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#1
Hard Drive is not detected in the BIOS
(I posted this thread in the Devices section and have received no help. I'm hoping I can receive some help here)
Hey SevenForums users.
I'm afriad that a Wild Problem has appeared (Sorry for the horrible Pokémon reference). I have been trying to sort out this problem for days now and I've had no luck what-so-ever. Here's the problem:
My Windows 7 Computer was diagnosed with a dangerous virus. It was stopping Windows 7 from booting. Windows 7 would attempt to boot, it wouldn't get passed the "Starting Windows" screen. Then, it would automatically restart. Then the process would start again. So, I thought 'Why not reinstall Windows 7 since I had the disk with me?!'. That being said, I attempted to reinstall. It wouldn't make it past the "Setup is starting" screen. So, I thought 'This virus must be really bad.'
I decided to install Ubuntu with the sole intention that it would remove the little bugger that was stopping Windows from Booting or installing. It did, but now I wish I haven't. Ubuntu got rid of the virus, and installed successfully. But, now when I want to reinstall Windows 7 back on my laptop. Luckily, it DOES make it past the "Starting Windows" screen and goes into set up as usual. But, I cannot make it past the "Where do you want to install Windows?" screen. This is because I get the following error:
"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 checked the BIOS and noticed that my hard drive isn't listed at all. Only the CD ROM drive is listed as a bootable option. But, it was there BEFORE the Ubuntu install. What's weird is, that Ubuntu DOES recognise the drive when I installed Ubuntu again. It recognised it as a TOSHIBA Hard Drive, which it is. But my BIOS says nothing is there. I tried countless amounts of things to repair the hard drive. Here's some:
-Tried repairing the MBR. (Bootrec.exe /fixmbr)
-Tried installing AHCI Intel Drivers made for my HDD.
-Tried some tweaking with Diskpart in the Command Prompt that I used from the Install CD in the "Repair Windows" section.
-Tried running CHKDSK through the Command Prompt.
-Tried over and over and over again with the above methods.
-Tried reseating the HDD.
I've ran out of options. My last option is if any of you guys could help me sort this problem out. Ubuntu says that the Hard Drive has many Bad Sectors which is what urged me to run [HKDSK. 256 Bad Sectors to be exact. Then it sky-rocketed to 376 AFTER CHKDSK ran. Now I'm out of options.
Windows installation recognizes that there's a 320GB hard drive Partition there, but I can't install Windows to it. Ubuntu recognises the exact name and model of my HDD, so surely there's a chance that the HDD hasn't failed?
Any thing that I can do to get this working? If I can somehow make my BIOS recognise the HDD, then I can probably install Windows 7 again, then I'll be back on the road again! Like I mentioned earlier, trying the drivers didn't install or change anything.
Thanks a lot!
Ishmael9100.
(Oh and it's a Laptop too, not a Desktop. )