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Installing Windows 7 Ultimate on New System; Complicated Driver Issue
Hello everyone.
I recently built a brand new computer (Core i5, GIGABYTE mobo, 8gb ram, 500GB hd) and I've been trying to install a copy of Windows 7 Ultimate onto it.
The first issue I ran into is that I didn't check to see if the new motherboard had an IDE ribbon cable port for my DVD and CD-ROM drives in my old computer that I planned to port over. The new motherboard does not, so I attempted to run the computer using my old hd and planning to install the new drivers over it. This was met by having the computer get to the startup logo animation, continue for about 0.5 seconds, and then immediately restart. Once it had restarted, it gave me the option of Startup Repair or Start Windows Normally. After I had messed with it a bit, I looked for a reason why this could be happening. The biggest response I saw for other people was that there was a conflict between the drivers and that a clean install would be the best option. Since I don't have a DVD or CD-ROM drive (yet), I had to find a solution for that problem.
The solution I found was a tutorial by a Microsoft employee on how to create a USB Boot Drive. I correctly followed the instructions and attempted to install Windows 7 Ultimate on the new machine. The installation setup was very fast on the new system, but when it got to the first actual step of installation (after selecting language and pressing "Install Now"), an error message stated that there were drivers for my DVD and/or CD-ROM drives that were not found. I found this very odd, considering I don't have a DVD or CD-ROM drive currently. After some research, I found that the problem could be some actual driver issue, a problem with the .iso used to create the usb boot drive, or a problem with the motherboard.
I used my current (old) computer to port all of the driver data from the DVD given by the mobo manufacturer to another USB drive. I tried installing it again, but I couldn't figure out where the drivers I needed were, so I decided it was unlikely and skipped it. The next possibility was an issue with the .iso. To determine this, I hooked up my new hd with my old computer and ran the USB Boot Drive. My old computer installed Windows 7 Ultimate with no problems. Not only was the problem not the .iso, but I had managed to install Windows 7 Ultimate on the new hd anyway.
However, when I mounted the new hard drive, I got the same issue I got when using my old hd: The startup gets to the Windows 7 introduction animation for a second or so and then disappears, resulting in a restart.
Trying to install Windows 7 again results in the device driver error.
I looked around on these forums and found out about the AHIC (or something) vs. IDE problem and changed my BIOS accordingly. I also changed the CMOS to the "fail-safe" setting. I tried running it again to no avail.
I'm not really sure what to do from here. From my understanding, the error could be because I installed Windows 7 on the old computer which may cause conflicts with the new computer, that the key issue had to deal with legitimate missing drivers I couldn't find, or it could be that the mobo itself is damaged (which I'd really rather not be the issue).
Anyone have any ideas?
Any help is greatly appreciated in advance.