win 7 install----hard drive in bios---not in select resore type window

I'm attempting a clean install of win 7 on an acer aspire 7540---the hard drive is shown in bios---but
not far into the setup, the selections in the window that says "select restore type" are greyed out.
I had a suggestion to change the bios setting from ahci to ide. when I try that, 2 of the selections are
available. if I try option 1, it says not enough disc space to hold temp files---option 2 gives me a stop code of 0x3. this is a new 320 gb hard drive. any suggestions would be appreciated.

Clarify a few things:

You say new 320 GB hard drive. You mean brand new, that has never had an operating system or data on it and no connection with Acer or this PC at all?

I ask because 320 GB is way more than needed for any temp files, so I'm wondering if maybe this HD does in fact have stuff on it.

Are you attempting the install from an official Microsoft retail purchased DVD? or a burned disk? Or a DVD of some other type?

it's a brand new hard drive---never been used.
there should be nothing on it.
I'm installing from burned discs which i've used several times
on other pc's.
thanks

Hmmm.......I'd download a Win 7 installation ISO of the type that matches your Product Key from Digital River and burn it to a disc and try again.

I'm assuming this is a single drive machine and that no other hard drives were connected during your install attempt.

Is the BIOS set at defaults?

actually, I changed the sata setting from ahci to ide----if I left it at ahci, I wouldn't even get as far as I did.
the restore type options were all greyed out. other than that, bios is at default.
i'll try a new set of install discs.
thanks for your help.
i'll post the results soon.

Acer machines can be a bit peculiar, so I wouldn't be surprised if BIOS defaults were non-standard in some way. You might have a look at all the menus in there if your next attempt with the newly burned disc doesn't work. Disconnect everything possible before you begin--down to mouse, keyboard, and monitor. Nothing external.

Regarding the hard drive. If you have an install disc, you could look at it with diskpart command and see what types of partitions it may or may not have.

Sounds like you're trying to run Factory Recovery disks from the OS. You mention more than one so that's all it could be. If it is indeed just the one Win7 DVD then it also needs to be booted and not run from the OS, deleting all partitions to get the drive ready for the reinstall.

Everything needed to get and keep a perfect install is here in Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7. Read over the steps and ask back if you have any questions.

To check for partitions, use Diskpart.

You'd get there by booting from that installation disk you burned from Digital River.

When you get to the screen where it asks about language (first screen I think), hit shift F10 on the keyboard.

That should take you to a command prompt.

At that prompt, type diskpart and hit the enter key.

Then type listdisk and hit enter key.

Report back on what that listdisk command returns. It should show Disc 0 or Disc 1 or something like that. If not, then???

when I hit shift-f10, nothing happens