windows 7 can't create/locate a system partition

[Kehool]

i know this topic has been brought up a few times already but none of the solutions worked for me:
whenever i try to install win 7 rc1 64bit on a freshly "formatted" partition (as windows doesn't seem to fully format them prior to selecting them) i get the above error message

i am running on a GA-M55plus-S3G
2 samsung spinpoint sata hardrives and an athlon x2 64 4200+

edit: okay so what i did now was to install an older IDE hard drive and create a new partition on there
it created 2 partitions in total
one was 100MB in size and labelled as system partition the other was the rest of the disk size (it's a 200GB WD caviar) i could start installing win 7 on the larger partition without problems
it's not the best solution as i wanted to run win7 with a raid0 sata array with a new drive i am about to buy but i guess i'll have to bear for now
if anyone can find a solution to this sata problem which a lot of people seem to have i'd be very grateful

 

[zigzag3143]

could you give us a pic of your hd setup? If you go start>type disk>click create and format hd...... Give us that and we can be more helpful

Ken

 

[Kehool]

If you go start>type disk>click create and format hd

sorry i don't know what you're talking about
also i currently have no other OS installed on the PC (the windows 7 installation on my older hard drive failed i should mention)

however one disk is the HD642JJ
the other one is the HD502IJ if that's of any help

 

[zigzag3143]

cant create

Im sorry
Im having trouble visualizing your set up. I was asking for a picture of your setup. this is what mine looks like. the way you can take a snapshot of you hd setup is to go to the start menu and type hard disk into search and click on the control panel " create and format hard disk partitions. that will start the HD cpl. then you can take a snapshot of it by going to start type snipping and click on the snippingt tool. when you have highlited the area you want click save as and save it.

If you need help posting it ill be happy to.

Ken

 

[Kehool]

oh i see what you mean now
however i'd need a working OS on the machine for that to work

the disk i am trying to install on is disk 1 the smaller of the two
disk 1 has 2 partitions both formatted as ntfs
do you think swapping the sata connectors could help?

for some reason windows 7 setup doesn't show any system partitions and doesn't let me create them but keeps asking for one
on the other hand it now tells me that partition one on disk 0 (the larger disk which isn't supposed to have win7 on it) is a system partition however i'm sure it wasn't displayed as one before

 

[OEM]

Hi Kehool,
First, the disk that you want to install windows 7 on, is it empty?

 

[Kehool]

yeppers

well as empty as can be with a quickformat

 

[OEM]

Ok, so you wiped it out with a quick format over the whole disk with the disk set up as one partition?

 

[OEM]

What size partition do you want the Windows 7 OS to be or do you want to use the whole disk?

Second, do you want to set up a dual boot with XP?

 

[Kehool]

well no not technically

all i did was start the win7 setup with the (nearly) empty HD
all it had left on was the complete windows xp install and associated programs
i then used win7 setup to delete the partions and reformat them.. but frankly the timespan it took to "format them" didn't nearly seem long enough even for a quick format (only about 3-4 seconds) so i assumed it would format the discs after a reboot

edit: woah easy there you're too fast for me^^

well my initial intention was a maximumg 20GB partition which is to only contain the win 7 install
and no there's no need for a parallel xp install i already deleted my win xp install (it was going down the drain anyway and needed a reinstall so i thought i might aswell try win7)

 

[OEM]

20 gigs is a little small, what size is the hard disk? Would recommend at least 40 gig.

 

[Kehool]

oh the hard disk has plenty room
the size of the boot partition doesn't really matter as long as i have it separated from the rest

the setup doesn't work any better with a 40GB partition tho

 

[OEM]

Well, if you can make a 40gig partition for 7, then thats what we'll do.

1. with the hard drive that you want to install 7 on connected to the PC while running XP, go to disk management (right click Computer, and choose manage, from the left plane choose disk management).

2. Right click on the hard drive partitions and choose delete.
Delete all partitions on the disk that your installing 7 on.
Added: Make sure its the right disk, it should Not Be disk 0.

3. Then Right click on the empty space and choose make partition.

4. the partiton wizard will open, for partition type, choose "primary" then click next.

5. the next page should be were you dedicate the space, in your case to make a 40 gig partition you want to enter "40960". By entering 40960 you will make an exact 40gig partition when it gets formated later on. Click next when done.

6. The next page should be drive letter, choose do not assign drive letter, then next.

7. this step should be format, choose not to format. then click ok.

Let me know how you make out when done.

 

[Kehool]

i'm sorry but there's no XP install left on my system
it is currently completely OS free
if the only solution is to install XP first reformat the drive properly and then reinstall win 7 then i will try that tomorrow
unfortunately i don't have a working floppy drive so a dos format doesn't work for me either
i was experimenting with this hp tool HP Drive Key Boot Utility - HP Business Support Center
to reformat the drives from a usb stick without an OS with no success so far

i'm beginning to suspect it is an issue with my sata drives as the setup would initially start from an old IDE drive
a bit into the installation i got a BSOD tho so it may be this HD is damaged

unfortunately i don't have any working IDE drives left to verify this :/

 

[OEM]

You said you have xp on it, that its the os your typing on right now???

 

[OEM]

Is there any way you can connect the hard drive to the system your using to type here?

 

[Kehool]

no this OS is on another machine
and it happens to be a notebook so swapping drives won't work either :/

 

[OEM]

Well, that kinda makes it a little harder and I'm not sure how to set up the disk from a windows 7 DVD yet. I've not yet had to set up a disk from the windows 7 dvd.

When your running the install where does it stop?
Have you disconnected every thing, but the power, keyboard, mouse and monitor?

Sorry, thought you had XP running on it. Not sure if this will help, but take a look in the tutorial section here and maybe you'll see something that will help.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html

 

[Kehool]

yes i tried unplugging everything save for the screen and keyboard

even the mouse as it's a usb one and i heard some people had issues with usb deviced being connected during installation

on an sata drive the setup doesn't even start
i'm stuck at the screen that lists my drives in order to choose one for win7 and when i try to i get the error message in the topic title
the (apparently damaged)IDE drive got to a point where the win7 setup was about to copy files to it then it crashed
it's getting late here so i'll try to format the hard drive properly at a friends tomorrow (and even try to install it.. i know the install won't work here due to driver incompatibility but it's worth a try) and then i'll check back here

thank you for all the help so far!
it's really appreciated

good night

 

[OEM]

Looking at the tutorial, step 7 click on advanced, then I would highlight all the partitions on your disk and click delete. Then click new, and set up the 40gig primary partition. After you see the partition highlight it and click format, then continue with the install.