windows 7 does not install since it can't see the SSD. "
I found if you format the disk I put mine in an Ubuntu system and just formatted with gpt. When I put it back in to install Win7 it was seen by the install finally and said it could not install to a GPT partition so I just deleted it and windows did the rest.
I also found the trying to clone the SSD does not work, some people said it's because of the cloning software used but they never said what would work.
I hope this will help someone.
 
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Go to disk management and look for your ssd there, If it's not showing any value near the size of your ssd then you have bios configured wrong and if it shows right click on the ssd and then add simple volume. If you need help after that just pm me or google a partition guide.
 
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Try the OS in IDE mode NOT AHCI.


That should install the OS.
Click to expand...


Do not do this. If you install the OS in IDE, it's just a pain in the ass to switch back. Try this first, then if it doesn't work you can try doing the REGEDIT tip.

I had the same problem. Here is what I did and it worked.

If you are using Windows 7 and you go to do a your fresh installation and the drive does not show up as available in the setup screen but it was showing up in the BIOS follow these steps now:

After booting into the installation disk, at the welcome screen press shift+f10 and a cmd window should pop up. Enter "diskpart" (w/o quotes), then "list disk". Your SSD should be listed here, note which disk number it is listed as. Enter "select disk x" (where x is the number of your disk). Then enter "clean". Cochise! Finish your install. Also be sure to check out the "Useful SSD Articles Part 2" topic in these forums for some suggested tweaks to your disk to optimize for Win 7.
 
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Just stumbled on your thread when I was searching for a solution to my problem. That worked like a charm. Awesome suggestion!
 
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I am asking for a friend.. who is less of a computer guy then me.. But i have no experience with SSD drives.

He had Win 7 installed and running fine.. just did a Win update and upon reboot his machine does not go anywhere in windows like it is gone.. I assume his SSD is no longer being found by the machine for some reason. Could the update have messed up a driver for the SSD or something? I dont know what the SSD type is. I told him to just get another drive and install on that and then see if he can read his SSD.. he has a bunch of data on it of course. Not sure what.

Any help would be awesome thanks

Q
 
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Absolutely brilliant. This has caused me a bit of grief and your solu
tion worked first time. Thanks
 
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THANK YOU!!!! I was pulling my hair out until I stumbled along this reply.

Your method allowed my drive to be seen by the Installation Program, however, I did need to take it one step further on my system to actually get Win7 to install:

Quoted from lsdmeasasp on the crucial.com forum:

You will need to format the SSD and align the drive by following this guide using the Windows 7 install DVD, and then install Windows 7 on it. When you do this, on the disk selection screen do not delete or create any partitions, only select the already created single partition and click next.


Boot to CD, choose repair, then advanced, then command prompt:

Diskpart commands to align and create a partition

Diskpart >List Disk

(Here note the Disk # you want to align and create on based on size of drive, if only one drive then you are fine disk 0 will be the one you need)

Diskpart > Select Disk 0
(Or other disk number if need be)

Diskpart > List Partition
(Just to ensure you have the correct disk listed and no partitions are found)

Diskpart > Clean
(Removes any previous partition table information, and or MBR's)

Diskpart > Create Partition Primary Align=1024
(To create and align your partition)

Diskpart> Format Quick FS=NTFS
(To Quick format-NTFS)

Diskpart > List Partition
(To check partition was created properly and aligned)

Diskpart > Active
(To set partition Active for OS Install)

Diskpart > Exit

Done!

Clean and simple for those who have only one disk connected and need no explanations

Diskpart > Select Disk 0
Diskpart > Clean
Diskpart > Create Partition Primary Align=1024
Diskpart > Format Quick FS=NTFS
Diskpart > List Partition
Diskpart > Active
Diskpart > Exit
Click to expand...

Hope this helps anyone else running into issues!!
 
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Solution
Works great on Win 8 also (the whole enchilada- create partition, set active and format ntfs). Thank you! Make sure to REBOOT as the changes to the SSD will not show up in Win 8 until you restart the computer.
BTW, the HiRens Boot CD partition tools can do the same stuff as we are doing here. I should know as I had to do the exact same thing in order to install Ubuntu on my son's computer. Make MBR, create partition, set active, make it NTFS, something like that.
 
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Dude, it totally helped me, after half a day of pulling my hair out. Really appreciate it!!
 
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I have exactly the same problem where BIOS detected new SSD but Win7 failed to see it.

Having read this thread I (initially) successfully used the 'diskpart' 'clean' route at which point the WIN7 installation saw the drive and moved on but then the file load progress refused to go beyond 0% transferred. After 2 hours I gave up.

Then I read further in the thread about formatting the drive, which of course I had not done in the excitement of having 'solved' the problem of the unseen drive.

At the end of the thread formatting in a different system is mentioned.
My XP laptop recognised the SSD and allowed me to (supposedly) format it but when I've reinstalled the disk in the Win7 machine Win7 I'm back to square 1 and worse because not only is the drive not seen by Win7 the 'diskpart' route does not show the SSD drive either.

PS Gone from bad to worse - Just tried again and the after typing 'diskpart' at the cmd prompt the routine loads but then I just get the flashing curser and the keyboard cannot input anything.

Help!
 
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After trying the DiskPart method, my Asus G53 would still not detect Kingston V300 SSD. so I tried Windows 7 setup DVD instead of the bootable USB i had been trying with earlier and voila!
 
