Windows 7 system hard drive install/boot issues

[Azeroth101]

So I've been collecting extra parts on the side for a while, and finally got around to throwing them all in a rig yesterday. Here's the system:

AMD Athlon 4000+ (socket 939) 2.4mhz
WinFast NF4K8AC Motherboard
2gb ddr1 Memory
ATI Radeon 4870
Some Thermaltake PSU rated for 420 watts (Double checked in BIOS, the voltages are close enough)
WD 120gb IDE Hard Drive
WD 80gb IDE Hard Drive
Sony CD/DVD drive

Now it boots fine and happy. I went to install windows from a dvd, the installer saw both hard drives but told me that "windows cannot be installed to this disk. this computer's hardware may not support booting to this disk" for both. Something about both of them saying that told me it wasn't something wrong with the hdds, especially because the 120gb one was fresh out of a antistatic bag that was sealed from the factory :\. I went into bios to figure out why, and after looking around I found a utility called "Super Recovery". It basically allows you to manually put in a reserved system partition on the hard drive that windows usually automatically puts on your hard drive of like 100mb. I did that to the 120, and boom, windows allowed me to install onto it. Windows finished installed completely, and went to restart. My boot priority has always been Hard Drive -> then CD-ROM. The system trys to boot from the hard drive, then gets nothing and boots from the cd again. If I take the cd out, it sits there for a bit, then tells you that you need to insert a system disk. The 120gb hdd is pinned to master mode, and the 80gb is pinned for slave. They are plugged into their respective master and slave plugs on the IDE cable. Anyone have any ideas why this thing won't boot? Thanks in advance for anything you can offer!

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Disconnect the 80gb drive to make sure there's no problem with boot priority.
If no joy try fixmbr


This may be of help too.

You can use the Bootrec.exe tool in the Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE) to troubleshoot and repair the following items in Windows Vista or Windows 7:

A master boot record (MBR)
A boot sector
A Boot Configuration Data (BCD) store

Note When you are troubleshooting startup issues by using the Windows RE, you should first try the Startup Repair option in the System Recovery Options dialog box. If the Startup Repair option does not resolve the issue, or if you must troubleshoot more steps manually, use the Bootrec.exe tool.
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MORE INFORMATION
To run the Bootrec.exe tool, you must start Windows RE. To do this, follow these steps:

Put the Windows Vista or Windows 7 installation disc in the disc drive, and then start the computer.
Press a key when you are prompted.
Select a language, a time, a currency, a keyboard or an input method, and then click Next.
Click Repair your computer.
Click the operating system that you want to repair, and then click Next.
In the System Recovery Options dialog box, click Command Prompt.
Type Bootrec.exe, and then press ENTER.

Note To start the computer from the Windows Vista or Windows 7 DVD, the computer must be configured to start from the DVD drive.

 

[Azeroth101]

Tried all of these options, none changed the outcome :\ It still acts like it doesn't see the hard drive. When I tried to manually set the hard drive to the boot sequence with the bootrec.exe /rebuildbcd it saw that hard drive with windows on it, but once selected told me that it didn't exist ...

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Tried all of these options, none changed the outcome :\ It still acts like it doesn't see the hard drive. When I tried to manually set the hard drive to the boot sequence with the bootrec.exe /rebuildbcd it saw that hard drive with windows on it, but once selected told me that it didn't exist ...

And the drive partition was made active...must be since you were able to load windows on it.

Check data cable.
Try different header on MB

 

[sm625]

Install windows with only 1 drive present. It's windows man, c'mon.

 

[Azeroth101]

Install windows with only 1 drive present. It's windows man, c'mon.

Didn't work :\