Problems Installing Vista with a SATA DVD Drive

[surfsatwerk]

I know this is a common problem but has anyone discovered a workaround other than using a IDE DVD Drive to install vista?

1st time I installed Vista on my new setup it ran flawlessly the first try. I scrapped that install due to some buggy drivers, and being the calm sensible person that I am, I choose the "nuclear" option to resolve the situation. Vista reformatted my disk with no problems but now it keeps getting stuck on "Expanding Installation Files 0%" and then gives me an error code after a half hour and reboots.

I'm going through various scenarios trying to recreate the same conditions which allowed me to install Vista correctly with my sata DVD drive but I'm just curious if anyone has had a similar problem and found a resolution?

 

[badnewcastle]

I just did an install of Vista 64 last night using a SATA DVD drive with no problems however I had a similar problem on another system but it had more to do with memory and/or SATA hdd. Did you install the sata drivers before starting the install (drivers for both your hdd and dvd)?

 

[surfsatwerk]

On one attempt I had vista get the sata drivers off my installation CD before it began the install, but it made no difference. I'm reading in various places that I may need to set the SATA Controller Mode in the bios to "IDE Mode". I'm going to play around with that when I get home from work.

 

[badnewcastle]

I see the nVidia chipset in your sig, I know when I had the problem with my install on my 680i, the problem was identical to what you described above... I don't know if it was because of the memory settings or because of the sata drivers... I'm guessing since you already tried the SATA drivers it's likely to be the memory. I know my memory was being undervolted and the timings were off.

My fix: I used only 2GB of memory until Vista was installed and I installed the 4GB hotfix. After that I manually set the timings and voltage for the memory I set them to what the ram was advertised at on Newegg... or on the the manfacturer's website. Then I installed the SATA drivers...

I don't know which part of that fixed it but combined it worked good. Again the problem you described was identical.

 

[surfsatwerk]

hmmm... I'm only using one 2gb stick to do the install and it's set at the recommended timings and voltage.

I've had successful installs using this same setup before. The only thing different is that I removed an old IDE HDD so now there's only SATA devices in my computer. Maybe the lack of that drive caused the bios to alter the default settings for my drive. I cleared my cmos just in case and I still had the same problem before I left for work this morning. I dunno I'll tinker with the settings in bios for my sata controllers when I get home.

I enjoy Nvidia motherboards but there's always that one bug that creates hours of problems until you figure out a work around.

 

[C1]

Betcha that if ya "WIPE" the HDD then VISTA will install fine.

 

[surfsatwerk]

Originally posted by: C1
Betcha that if ya "WIPE" the HDD then VISTA will install fine.

I used Vista's format tool before each attempt. I have Wipe Drive on a disk somewhere, maybe I need to do a more thorough format of the drive? Anyhoo can't hurt to try thanks for the tip.

 

[C1]

Format does not necessarily clear a problematic HDD (especially a quick format). FDISK to delete the partition is better, but WIPE is best.
VISTA installed good the 1st time is the tip off. Best bet is that you now have something written to the HDD that the installation is running into that it doesnt like.
You would be amazed at how often this problem comes up & Ive encountered whole computer repair shops failing to diagnose a "trash written to the HDD" problem & telling the client that the MB needs to be replaced.

 

[Peter]

I have installed Vista many times from DVD drives on SATA, IDE and USB. No inherent problem in doing that.

 

[surfsatwerk]

Originally posted by: C1
Format does not necessarily clear a problematic HDD (especially a quick format). FDISK to delete the partition is better, but WIPE is best.
VISTA installed good the 1st time is the tip off. Best bet is that you now have something written to the HDD that the installation is running into that it doesnt like.
You would be amazed at how often this problem comes up & Ive encountered whole computer repair shops failing to diagnose a "trash written to the HDD" problem & telling the client that the MB needs to be replaced.

http://wipe.sourceforge.net/

I'll give this a go 1st thing. Thanks again.

 

[Tweakin]

Make sure you wipe out the MBR...

 

[surfsatwerk]

Originally posted by: Tweakin
Make sure you wipe out the MBR...

I'm sure I know what you're talking about but the abbreviation is lost on me at the moment.

I'm running Wipedrive on my HDD now and I'll see how Vista likes the drive when it's done.

 

[surfsatwerk]

It appears that I'm a newb. The instalation DVD was corrupted, how? I have no clue it worked fine last week, regardless I'm burning another copy of Vista64 with my backup Vista32 bit copy installed.

Thank you for your help and patience with my problem.

FYI my error code was 0x8007045D which comes up from all kinds of data corruption when writing to a drive.

 

[raddreamer3kx]

go into the bios and set your drive from SATA to IDE, I had this problem with Windows XP and my SATA drie,this fixed it.

(ignore if you solved your problem)

 

[surfsatwerk]

Originally posted by: raddreamer3kx
go into the bios and set your drive from SATA to IDE, I had this problem with Windows XP and my SATA drie,this fixed it.

(ignore if you solved your problem)

While it reassures me to find out that there was a simple solution to my problem... I am ashamed to admit I was stymied by a bad installation disk. I just copied a new one from my back up iso of Vista64 and I'm up and running.