Recently a family member of mine got a new hard drive due to the old one quitting on her. After putting it in the computer and booting up, there was nothing on it. She is unable to install the Windows 7 64 bit. The hard drive came with no CD for the drivers either. Any ideas?
Welcome to the forum. All drives come blank it doesn't need anything to install windows. Once it's seen in the BIOS set the BIOS to boot DVD insert windows install DVD and it should all work and install
Oddly enough she is telling me that Windows won't install. She said she needs the driver for the hard drive itself. I'm not quite sure what it's looking for but until we find it, it refuses to install any version of Windows
It is nigh impossible to help in this case when we are not communicating with the person sitting in front of the PC! Questions get mixed up and answers go vague. Can you not get the PC so that you carry out the guidance to a good install? Your remarks re the driver for the hard drive don't really make any sense, without Windows installed you have nowhere to store the driver anyway, sorry no offence intended!
It might help if we knew what led to the conclusion that it was the harf drive that failed?
Going back as many years as I can remember, there are NO Drivers for a hard drive!!!! Period.
It's seen and handled by the motherboard BIOS.
If you believe that here are, you need to get that PC to a professional or at least a Computer Geek to get that thing straitened out.
There is one instance, where a Bios cannot see a new HD. That is where you put a SATA II drive on a SATA I motherboard. The drive has to have a jumper attached to make it compatible with the older motherboard. Many drives will have a chart on their label, showing where to put the jumper.
I once drove 70 miles back to a store to return a SATA II hard drive, because the computer I was working on could not see it. The service tech reached in a drawer and pulled out a tiny little jumper, stuck it on the drive and handed it back to me, saying "Now it will work!".....and it did.
Good Luck,
TechnoMage
If she has a SCSI drive (which is highly unlikely), then she will need a driver. But she would have had to have ordered a SCSI drive; you can't get them in the store.
Is she sure that it is asking for a driver for the hard drive? Is she sure that all of the cables are correctly connected? And is she sure that the "compatibility" jumper on the drive is set correctly, as well as any other jumpers? There shouldn't be any jumpers other than possibly a compatibility jumper, but you never know...
If both the old and the new drives don't work in this computer, then perhaps the problem is with the computer, not with the drives. Since the drive quit working, it is likely that it is an old computer. Therefore, it is possible that the CMOS battery is dead.
Believe it or not, if the CMOS battery is dead, problems like this can result. After several years, it is time to replace the CMOS battery anyway, so I suggest that you do that, then try the old hard drive again.
If that doesn't fix it, then try a different hard drive cable or a different power connector. Perhaps one of these is the culprit.
Last edited by mrjimphelps; 03 Aug 2017 at 15:30.
TRY this method. FIRST follows this basic rules of PC handlings/testings.
- took out ur motherboard from CASING, make sure it install de required H/W .. such RAM, POWER SUPPLY, MONITOR, CPU, G/card etc etc.
- connect it into UR POWER SUPPLY, after that was done.. use tool like screw drivers, touch de POWER SUPPLY POINT (+-),TRY TO BOOT IT!.. see any FLASH PROMPT on de monitor? IF yes.. thats represent ur H/W is in GOOD WORKING conditions!
- NOW , put it back into CASING.. now connect it back ALL requirements slots!
- and since ur OLD H/D is being discarded/throwing away (put it aside!), NOW connect it back with de new ones (H/D) ONLY into ur casing! (again make sure it was NEW ONES).
- NOW..de windows should PROMPT de message that " MISSING WINDOWS" .. then, time to insert de WINDOWS DVD, and MAKE SURE WINDOWS OS WERE WRITTEN ON DISC (look at de back of DVD, any differences??) IF NO DIFFERENT FROM DE ORIGINAL DVD, i think u should BURN IT AGAIN!.
- IF yes and "BOOTABLE", follows windows OS guides and done it on ur needs!
BEFORE u install WINDOWS OS, u may need to ENTER into BIOS and SET OPTIMAL values and save it! then.. go ahead with DVD WINDOWS OS INSTALLATIONS. thats it!
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