Will Windows 7 Install on Drive?

[trainspotting]

I have an old mobo (ASUS A7N8X) that I'm trying to install 7 on. I have a WD SATA 1TB drive connected to the PC through an add-in SATA card. The install software "sees" the drive, but also messages "partition table does not have a valid system partition" and "cannot be installed to this disk". I cannot find the drive in the BIOS. My guess is that the install software doesnt see the drive at all. Any ideas?

 

[Davidh373]

Have you tried clicking "format"? You would need to format the drive if it is not already in NTFS.

 

[trainspotting]

Yep, I tried format. Received the following message:

"windows cannot be installed to disk 0 partition 1(show details)."

I clicked on "show details" and got this message":

"Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The computers hardware may not support booting to this disk. Ensure that the disks controller is enabled in the computers BIOS menu."

I can't find anything in the BIOS that shows this.

 

[mfenn]

The reason that you can't find the HDD in the motherboard's BIOS is that it shouldn't appear there. The add-in controller should have its own BIOS that pops up after the mobo's. If it doesn't, you are SOL since that controller card isn't bootable.

 

[trainspotting]

There is nothing after the Mobo splash screen....it goes right into the windows setup screen....:'(

So what do I look for in terms of an SATA card being bootable? Anybody have a suggested part in mind?

 

[mfenn]

Basically you need to look for something that has a "boot ROM" which is the BIOS bit. Also, it may be worth looking around your mobo's BIOS for a "boot other device" option. It could be that your BIOS doesn't support allowing other device's BIOSes to hook into the end of the boot process (though that would be an uncommon restriction).

 

[corkyg]

What you need is a SATA card that has its own BIOS, and it becomes part of the boot/load cycle.

 

[trainspotting]

OK. under boot parameters it lists first device - DVD, second device - Disabled. Nothing else under options except 1st floppy...Pioneer DVD...

Did a bit of poking around (actually looked at every BIOS entry) and only found something close to what you said, specifically: AddOn ROM display mode choices: Force BIOS and Keep Current

Another setting for Legacy USB Support-Auto.

That's about all there is. If this controller is not bootable, any suggestions on what to buy?

Thanks Much. I appreciate the help.

 

[trainspotting]

So I looked in my other PC (just as old) and found another SATA card. I restarted the PC and saw that a BIOS ran for the card! So I pulled the card and swapped it into the machine I'm trying to install W7 in. In the system BIOS now I see an option for "01:40.1 WDC WD1001 FALS-oo8EB 931 GB" which of course the hard drive I want to install on.

So I booted off of the sytem disk and when I got to the screen where it says "where do you want to install windows?" there was NOTHING LISTED! Mssg "no drives were found". At least before the drive would show in the window. Now all choices are greyed out.

Seems like I've made progress on recognizing the drive, at least on the hardware side. Now I have to get W7 to see it!:\

 

[Davidh373]

no formatting option there either? gah...

 

[trainspotting]

No. The format button is greyed out. The only option is to add driver. Is this where the driver files need to be loaded? What files? Where do I get them? I seem to remember waaay back with Windows 2000 that you needed to F6, then add drivers...Is this the same idea???

Another thought....should I format the new drive on my other machine then try to install ?

 

[Davidh373]

No. The format button is greyed out. The only option is to add driver. Is this where the driver files need to be loaded? What files? Where do I get them? I seem to remember waaay back with Windows 2000 that you needed to F6, then add drivers...Is this the same idea???

Windows should have a driver I would think... I don't really know what to tell you man... :/

 

[mfenn]

No. The format button is greyed out. The only option is to add driver. Is this where the driver files need to be loaded? What files? Where do I get them? I seem to remember waaay back with Windows 2000 that you needed to F6, then add drivers...Is this the same idea???

Another thought....should I format the new drive on my other machine then try to install ?

It won't matter where you format the drive, you'll still need the Windows 7 driver. Luckily nowadays you can put the driver on a USB stick instead of a floppy. Hopefully that SATA card has Windows 7 drivers!

More background: The system drive in Windows 7 needs to (a) be bootable and (b) have a driver. Your first card had a driver built-in to Windows, but the card maker decided not to make it bootable (the boot ROM adds to the cost of the card). This other card is bootable, but doesn't have a Windows 7 driver built-in.

 

[trainspotting]

Where in the world do I get a driver for this card? How do I tell what driver it needs? Can I install it back in the other PC and look at in Device Manager to see what driver it has in XP or at least get me on the right track to find a driver to put on a flash drive? I feel like I'm THIS CLOSE but still can't get that last little bit of info needed.....

 

[betasub]

Yes, looking at how XP handles the card, and what driver it installs, might give you some clues to finding the comparable Windows 7 (or Vista) driver. Also check the bootable card physically for any ID (manufacturer, part code, etc).

 

[trainspotting]

I give up....looks like I will have to make due with XP for a while on this machine..

 

[Loop2kil]

The add-on card might not be recognized by win7.

 

[mfenn]

I give up....looks like I will have to make due with XP for a while on this machine..

You could try booting an Ubuntu LiveCD and running lspci. That would give you the model number of the controller. You might be able to use drivers from a similar card that uses the same controller.