Help with install & build

[TJ1376]

So microsoft and others via a bing search recommend reformatting the drive again...

Good god, Im glad I have nothing to do today...

 

[PsychoClown]

yes the wonderful world of installing windows......................

not any worse than what i went through just to get windows on my ssd.

do yourself a favor avoid bing. stick with google.

 

[TJ1376]

Im not missing something am I?

I read a lot about 'preformatting' a drive... I did buy a bare drive with my build and used Partition Wizard to setup the partitions and then format each of them...

Am I missing a step? After the install failed, I fired up partition wizard from the boot cd and the "used space" was larger than the "capacity" space (which doesnt make any logical sense.

I searched on this and found that if you install to a logical partition this will happen, but I installed to the primary.

I just want to make sure I am not forgetting to do something simple.... I am DOD cleaning the hard drive now in hopes to start completely fresh again in an hour or two, and dont want to keep making the same mistake over and over again.

Thanks for the help...

 

[PsychoClown]

Im not missing something am I?

I read a lot about 'preformatting' a drive... I did buy a bare drive with my build and used Partition Wizard to setup the partitions and then format each of them...

Am I missing a step? After the install failed, I fired up partition wizard from the boot cd and the "used space" was larger than the "capacity" space (which doesnt make any logical sense.

I searched on this and found that if you install to a logical partition this will happen, but I installed to the primary.

I just want to make sure I am not forgetting to do something simple.... I am DOD cleaning the hard drive now in hopes to start completely fresh again in an hour or two, and dont want to keep making the same mistake over and over again.

on the dod 3 wipes is enough.

Thanks for the help...

use pw and wipe the entire drive, create primary partition, format it ntfs, set it to active. once you get to the drive selection on the 7 boot media select the drive click delete, click new, and format it from there, then proceed with the install.

 

[TJ1376]

use pw and wipe the entire drive, create primary partition, format it ntfs, set it to active. once you get to the drive selection on the 7 boot media select the drive click delete, click new, and format it from there, then proceed with the install.

Windows 7 wont format the drive.. I get "Failed to format the selected partition. Error 0x80070057

 

[PsychoClown]

use pw and wipe the entire drive, create primary partition, format it ntfs, set it to active. once you get to the drive selection on the 7 boot media select the drive click delete, click new, and format it from there, then proceed with the install.

Windows 7 wont format the drive.. I get "Failed to format the selected partition. Error 0x80070057

i am out of options / ideas. this is a new drive? do you still have the old one? if so try that.

 

[TJ1376]

use pw and wipe the entire drive, create primary partition, format it ntfs, set it to active. once you get to the drive selection on the 7 boot media select the drive click delete, click new, and format it from there, then proceed with the install.

Windows 7 wont format the drive.. I get "Failed to format the selected partition. Error 0x80070057

i am out of options / ideas. this is a new drive? do you still have the old one? if so try that.

Yeah, brand new seagate drive. No other drives.. I am thinking about purchasing another drive (they are so cheap now a days) to see if I can get windows 7 to format & partition that drive.

So this brings up another question, with the partition wizard I am partitioning the entire drive and not leaving space for the 100 meg that windows needs.. Should I try partitioning in a way to leave 100 meg or so of unallocated space that windows could then use?

 

[TJ1376]

So this brings up another question, with the partition wizard I am partitioning the entire drive and not leaving space for the 100 meg that windows needs.. Should I try partitioning in a way to leave 100 meg or so of unallocated space that windows could then use?

And in case anyone is curious, still got the locale error...

 

[DocBrown]

TJ1376,

I just re-read all 5 pages of this thread. I did not see what your overall hardware specs are ? MB, Memory, Monitor ? More than 1 HD connected ?

Do you have any NON-Necessary devices connected, USB stuff, printers, extra monitor, TV video card ??

We are missing something probably simple here, just not sure what ?

Have you read this help post ?

http://www.sevenforums.com/installation-setup/28129-questions-use-help-installation-issues.html

 

[TJ1376]

TJ1376,

I just re-read all 5 pages of this thread. I did not see what your overall hardware specs are ? MB, Memory, Monitor ? More than 1 HD connected ?

Do you have any NON-Necessary devices connected, USB stuff, printers, extra monitor, TV video card ??

We are missing something probably simple here, just not sure what ?

Have you read this help post ?

http://www.sevenforums.com/installation-setup/28129-questions-use-help-installation-issues.html

Below is the setup:

Motherboard: Biostar TA790GXE 128m
CPU: AMD Athlon II x2 255 Regor 3.1ghz am3
HDD: Seagate 7200.12 sata 500gb drive
DVD: Sony optiarc 24x DVDR sata model ad-7240s-ob
Mem: OCZ 4gb (2x2g) 240 pinn DDR2 SDRAM 1066(PC2 8500)

DVD & HDD are hooked up using SATA cables.
20" Hanns-g monitor hooked up via HDMI

Win 7 x64 professional install disc

---------------------------------------

First problem was that I could not use the win 7 setup to format the drive (it was a bare drive, error was "Failed to format the selected partition. Error 0x80070057"). I got around that by building a boot cd with Partition Wizard on it. Setup the partitions and formatted the drive with no errors.