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Thanks, I get a lot of great info from this site. Couldn't get my SSD to populate and your quick step worked perfect! Thanks for the help!
 
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First of really really appreciate all the suggestions here...you sure learn something!
I did however waste 3-4 hours on this, and I've been in this exact situation before at the pc repair shop i used to work at. The solution at that time was a newer DVD of windows7. Cant remember any more details though.

My situation now:
A friend dropped off a pc and im supposed to install w7 ultimate on a brand new Kingston SSDnow 120gb. It has a ASUS p5k premium motherboard and it does support ACHI. However i cannot for all thats holy get this s*** to register in the w7 install. If i set IDE in bios it finds the drive np, but not ACHI. I'm installing from a USB created with the microsoft usb tool, which have worked wonders in the past. Windows detects the other disk. Tried disconnection all but the ssd, still no luck
I tried all the suggestions on this page... nothing worked, doesnt show AT ALL in win7 install not even diskpart.
I gave up yesterday and now im installing in IDE mode and im gonna shift back using the registry edit afterwards.

This got long, but my question is now very simple:
Why was this reg thing such a bad idea to begin with? Is there something unwritten? if it really is as simple as 2 reg keys i kinda should just have done that to begin with doh ! ... fair enough gqsmooth, you did say try your suggestion and the try the reggy thing. Trouble is i'm very persistent and stubborn, and ended up trying all kinds of other solutions 😛

EDIT:
So big news!! im installing on that PC in IDE while writing this on another pc. It finished really fast. I then hesitated to regedit and tried chaning bios to ACHI without making the reg changes, and guess what, it booted up just fine and found a lot of new hardware ^^
Untitled.png


I dont know if the fact that i used the newest iso with service pack 1 on has anything to do with this.
Now there is only really one thing showing up in device manager, and that is the expected intel chipset thing, so i guess everything is fine as soon as i install that,.... which is nice :)
 
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Do not use the Kingston SSDNow series SSD for your OS. These drives have massive problems since Kingston started throwing cheap ass NAND in them. Most of these drives are failing inside of 9 months. Unless they have changed their suppliers back to Toshiba or better, then you are taking about a 50/50 gamble on if this drive will fail. Mine just failed two weeks ago. Had to re-install everything. Kingston customer support is awesome, but I would definitely not trust this drive for anything critical. Not worth it. Windows had a lot of trouble formatting mine properly for my initial install. Picked up a Toshiba Q-series Pro and install and running are massively better than with the Kingston drive.
 
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well im getting rusty, i thought i remembered something fishy about ssdnow. Thanks for your input gaise.
The pc is only gonna be used a couple of days a month, its a "borrow" pc that people can use when they dont bring their own. So i guess its gonna last longer than 9 months right?
Luckily i did not pay for that disk though :)
 
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Rusty, i had the same issue..fixed it very simply... In your windows folder there is a box checked " do not detect empty hard drives". un-Check that and then reboot. your ssd will show in device manager and will ask you to clic initialize... do this...then format option now works.. format the drive and ur set to go..
 
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i had the same issue..fixed it very simply... In your windows folder there is a box checked " do not detect empty hard drives". un-Check that and then reboot. your ssd will show in device manager and will ask you to clic initialize... do this...then format option now works.. format the drive and ur set to go..
 
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OR you can just use windows built in disk manager the way you are supposed to 😉
just run "diskmgmt.msc" from the "run" dialog in start menu, OR right click "my computer", press manage and you are there. From here you can format, make disk active/deactivate, control partitions and assign drive letters.
 
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I'm having a similar problem please help me !


Long stroy short (Timeline of what happend to me):

1. Bought a new SSD (ADATA SX900 64GB)
2. Bios recognized it.
3. WinXP installation didn't recognize it, but the SSD drive was shown in "Disk Management" and it had a "Uninitialized" state

4. Win7 Installation didn't recognize it
5. Diskpart in Win7 Installation after issuing "list disk" said "There are no fix drives to list"
6. Ubuntu 14.04 recognized the new SSD drive
7. Win7 recognized the drive after loading a couple of Intell .inf driver which I selectivly downloaded from Intel website and burned it into a CD to use during Win7 Installation
8. Win7 Installation was able to create new partitions in the SSD drive (By this time Operations took a lot longer than it used to which seemed a little weired)
9. Win7 Installation was ready to install the windows on the new drive but It stucked on "0%" for 14 hours
10. After this Ubuntu couldn't detect the drive either and the new SSD dirve was shown as "Block Devices" in Ubuntu 14.04
11. The SSD drive was also not shown in "WinXP Disk Management" (which was previously shown as "Uninitialized")
12. WinXP did see the drive for about 1 second in "My Computer" and it had the same drive letters I gave it the last time in the Win7 Installation but It got lost after that
13. Me scratching my head and thinking......
14. Me scratching my head and thinking.....
15. Me scratching my head and thinking.....
16. Me scratching my head and thinking.....
17. Me typing in www.tomsharware.com.....

(been going on for 2 weaks now, very frustrated)

short story even shorter:

new SSD (ADATA SX900 64GB)
bios recognizes it
win XP doesn't
win 7 doesn't
diskpart doesn't
ubuntu doesn't



Additional Info (Current Motherboard):
Model: Gigabyte GA-8I915p Dou (rev 2.1)
Chipset: Intell 915p Express Chipset
I/O Chip: Intell ICH6
SATA Interface: 1.5 Gbit/s
 
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