"Load drivers" error/cant see the HD

[Lunatist]

My friend recently ordered a computer with a copy of windows 7, we can get to where you select your HD but it windows cant see it (nothing shows up in the window, and "New" is grayed out).
We have a load drivers option, but I wouldnt know what drivers they would be or what disk they would be on with out help (Ive tried all the disks I have, no drivers are found).
I tried to load XP onto the computer, same problem, XP said it could be a corrupted HD, this is still a possibility seeing its brand new. Just wondering if there would be a different solution

Looked online for a bit, so far Ive turned off the floppy drive from the 1.44 setting to none in the bios, which worked on my computer, but not his. We know its not the disk for windows 7. I can pull up bios and see what drives are master and slave but I dont know what that means or if changing it can help.

I cant pull up the specs right now seeing as its not my computer and we cant get into windows =]

 

[karlsnooks]

Lunatist,
Insert the Win7 dvd into the optical drive. Do not close door.
Turn off computer.
Close dvd door.

Start computer.
When the first dialog appears requiring action from you, then:
use the SHIFT + F10 combo to get to a command prompt.

At the command prompt:
type DISKPART and hit Enter key
type List Disk and hit Enter key
write down what you see

Assuming that you have a Disk 0 listed, then
type Select Disk 0 and hit Enter
type Detail Disk and hit Enter
write down what your see if anything

Now you can type:
Exit (to exit diskpart)
Exit (to exit the command prompt and return to the Win7 install)

Let us know what happened and what you wrote down

 

[Night Hawk]

Welcome to the Se7en Forums! Lunatist

With XP SP3, Vista, and now 7 the need for a sata controller driver disk(typically a floppy) and the F6 option seen with XP is no longer needed. For XP SP2 and older installation disks you would use the F6 option to have the previous version's installer load the drivers into memory in order to have a sata drive detected and have the install proceed from there.

With the lack of detection of the drive on a new system the most obvious answer would be a factory defect and the need to see that replaced. With the factory like Dell, HP, Gateway, or other OEM manufacturer's or board manufacturer's logo screen disabled in the bios setup a working drive would be listed on the post screen at startup and would see Windows detect the drive.

Best suggestion and if the new system is not seeing any other problem(s) would be return for service/exchange under warranty to avoid canceling that out or having the defective drive replaced under that. Appparently it's a headache needing to be returned while it still can be. If this was on a used system you would be advised to try another hard drive to see how things would go. But on a brand new pc? RMA it!

 

[Lunatist]

Thank you guys so much, with the command prompt instructions:

Disk ### - Disk 0
Status - Online
Size - 465 gb
Free- 0b
Dyn - (blank)
Gpt - (blank)

so as far as I can tell the motherboard can see the drive, the 0b free confuses me so you know how far my computer expertise goes. =]

any more fun yet?

 

[karlsnooks]

Lunalist,
Don't let the 0 bytes bother you. That's microsoft logic.

Repeat the same steps as before EXCEPT:
Detail Disk 0 will not be necessary.
What will be necessary is, after the Select Disk 0, then
type CLEAN ALL and hit Enter.
Go out to eat, take in a movie or whatever.
When you return the Clean operation will be finished and you can Exit your way out and perform the install.

 

[Night Hawk]

When the system came in was the drive blank or 7 preinstalled on it already? If preinstalled already the Windows installer may be running into a snag.

With the logo screen disabled in the bios setup where you see a black screen at startup listing the drives installed that would show a working drive. On some premade systems however the option to disable the logo screen is left upto the techs since no option is available for the user.

Besides using the DiskPart commands another option to see the drive listed would be booting up with a live cd such as a Linux distro or GParted live that will use a gui method. Besides a defect hard drive the optical drive would be another thing to consider as having a problem.

Also check the cable on the drive at the board end as well as the drive end to make sure it's in all the way. When one of the HDs here suddenly vanished and then prompted to be formatted after a cleaning of the case I rechecked the cables at both ends and found that cable had lifted ever so slightly in the port at the board end! One simple thing is all it took.