can UEFI interfere with ssd install?

[kreactor]

i attempted an ssd install (along with win7) as win8 64 seems foreign and clunky to me

I unpluged the sata and power to the win8 hdd and plug in a new 250gb ssd,
check the bios which is set to ahci fine, and attempted to install win7 pro x64

so on bootup i kept getting "Reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media in selected Boot device and press a key" despite changing drive bootup sequence to dvd drive, tinkering with bootup sequence, resetting bios to factory default, user default
then gave up and plug the connectors back to the win8 hdd and it is fubar after its ~15min attempt to repair failed

then it's off to the acer recovery image which re-image (i'm guessing from a hidden partition) to its original shipped state...

check the bios again, the seagate drive is listed as UEFI-ST0001xxxxxxxx (sic)
and it's on sata 1 (sata 0 is empty)

so is this a uefi issue, a bios issue, or a win7 pro issue. thanks!
(can't be a partition issue as the ssd is brand new right out of the package)

 

[Cerb]

Look for legacy BIOS features in your setup, often called CSM (but sometimes BIOS, or Legacy). Make sure they are turned on. Then, try booting from your DVD with the boot menu.

With a small drive, and Windows 7 (no fast boot), there is typically no advantage to EUFI or using GPT, so using the "BIOS" device can be a work-around. Your boot menu should include each device twice, with one as EUFI, and one not.

It should all just work, but big OEMs have a long history of buggy custom firmwares in mobile computers.

 

[kreactor]

yes it shows "for acer only" bios on bootup

further research yield this embarassing question, do i need to initialize the ssd on another pc via disk management before plugging into the new desktop?

 

[Cerb]

If it is brand new, no. That would be something you might want to do, just in case, with XP, but no need with 7. Something else is amiss. The installer should run even if nothing but the DVD drive is hooked up.

However, if you are installing from a plain install disc, rather than a restore disc, you could try installing it on another PC, then after it boots up that first time, shut it down and try booting it in this PC. There's a very good chance it will boot up fine, not having added any 3rd-party drivers, yet. Then, you can get those, your apps, etc. on there, and activate w/ this mobo.

It could also be an incompatibility with the DVD drive itself, too. Some older ones, especially certain series of LGs used in Gateways I've encountered (hmm, who makes Gateways? ), have been incompatible with the Windows 7 installer, and either needed a firmware update themselves, or a mobo firmware update, to work, neither of which were provided by Gateway, and retail model firmwares would not flash.

 

[kreactor]

ok installed, initialize and clone os to ssd on another pc, worked fine

of course didn't recognize on the Acer "Reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media in selected Boot device and press a key" again

the desktop is recently release sticker on box said mfg oct 2013 http://us.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/model-datasheet/DT.SPXAA.010

the dvd drive, a matshita dvdram uj8e1 laptop drive

would installing ssd as a secondary drive to clone win8 on to it help with the booting issue (and then try to install 7 on it)

also tried a knoppix bootable cd on drive + a usb flash drive copy of win7 pro...
same message....hmmn

thus i am puzzled by the UEFI-ST0001xxxxxxxx (sic) designation in the bios drive listing

recalled seeing some gray out option for csm, have to take a look

 

[Cerb]

thus i am puzzled by the UEFI-ST0001xxxxxxxx (sic) designation in the bios drive listing

I don't know what the Samsungs show up as (I'm assuming this is an 840 Evo), but that would be typical of a Seagate.

 

[kreactor]

UEFI-ST0001xxxxxxxx (sic) is the listing shown for the seagate 1tb hdd

i'm trying to add an intel ssd and install win 7 pro

still reading about all sorta depressing craziness about secure boot and uefi
(no wonder even the knoppix bootdisc didn't recognize)
http://superuser.com/questions/5258...-and-secure-boot-will-i-still-be-able-to-inst

guess it refer to this 'authentication' tab in the bios

-secure boot mode state
-secure boot enabled/disabled
- secure boot mode standard/ (custom--> manage all factory keys (pk,kek,db,dbx)
---> install default secure boot keys)

-default key provisioning enabled/ (disable ==> clear secure boot keys ====>
"deleting all variables will reset platform to setup mode.do you wish to proceed?")

 

[Cerb]

There's no practical need to have secure boot enabled, and secure boot only adds as much security as its black-box implementation from MS allows. An example of things to come. Disabling it will do no practical harm, basically, but it being enabled could get in the way (shouldn't, but could). I'm not sure deleting the keys is a good idea, though--I wouldn't touch that setting, if possible. Windows 8 PCs come with Secure Boot enabled, as part of getting the logo.

Intel's consumer SSD should be 240GB, not 250GB. Either way, it should show up, with an Intelish model number, somehow, some way.

If you are using the SSD as a boot drive, however, remove the HDD until after the install, to keep the bootloader and such from even trying to get on the HDD.

See if there is a section in the setup for drive detection. It may not detect new devices each boot-up, but require you to change the drive config, somewhere.

 

[jolancer]

I did not read much about it. not sure how crazy it can be

but from the random stuff listed thoughout the net, i thought that the definition of UEFI secure boot was to prevent you from installing any other OS or tampering with the win8 boot loader.

so simply disabling secure boot would be the answer i assume... sorry if im wrong like i said i didn't read into detail about any of it

 

[kreactor]

okay resolved - in bios, disabled secure boot and enable csm, changed boot priority to ssd

thanks all

 

[Mark R]

Yup. UEFI boot is a massive PITA.

The OS installer has to load the details of the drive into the BIOS memory, before a drive can be booted.

As you found out, just imaging an OS onto a new hard drive doesn't work. The BIOS must be configured to boot that particular OS, which can only be done by a UEFI aware OS installer.

Much easier to just disable UEFI boot and select BIOS/CSM boot only - unless you have a UEFI only OS.

 

[bgt]

No problems at all with UEFI. Installed 50+ laptop/pc's with it. Making an image(backup) and cloning or reinstalling it to another drive is no prob at all. Just use Macrium Reflect. Works like a charm. Secure boot is no problem at all. Just enable it and use the secure table.

 

[Mark R]

Guess it must depend on motherboard/BIOS.

I built a farm of 6 servers with gigabyte motherboards. On the original motherboard, a clone of the drive would boot fine. On a fresh "out-of-the-box" motherboard, no matter how the motherboard BIOS was configured, there was no boot with either the original drive or a clone.

However, once a "repair" install had been run on a new motherboard, that motherboard would boot any original or clone drive (not just the drive that was connected during the "repair", as long as the image was the same, or was based on the same original install).