Next problem is that when the install of Win 7 goes to the "Install Complete" phase, I get a "Windows could not set the offline locale information. Error code 0x90FF0000". Windows then says the install could not be completed and all information is lost. Using PW, I can see that there is data on the drive, lots of it. So I tried to let the HDD boot. I get a read/write error post bios. Threw the Win 7 DVD back in, reboot, and try to let the Win 7 setup restore the os... It never finds the os.

I think problem 1 is causing problem 2, but I have no idea how to troubleshoot and/or fix problem 1. Why wont Windows format my drive? I have been trying to search for fixes on the net, but am not finding anything super relevant. Everyone says, install vista, then upgrade to win 7. That is not applicable in my case. I have a bare machine that I pieced together and purchased a straight install for win 7.

Any help would be most appreciated!

 

[TJ1376]

Browsing around and really just trying different things, I have now be able to:
Change the southbridge chipset to support AHCI.. I did this by telling AHCI to use 2.0 and not the default 1.0. I also turned off the "SATA IDE Combined Mode." In an earlier post, I could only get the southbridge to run via IDE -> AHCI

I also removed one stick of ram and am running via VGA now instead of HDMI. No clue why that matters, but figured I would rule it out.

Still getting the "Failed to format the selected partition Error 0x80070057" when attempting to format a partition. I will use PW to build the partitions and format them and try to install Windows 7 yet again.

 

[gregrocker]

At this point I think you need to run HD diagnostics/repair CD scan.

http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.j...toid=d0d51d4dad651110VgnVCM100000f5ee0a0aRCRD

You can then zero the HD and try again. Did you try removing all but 2gb of memory?

 

[TJ1376]

At this point I think you need to run HD diagnostics/repair CD scan.

SeaTools for Windows End User License Agreement | Seagate

You can then zero the HD and try again. Did you try removing all but 2gb of memory?

How do I do this with no operating system installed?

Seagate had an ISO file I burned to a CD and ran some tests on the drive.. All came back OK and normal. I have no other machine to install the drive to and run tests on.. I am pretty limited in that regards.

Yes, I am running now 2 gig of memory and on the VGA cable instead of HDMI. Still getting the same errors when attempting to install Windows 7.

 

[gregrocker]

HD diagnostics are best run in boot mode and not via the OS which would limit it's access.

I have re-read this thread twice now and frankly am stumped. Hopefully Doc or others will come back with some fresh ideas.

In the meantime, I personally would be on the phone to MS to take advantage of the Tech Support included in the price of Win7. They may well have the fix. In the past, MS tech support has been worth more than the cost of the Product.

If your Seagate HD is new, it also includes tech support for a year as well as warranty.

Have you tried 32 bit to see if same error repeats? If not, then it could be a driver that needs inserting during install.

Another option is to pull HD and install using another computer. I have done this about a dozen times when troubleshooting stalled install was taking too long. If it will start when returned to prob machine it should swap out all drivers, requesting restarts and run fine.

 

[DocBrown]

I just caught 1 small item. Several users have had trouble with Sony DVD drives. Also was the win7 prof, a produced by MS retail DVD or was it bought online & downloaded & burned to DVD ?

 

[TJ1376]

HD diagnostics are best run in boot mode and not via the OS which would limit it's access.

I have re-read this thread twice now and frankly am stumped. Hopefully Doc or others will come back with some fresh ideas.

In the meantime, I personally would be on the phone to MS to take advantage of the free Tech Support included in the price of Win7. They may well have the fix. In the past, MS tech support has been worth more than the cost of the Product.

Another option is to pull HD and install using another computer. I have done this about a dozen times when troubleshooting stalled install was taking too long. If it will start it should swap out all drivers, requesting restarts and run fine.

I bought the "For System Builders" version of Windows 7... No tech support available.

This was going to be easy... I am really bummed out that for whatever reason I am running into these difficulties.

 

[gregrocker]

Extract DVD ISO to desktop using ImgBurn. Write to USB flash stick: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/31541-windows-7-usb-dvd-download-tool.html?filter[2]=General%20Tips

Try booting using one-time Boot Menu key given on BIOS splash screen; stick often listed under HD's.

 

[TJ1376]

I just caught 1 small item. Several users have had trouble with Sony DVD drives. Also was the win7 prof, a produced by MS retail DVD or was it bought online & downloaded & burned to DVD ?

The DVD drive seems to be fine. I mean it runs all the other utilities I put into it, and runs the windows 7 setup.

Win 7 is on a DVD.

 

[DocBrown]

Is the HD connected to the MB on the very first SATA port. Some Manufacturers mark them SATA0 & some called them SATA1

 

[TJ1376]

Is the HD connected to the MB on the very first SATA port. Some Manufacturers mark them SATA0 & some called them SATA1

DVD is in SATA1, HDD is in SATA2, no other drives or devices connected to the machine.