[Need help] Trouble installing Win 7 64bit

[kiolgo]

Hello everyone ,
My "story" is quite long because I've done a lot of things . Unfortunately it's getting even worse and I think it would be better if I ask those who have more experience .Excuse me if there's any trouble with my English
-Long ago,I shrinked my C drive to make a new F drive.So I have 4 local drives : C,F (Primary) and D,E (Logical).Drives D,E seem not to have any problem.
-My W7 32bit got only 3.25GB when I added more RAM (2GB->4GB) , so I decided to install W7 64bit to use entirely 4GB of RAM.
-I made a bootable USB containing setup for W7 64bit , it booted successfully so I thought my setup was fine .
-My mainboard is ASUS P5K , in the BIOS ,I could only boot from USB or HDD at once.I chose USB as I wanted to install a new W7 64bit .
-Everything was normal until the step of choosing the partition in which W7 would be installed .I chose drive C and clicked Format (->wrong here?) . After that it said SYSTEM , not PRIMARY , when the Next button is clicked , an error was thrown .
"“Setup was unable to create a new system partition or locate an existing system partition.”
-I used the Command Prompt tools in the Repair options to format the drive C and then reboot again . Now it said PRIMARY , but that error still appeared .
-I booted the computer using a boot CD and tried some tools
+ Partition Magic said both my USB and my HDD contains error
+ Paragon Partition Manager (?) said the C and F 's File System Property was "Invalid",not NTFS.
+ In the Mini XP ,I format C once more and use DISKPART to set it Active .The Disk management said my C and F were healthy and are NTFS . I could open and see the contents of drive F .
-Thought that the problem was solved , I booted by my setup USB again . This time I don't see the F drive in its list anymore , and the C drive returned to "SYSTEM".
The problem now becomes too serious to me.I decided not to modify anything else.I don't want to lose any of my data (
Tomorrow I'll try to connect my HDD to another computer and hope it can read my data so that I can backup some important things.
Or should I try with a DVD instead of a USB ?
A new semester has started and I really need to use my computer .
Hope you can help me with this trouble , as quickly as possible .
Thanks a lot .

 

[steve-pressman]

I would try with the DVD make sure your Bios setting is set to boot from the DVD first.


Steve

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Hello kiolgo, welcome to Seven Forums!



First ...

Will you please post a snip/screen-shot of the entire disk management drive map so we can see what you have going on as there may be a fairly simple way to resolve the situation.

In the Windows start menu right click computer and click manage, in the left pane of the "Computer Management" window that opens click disk management and post a snip of that.


Second ...

What method are you using to install Windows; have a look at difference in these 2 tutorials so you can tell us.

Clean Install Windows 7

Upgrade Install with Windows 7

 

[kiolgo]

Yeah,I think I should try installing from a DVD.My C: drive is blank now so there is perhaps no harm if I give it one more attempt .But not before I know if there is any problems with my entire HDD now

1.OK.Here is what I captured from Disk Management :

2.I was running Windows 7 Ultimate 32bit , I chose Clean Install to install Windows 7 Professional 64bit.
After formatting the old windows partition (C:,labeled WINDOWS 7) , I can't continue due to the error shown in my 1st post .
The USB device (F: in the image) is formatted due to my mistake , so it's now nothing but a normal flash drive I think we don't have to mention it from now on,right ? Ah , by the way , I made this boot USB for 64bit from Windows 32bit ( replaced bootsect.exe 64bit by the 32bit one to execute it successfully , and then re-copied the 64bit bootsect.exe )

My F: drive is now named G: in the Mini XP of the boot cd,with label SETUP.Its content is fine.(I've tried to read,copy and run some in another computer and no problem.)
However as I've told you before,the F: doesn's appear in the "~Choosing partition to install windows 's" list.The D: & E: is logical drive and they're OK.Losing data in F: is not so bad because they're just setup files that I can re-download later.But my D: & E: contains important data.
If I use a DVD and try to install once more , I wonder if there is any risk of losing data in any of my drives ?

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Hello again.





As an observation, at 25GB I wonder if the C: is large enough to install Windows 7 to.

Also there only needs to be one partition / device marked as "Active" as more than one will confuse the installer and may cause it to fail, have a look at my snip below to see how to mark it/them as "Inactive" so that you can continue.

click to enlarge

​

 

[karlsnooks]

kiolgo,

The quick solution is:
1. Remove the USB stick.
2. insert your DVD
3. power down your computer
4. Boot up your computer.

Now if your computer is not set to boot first from dvd, then
immediately after bootup the screen will show your how to boot to the bios--normally the F2 key and you can go into the bios and change the boot order
OR
the screen may show a boot order option using the F12 key. If so, then use the F12 key to select CD/DVD. This will cause a one-time change to CD/DVD.

 

[kiolgo]

Thank you all , I already know how to choose the boot device . I'll try DVD when I get one tomorrow , I think this time the setup will be alright .
As you know,my F drive has no error when I use the mini-XP in the boot CD . Howerver , recently , I plug my HDD in another computer running Win 7 32bit : Drive C is opened normally but drive F isn't shown in My Computer ! In the Disk Management , this partition is marked by grey and not named , only its size (~14GB) is shown . I don't understand why . Unfortunately I didn't take any screen-shot . I don't think it will automatically shown even when I successfully install the OS . I intend to back up its content to another drive/device for safety . If you know about this , please tell me how to take my F drive back .

 

[kiolgo]

I installed W7 successfully using a DVD .
With the F drive , the new W7 doesn't recognize it . I had to back up its content , and re-create the partition , then restore .
Anyway , my problem has been solved . I've got some more experience this time .
I highly appreciate your helps ! Thank you once more .

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Hello again.





Glad to see you got it sorted and thanks for the update.