You are on the right course. Now reset the BIOS as that failure cannot be ignored. You'll have to then reconfirm EFI setting, SATA controller and Boot order.
What confidence do you have in the installer? Has it worked recently to reinstall successfully? Does it have SP1?
BTW thank you guys for responding I've been at this for 4 days with children slinged off my narm. I've always done everything myself with XP so this OS is new to me. I prefer learning how to do it so I'm trying my darndest to understand what is working and why.
Resetting the bios. That should be in the MOBO manual?
Yes but it's usually pretty obvious, often on the first menu. Did you read the tutorial I linked for it? Clear CMOS - 3 Ways to Clear the CMOS - Reset BIOS
Do you have the most recent BIOS update? That can be important.
Version 1103 is the latest at http://support.asus.com/download.asp...hashedid=n%2fa
this will be my next attempt. im giving the install mbr without the alignment again as believe 4096 align was intended for a ssd and not my hdd (1024)) correct?
There is no need to align at all, even on SSD.
im going to try and reset CMOS next (my mobo has a fail safe reset button on the back and i have the original ROM file to restore form the website. Just trying the reinstall again
1103 is the one i installed last. This is the only variable or wildcard i havent gone back to yet...
Confirm you have 1103 now.
You may need to use jumper if there is no Reset to Default in BIOS setup: http://support.asus.com/Troubleshoot.../a&os=&no=1723
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