Solved Deleted 100mb partition, mobo cant boot OR read HDD now... HELP!!

[flyguy5187]

So I was trying to install the OS into my 3TB hard drive and after finding the exact same one on sale, I bought another to set up RAID 1. I noticed in disk mgr that my partitions were all messed up (3 total - 350gb, 2.xxtb, and 6xxgb) where I was suppose to select drives to install windows to and I figured I can delete them all and merge it to create one big drive since I had UEFI BIOs and mobo was able to recognize the 3tb HDD. So i went ahead and deleted everything so i can do a fresh install and not knowing otherwise, i deleted the 100mb boot partition or whatever you call it. after my first restart, i got the bootdisk error message with the ctrl+alt+del to restart. Thinking I didnt format it correctly, I took the drive out and formatted it on another computer, now all i get is the ASUS welcome screen with the msg on the bottom to press del to enter bios. I have restarted multiple times and it seems like pressing anything is unresponsive. HOWEVER, after disconnecting the hard drives, I was able to boot from the DVD and get to the Windows 7 repair screen. The tricky part is that after I go through this process and plugged in the HDDs mid-boot, the system was not able to recognize the HDDs at all. So where do i go from here?

I tried doing the Clr RTC ram jumper, then did that AND removed battery to MB, and lastly updated to the most recent BIOs version but have not yet resulted in a different outcome...still stuck in ASUS mb unresponsive splash screen? HELPPPP!

sry if this was lengthy but i figured I be as detailed as i can so one of u experts can tell me exactly what to do. Thanks!

MOBO: P8Z68-V/GEN 3
HDD: Seagate Barracuda XT ST33000651AS
CPU: Core i7-2600K
RAM: Kingston HyperX 16gb 1600mhz
DVD drive, 750W PSU ( <-- prob not relevant...)

 

[flyguy5187]

here is what gregrocker advised me to do, done everything except partition wizard as the mobo freezes and can'tget into BIOs when I have my HDD plugged in....

GregRocker
__________________________________________________________________________________
Many HD's that large require a BIOS update to be read. Check the Support Downloads webpage for your model mobo for latest BIOS update.

If none then reset the CMOS: Clear CMOS - 3 Ways to Clear the CMOS - Reset BIOS

You need to follow this procedure to install to UEFI BIOS: UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) - Install Windows 7 with - Windows 7 Forums

Set HD first to boot, reboot and tap the key given on first boot screen for BIOS boot menu, choose DVD drive.

If this fails, wipe the HD with Clean command: SSD - HDD Optimize for Windows Reinstallation.
If disk will not boot via BIOS or one-time BIOS boot menu key after trying it repeatedly, use free Partition Wizard bootable CD which will autostart, wipe the HD, then DVD should autostart.
__________________________________________________________________________________

 

[gregrocker]

Why did you plug in your HDD mid-boot? Do you have hot plugging? You may have shorted your mobo.

If DVD will boot with HD unplugged but BIOS won't POST with same HD plugged in you may have corrupt boot code which needs wiping.

Remove the HD to the other machine but this time wipe it with Diskpart Clean Command. Format a 100gb Primary NTFS partition, mark it Active.

Return the wiped HD to target machine, plug it in alone with no other peripherals, set SATA controller in BIOS to AHCI, try booting DVD to Clean Install Windows.

 

[whs]

1. Raid is not such a good idea for installing the OS - all kinds of problems. If you want to have a fast OS, buy a 60GB SSD for $99. That is a much better deal and a LOT faster than any Raid.

2. If you want to install the OS on a spinner, unraid the drives an define a 60GB partition (100GB if you have games). Make that a primary, active partition and use the Command Prompt on your installation disk for that. The commands are:

Diskpart
List disk
Select disk n (where n is the number that was given for the disk where you want to install in List disk)
Create partition primary size=60GB (or 100GB if you like)
Active
Exit

3. Once you have the OS running, define data partition(s) where you put your data.

 

[flyguy5187]

yea I agree....probably just going to use this for now as an OS....dont know what type of SSD i should get but thats another day's problem lol I am currently doing the "Clean all" wipe per G.Rocker's advice on my 3tb HDD so it will take couple hours =/ and then set 100gb as active and hoping that will be the end to my problems lol

..but reading a bunch of reviews I'm led to believe to stay away from OCZs and go to Crucial/Patriot? but also the bigger the drive t he fast the read/write speeds supposedly? but I really dont know too much to b honest...i was using a netbook for the past 3 years and b4 tht was a PC with non-SATA ports haha ....i got some learning to do but thx for the helps guys!

 

[gregrocker]

I posted the Diskpart Clean command which takes seconds and is all that is needed to clear the boot sector. Clean All is only useful to overwrite data so that it is unrecoverable by most means.

My advice is based on personal and other user's experience with BIOS failing to POST or DVD to boot until HD is unplugged, which was solved by wiping the boot sector to allow it to post and install. You can read about it here: Frozen BIOS Boot screen

There is also a possibility that there is a bad setting in BIOS or the DVD is not being booted correctly. Some times it takes repeated tries while tapping the key given for one-time BIOS Boot Menu - have you tried that repeatedly, firmly tapping the key every second? THe other method is described here: How to Boot your Computer from a Bootable CD or DVD.

Unplugging the HD during boot is risky. You could short the mobo.

