Not Recognizing Hard Drive

[jradicle11]

Windows 7 doesn't seem to recognize my hard drive during installation. The hard drive, along with the computer, are brand new.

In my bios it says:

IDE Channel 1 Slave [WDC WD5000AAKS-00V1A]

The hard drive is a 500GB Western Digital Caviar Blue and the motherboard is a Gigabyte MA785GT-UD3H.

 

[Jonathan_King]

Hello,

Try my post http://www.sevenforums.com/installation-setup/34853-common-installation-problems.html. See if anything there helps.

~Jonathan

 

[jradicle11]

Problem: Setup does not recognize hard drive during installation

What to try:
If possible, boot into the install disc and run the installation from there, as opposed to running setup.exe from withing Windows.
Make sure that the HDD is detected in BIOS.
As a last resort, because this will erase your data, try this tutorial.

Well, the drive is fresh with nothing on it so I tried booting from a disc, but that didn't work. I then tried booting from a USB drive, but that didn't work either.

As for Solved Hard Drive - Unable to Select or Delete during Installation - Vista Forums , I don't know how to enter command prompt from the USB drive.

 

[Jonathan_King]

To enter the command prompt, boot from the USB drive, and instead of clicking Install, click Repair my Computer. It should be right there.

 

[DocBrown]

Windows 7 doesn't seem to recognize my hard drive during installation. The hard drive, along with the computer, are brand new.

In my bios it says:

IDE Channel 1 Slave [WDC WD5000AAKS-00V1A]

The hard drive is a 500GB Western Digital Caviar Blue and the motherboard is a Gigabyte MA785GT-UD3H.

It's a SATA drive. Is it in SATA0 on the motherboard connection ?

 

[jradicle11]

I had it in SATA0 on the motherboard but it wasn't getting recognized in bios. I then switched the cables with my disc drive and just kept it in the disc drives SATA1 port. It was recognized in my bios and I didn't bother plugging my disc drive back in.

None of those commands worked for me. I had to do A: because thats where my USB drive is, seeing as my disc drive isn't connected. A: was recognized but the other commands were not.

 

[gregrocker]

As for Solved Hard Drive - Unable to Select or Delete during Installation - Vista Forums , I don't know how to enter command prompt from the USB drive.

I will be very interested to hear how this works in Windows 7.

Were you able to access the Command Prompt from the Windows 7 installer Repair console? Click through to Recovery Tools list.

Does anyone else know how/if this works? It appears to format command, but does the debugging make HD appear in drives list, and how?

 

[jradicle11]

I was able to access the command prompt. I had to click repair, then next at the following screen, then cancel. There is a good chance I entered the commands wrong, though.

 

[gregrocker]

You enter the Repair console by booting the installer, clicking thru Language/keyboard screen, then clicking "Repair my Computer" link at the bottom left the next screen. Now ignore the OS found/not found to repair and click through to Recovery Tools list and choose Command Prompt.

Carefully type the exact commands in as they appear on the list.

Never click return on commands until you proofread each.

If this fails, you need to check the HASH on your download, then load ISO into ImgBurn, select Verify Disk, make sure it says Bootable in text at left, then verify both.

 

[jradicle11]

When I typed debug it said "'debug' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file."

 

[gregrocker]

Check the HASH from your download source, verify using Hashtab,

then load checked ISO into ImgBurn, select Verify Disk, make sure it says Bootable in text at left, then verify both.

 

[jradicle11]

I've tried verifying with imgburn and everything came up fine. I've also tried burning to various discs as well as installing x86 and x64 with the same results.

 

[gregrocker]

You'll want 32 bit with 2gb RAM. Have you tested the RAM with Windows Mem Diagnostic test?

Try setting your SATA controller in BIOS to AHCI which is recommended first for Win7. Where is it set now?

 

[jradicle11]

Well, I was going to get another 2GB of ram later on, but I guess that might be a while.

Alright, I plugged my HDD back into the SATA0 port and it doesn't show up but my disc drive showed up in the SATA1 port. I then switched the two and the HDD showed up in the SATA1 port but the disc drive didn't show up in the SATA0 port.

Seems like I may have a faulty motherboard?

But even though the drive doesn't show up in bios, it loads and plays discs.

 

[jradicle11]

Set it to AHCI, still didnt work .

 

[gregrocker]

Alright, I plugged my HDD back into the SATA0 port and it doesn't show up but my disc drive showed up in the SATA1 port. I then switched the two and the HDD showed up in the SATA1 port but the disc drive didn't show up in the SATA0 port.

Seems like I may have a faulty motherboard?

But even though the drive doesn't show up in bios, it loads and plays discs.

So plug HD into SATA1 for detection, then try booting DVD from SATA0 since you say it works undetected.

You have any other drive ports?

 

[jradicle11]

Yea, I just tried that, still no luck.

Do I have any other SATA ports? I have six, 3 are occupied. Disk drive, HDD, and eSATA for the front of my case.

 

[jradicle11]

Going to bed, will work on this more tomorrow.

 

[steve-pressman]

You said in your first post it was recognised as IDE slave, can the drive not be set to be a master ? Not sure if that will help though. It was just the first thing that came to my mind.

Steve

 

[jradicle11]

I too thought that, but I wasn't sure how change it to master. Do I just change the jumper placement? Currently, there wasn't one on.