No boot sector on internal hard drive while AHCI enabled installation

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  1. Posts : 12
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
       #1

    No boot sector on internal hard drive while AHCI enabled installation


    hi everybody!
    I have a dell studio 1536 my hard disk got corrupted a month ago and tried different software could not make it to work so, decided to buy another HD .
    my new hard drive is (used) bought in ebay and SMART shows 100% health also tested on dell diagnosetic utility and all tests passed .
    So, here comes my problem , the very first time when i poped (new/used) HD into the laptop and started, it showed me the above error ''no bootsector on internal hard drive'' and gave me 3 options F1 retry , F2 setup , F5 dell diganose utility. I ignored it as you all know a HD without system files, partion , or windows would do exactly the same , and i went ahead and somehow sorted windows vista to install . When setup expanded files, it restarted and when dell logo and flash screen passed where it was supposed to boot from C: it gave me this error again , but the vista disk was still there i thought let the cd take care of it as the HD may not have been used after couple formating and wiping. So thought it,s normal, all installation went normal finally restarted again with same error above .
    Now if i put windows cd or whatever bootable madia i can get to my windows if i dont hit any key but first it will show the above error and then it will boot other media , even i can access to windows by pressing F1 ''retry'' after message appears and it will boot successfully fast and flawlessly but, windows cant find boot section by its own .
    Installed vista and windows 7 four times but same symptoms
    NOTE>>>> It will only occure when I enable AHCI mode , installed on ATA mode doesnt require me to do anything and will successfully go to boot from bios .
    my bios setup is in correct order and also reseted couple of times . reseated hard drive one time
    also i installed sata drive driver downloaded from dell site and loaded with usb everytime when i installed . So what could be the problem?
    Am i missing something prior or after installation ?
    I have completely lost my mind with this problem , tried 7hours of searching in forums nobody else has got same problem as mine , the error is same but symptoms are different
    [PLEASE HELP}
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 740
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
       #2

    When AHCI mode is enabled, is the first boot device changed? it's as if it's trying to read from say a USB stick or memory card slot first, then moving on to the next boot device of Hard disk or Optical when that has failed.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 12
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
    Thread Starter
       #3

    hi , yes i have set internal hard disk as a first boot device and you maybe correct there is something silly going on with the boot process that is why it prevents it from boot the windows properly any trick and tips or suggestion mostly appreciated as i am stuck and clueless
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 12
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
    Thread Starter
       #4

    one thing more i would like to add is that my hard drive is bieng shown as a removeable device in notification area , do you thing is that normal ? or there is a driver missing ?
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 740
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
       #5

    Are you sure the notifications are about your internal hard disk and not the 8in1 card reader?
    I would suggest installing the the AHCI driver from the dell website via USB stick, then REMOVE THE USB STICK before continuing with setup. In-fact making sure no drives except the internal drive are available for windows to install to.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 12
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
    Thread Starter
       #6

    yes that is right! it shows me my internal hard drive , but i have seen in many forums and most of them says that it is normal as AHCI is hot-swapable you have acces to indernal or external disk conveniently , but in my other laptop Acer 5935g there is no such option in notification. Infact that is also AHCI enabled but the controller and chipsets are different Acer has intel and Dell has AMD .
    anyways have a look at my dell support centre result , if possible you may find something in there , the file is 125kb so you have to download i couldnt find any other way in attach it as it is html so, sorry about that and help would be appreciated
    here it is https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=68206...38E6236C%21109
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 12
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
    Thread Starter
       #7

    here is the snapshot i have taken from device manager
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails No boot sector on internal hard drive while AHCI enabled installation-12.png  
      My Computer

  8.    #8

    Boot into free Partition Wizard bootable CD (which will autostart) to partition the new HD, give it a label then Modify>Set to Active, see how Win7 DVD responds to it.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 12
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
    Thread Starter
       #9

    gregrocker said:
    Boot into free Partition Wizard bootable CD (which will autostart) to partition the new HD, give it a label then Modify>Set to Active, see how Win7 DVD responds to it.
    hi thanks for helpfull link but i decide to installed windows in ata mode and will change some registry siiting that will redirect me to ahci any help in switching to ahci from ata would be appreciated as this time i am trying to switch after installing
    will let you know guys if it gone will
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 12
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
    Thread Starter
       #10

    my bad<< >> it doesnt work even i changed controller from ATA to AHCI . it was so simple just a tiny number in registry has to be change in order to activate AHCI controller as i followed this link: Gadgets and Hacks: Enabling AHCI in Windows 7
    It seems that bios cant read from windows boatloader or there is a single conflict or something very very tiny bad thing preventing the entire Huge machine from boating into windows , i can live with it to hit F1 key every time to redetect HD and load but this misteriouse tiny problem driving me krazy . I know that this is not something related to file or software it could be bios or something conflict . I have read somewhere about this issue that dvd rom preventing HD to boot but i cant remember now where it was , if you guys have any idea, suggestion , tips or tricks i will try all .
    Since HD is proved to be 100% clear of errors and faults tried different software which never ignors or skip errors but it passed all . i have recently updated bios to A6 in this model . something makes me suspecious now is DVD rom but taking apart that from laptop is not easy , hundreds of screws to be taken out before i take out that silly thing
      My Computer


 
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