In answer to your question about installing in another computer, it can be done but if it won't start when returned to problem machine you'll have to move it back and run SysPrep to move HD to another computer

Additional steps must be taken to install to a UEFI BIOS: UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) - Install Windows 7 with - Windows 7 Forums

 

[whs]

yea I agree....probably just going to use this for now as an OS....dont know what type of SSD i should get but thats another day's problem lol I am currently doing the "Clean all" wipe per G.Rocker's advice on my 3tb HDD so it will take couple hours =/ and then set 100gb as active and hoping that will be the end to my problems lol

..but reading a bunch of reviews I'm led to believe to stay away from OCZs and go to Crucial/Patriot? but also the bigger the drive t he fast the read/write speeds supposedly? but I really dont know too much to b honest...i was using a netbook for the past 3 years and b4 tht was a PC with non-SATA ports haha ....i got some learning to do but thx for the helps guys!

I have 3 OCZs without any problems. But there are a couple of models that had problems. Right now a good choice would be a Crucial M4 of which I have one too. If it is not on firmware level 0309, you have to update the firmware - that is dead easy with the tool that Crucial provides.

And do not worry about the R/W speeds. That means very little for the OS. What makes the speed is the access time of 0.1ms. And a 60GB SSD is ample for the OS. All your data (and eventually big games) can go on the spinners.

 

[flyguy5187]

@whs..unfortuantely the only SATA III SSDs I see on sale that are <$100 are OCZs and kinda tough deciding not knowing which models have problems and etc...

@G.Rocker - sry if i misinterpreted your advice....did the regular clean and set up partition but now it is in RAW format, is that normal? o and i nvr knew I can short the MB like that..yikes

EDIT: figured it out, going back to problem machine now...hope this works =)

 

[whs]

Have a look at this one. This is a top SSD - and only $90 now. I own one myself but paid more at Christmas. Newegg.com - Crucial M4 CT064M4SSD2 2.5" 64GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

 

[flyguy5187]

you guys are LIFE SAVERS!!! windows now installing on problem hard drive in my problem PC...thanks! now i wish I found this forum before I tried my own "experiments" lol luckily I didnt short or fry anything =)

....two questions but unrelated,

1.) I am not going to raid 1 my HDD now but when I do after I get my SSD, is there a way to combine the entire volume into one drive? Right now its showing 2TB + 750GB. If I also decide to just use the second 3tb HDD, am I going to need a jumper thing to set to slave?

2.) Yea thats a very good price for the SSD, I am actually debating on a 60/120gb SSD is the 60GB enough to store OS and importnat prgms (browser, codecs, other computer related essential things?) otherwise I might just get the crucial 128 or something

THANKS GUYS!!

 

[whs]

1. sure you can do that. Just free up the 750GB portition. And if it is a partition, delete volume and partition in Disk managemet. Then extend the 2TB portion.

But for a more detailed guidance it would help if you posted a full picture of your Disk Management.

There are no 'jumpers' in Sata. That's an old IDE technology.

2. a 60GB SSD is ample for the OS and a LOT of normal programs (not some games which the guys put on the HDDs). Both my desktops run on 60GB SSDs and I always have over 30GB free space - and that includes a virtual partition where I run Ubuntu. Typically a Windows7 with let's say 50 installed programs should be around 25GB.

There are some little tricks to keep the size down - delete the hiberfile and reduce the pagefile to 2GB.

 

[gregrocker]

Were you able to get installed and set up? Here are some tips to adapt: Clean Reinstall Windows 7

I would not RAID Win7 drive as we see nothing but problems with Win7 and RAID. You'll really enjoy the SSD though. Wolfgang will help you get it installed perfectly.

 

[whs]

Thanks Greg for the job assignment - but I enjoy this.

 

[gregrocker]

Job assignment? I only meant to acknowledge you are the expert here on SSD's.

 

[whs]

I know Greg, I was just joking.

 

[flyguy5187]

thanks for the continued help guys, my system is set up and running windows 7 - everything is blazing fast and still waiting for my wireless adapter to ship in to download the rest of the drivers/needed prgms. you guys mentioned that is bad to set up RAID with windows 7, why's that? Do you mean by raiding the windows 7 OS or I shouldn't even have raid at all? I am planning to RAID 1 these 3tb drives but just for data once I get the SSD.

And I found this too...but its OCZ =/ what are your thoughts?

Amazon.com: OCZ Synapse 128GB SATA 6Gb/s SYN-25SAT3-64G 2.5" Solid State Drive (SSD) with up to 550MB/s read and 80K IOPS write: Computers & Accessories

EDIT: weird the models # and drive capacities aren't really matching up, but $96 for 128gb is a pretty good deal right?

 

[gregrocker]

You can also plug in by wire to get your drivers via optional Windows Updates, and other updates and setup software recommended in Clean Reinstall Windows 7 Factory OEM

The problems we see with RAID are with Win7 install not RAIDing data drives. If you want to try RAID then I would run it without RAID for awhile and then RAID it to see the performance comparison.

 

[whs]

Regarding the OCZ Synapse, read the user feedback here: Newegg.com - OCZ Synapse Cache SYN-25SAT3-128G 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

For the OS, RAID is nothing but trouble. For data, it is probably OK.

 

[flyguy5187]

thanks for the pointers guys, another reason to stay away from OCZ I guess. Will probably get that crucial drive and try RAIDing after.

 

[whs]

I think you will be happy with the Crucial M4. Let us know when you got it and we will help you transfer the OS - Although a new install is the easiest.