Windows 7 Install No HDD's

[evocube]

Getting really Frustrated with this. First off I have an Asus CM5570 AP006 with Intel Dual Core 2.3 GHZ 6 Gigs of Ram and Nvidia GT100.

I am trying to install win7 to a new hard drive after a reboot would not see my original hard drive. Figured the drive was toast (no big deal have most of the data readily backed up). So i buy a new WD 320 Gig HD. toss it in go to do a clean install of win 7 cannot find HDD for install.
Steps:
1. Swapped Cable - Didnt work
2. Swapped ports - Tried all 6 didnt work
3. Loaded Manufactured Drivers - Tried all compatiable at win 7 setup
4. Flashed bios - No difference
5. Tried IDE (compatible and Enhanced), AHCI through bios.
6. UBCD Tested all harddrives (including one i htought was toast) All tested good per manufactures tools and SMART.
7.Called ASUS - Great Hardware and Customer service is a joke on the prebuilt computer side.
(Edit) Also parted and formatted and flag for boot the new HD with gparted on UBCD. - Didnt work as well


So here I am now. LOL. I have pretty much over done everything here. But I do not get how I can boot into a LIVE UBCD system and everything works fine and I cannot even install or repair a win 7 install.

Please help. I am not sure what I am missing and I have I guess became to old to work on the new stuff LOL.

Thanks for the help in advance.

 

[mborner]

Windows can't find the HDD because it is trying to boot to a new, non formatted drive. You need to go into your BIOS and change the boot order and make sure that the DVD ROM is the first drive to boot. Then, restart the PC (with the Windows DVD in the drive) When the message "press any key to boot from CD" appears, do just that, and continue with the install.

 

[evocube]

Yeh I can get the DVD's to boot. I actually forgot to say I messed with the boot order as well. I get to the windows 7 install. Pick custom install. Clean install..... Just no HD to install to. I have also tried this with an unformatted unparted drive.

 

[kword88]

i think you need to load the SATA driver during windows installation. it may be available as a standalone driver or as part of the chipset driver package. you should be able to download it from either asus or intel. you will need all the extracted files, not the ".exe" file (although if that is the only one available, there is a utility you can use to extract the files from it). then either burn the files to a disc, or put them on a usb flash drive, so you can load them during installation.

 

[evocube]

Absolutely. That was the first place I went downloaded and extracted the drivers put them on an external USB HD (which yes oddly did work) loaded the drivers during Win7 install. All chipset drivers relating to SATA, AHCI, and IDE that i downloaded from Asus for my computer model and motherboardand operating system. But to No Avail still not seeing hard drives. I am about to go office space on this computer .

I have tried this on both the old and new HDD's in all configurations (AHCI, EIDE, and Comp IDE). With only the HDD and DVD Hooked up (not both HDD's).

 

[kword88]

each time i format and reinstall i have to load the SATA driver first, BUT i have to UN-check the box next to "show only compatible drivers". then, through trial and error, i located a working driver. and on my asus board, i had to disable RAID in the BIOS.

 

[evocube]

OK. I was going to go there but I am just floored that i can load everything on UBCD just fine and see and mount all drives with not issues.
I will try that though there are tons of drivers on this thing. Did you use ASUS drivers or Intel drivers?

not sure but how does this work to find the drive? Solved Hard Drive - Unable to Select or Delete during Installation - Vista Forums

 

[kword88]

i used drivers from intel.

take a look at this tutorial. i'm not sure if it will help, since your hdd is awol: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/91339-ssd-hdd-optimize-windows-reinstallation.html

 

[evocube]

Well I guess I will try some random drivers tonight from intel. Wish i could get to the recovery partition on the original hard drive.

Any ideas on recovering the boot sector on an HDD windows cannot see?

 

[gregrocker]

WIpe the boot sector of all code using Diskpart or free Partition Wizard bootable CD.

It's possible that if the installer can't see your HD then Diskpart might not see it either when booting into DVD Command Line by pressing Shift F10 at first screen: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/52129-disk-clean-clean-all-diskpart-command.html

If not then use PW boot CD which will see the HD if BIOS does: http://www.partitionwizard.com/download.html Choose Wipe Disk on Disk tab.

 

[kword88]

here are a couple of KB articles that may help troubleshoot the problem:

You cannot select or format a hard disk partition when you try to install Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2

Error message when you try to install Windows Vista: "Windows is unable to find a system volume which meets its criteria for installation"

here is a boot cd that might be useful if you can burn it from another computer or load it on a flash drive:

UBCD for Windows

 

[evocube]

Update,
Well got frustrated last night and remembered I had an old SATA drive that had been formatted for XP (wiped of XP system but still had some system files on it) windows 7 install saw it and installed to it perfectly. Not sure why though. Now windows does not see the other hard drive (one I have been trying to install to). I will dig through the forum and see if i can find the solution.

 

[evocube]

Sorry for the late follow up here. Anyone having this same issue. Physically Jumper your drive to a lower SATA speed until you get your drivers installed. Worked like a charm!

 

[andrew10]

Same issue

Hi,
I have also gone through all the same problems and solutions you have spoken about in this thread. Was relieved to see you added jumper to SATA drive to lower speed but, when I did it Windows 7 install still did not recognise the drive. Correct me if I am wrong but, you did see the drive before adding sata drivers or did you add drivers first and also which drivers where they and where do I get them?

Desperately Appreciated

 

[gregrocker]

Win7 should have all SATA drivers in the installer. Where did you get Win7? Is it the latest installer with SP1?

Try wiping the HD with Diskpart Clean Command then creating and marking Active your partition first: SSD - HDD Optimize for Windows Reinstallation

 

[andrew10]

Yes,
OEM WIN7 and it installed once and ran fine for a while.
Thinking of trying an older drive....
Thanks G