Windows 7: can't do clean install of win 7 on new HD

hi

hope i've posted this to the right place in the forum!

i have tried to install windows 7 on a brand new HD and it comes up with:"windows setup could not configure windows to run on this computers hardware" i have tried 3 times and still get the same error message. i have put the HD into another machine and installed windows 7 successfully so it can't be the new HD- the recovery disks appear to have no surface damage.

i have previously installed windows 7 on new HD's on this machine before using the same recovery disks with success-what has gone wrong this time? is my computer damaged somehow? before i put in the new HD my computer was infected with a virus but this could only damage the old HD? is the computer broken is their anyway around this?

TIA

regards

ken

hi kkennybates
does your BIOS Pick up the HDD?
If it does:
Your RIAD Controler must be on ACHI and Not IDE .(Found under Storage depending on M/B[Mother Board] manufacturer) Windows 7 installs on ACHI.
If it doesnt:
It can mean your boards SATA Controler is faulty or try a differant SATA cable as well as a diff port on the M/B.

Regards
Klippies

thanks Klippies,

i'll check all that out

regards,

ken.

Define an active, primary partition on the drive and try to install to that.

hi

i could not find RIAD controller but found SATA controller and it was set to ACHI

thanks

ken

hi

i am not that technically experienced but have looked up how to do this, but before i do this i have to know if the partition has to be set to a certain size.

if i do this will and it doesn't work will i still be able to install windows 7 on the second machine that i successfully installed on?

what confuses me is that the last time i put in a new HD and installed windows 7 using the same recovery disks their was no problem like this and why didn't i have to create an active primary partition on the second computer? windows7 just installed smoothly.

thanks for your time,

ken

For size, it will depend what your requirements are. For Windows only, 40GB would be fine. But then you have to put your user data on another partition. With user data on C:, it will all depend of how much you plan to have.

One reason why you cannot install may be that the HDD is not initialized yet. Check that in Disk Management.

Regarding an installation on another PC will depend on the type of installation disk you have. If it is an OEM recovery disk, that is tied to the system from where it came.

thanks a lot

ken

Try wiping the HD first by booting into System Repair Disk or Windows 7 DVD to open a Command Line, run Diskpart Clean Command.

If Recovery Disks still won't boot then burn to DVD the latest official Windows 7 installer and do a superior Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7

Unplug all otherHD's and peripherals.
Reset BIOS to defaults: Clear CMOS - 3 Ways to Clear the CMOS - Reset BIOS.

In BIOS setup is there an EFI Boot disk in BIOS boot order? If so: UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) - Install Windows 7 with - Windows 7 Forums

thanks a lot i'll try that.

regards,

ken.