BleepingComputer.com: Windows 7 Install won't recognize my hard drive.

I just completed building my own PC from scratch. I am trying to install Windows 7 Ultimate OS 64 bit. The Bios is recognizing my western digital Hard drive, but once Windows 7 tries to install it is not recognizing my Hard drive. It is asking me to install the driver for the hard drive. Is there some other setting I should be changing in the Bios to have the OS recognize my hard drive. What exactly is Raid and AHCI Sata Mode and should this be set to default. The Motherboard comes with a driver CD, but it says to install and OS 1st. Help ASAP would be much appreciated. Thanks.

One option Im sure some one will frown upon but it worked for me on my Lenovo T500 was to turn AHCI to Compatibility Mode and then try it. Otherwise you will need the raid/SATA drivers from your computer manufacturer on a flash drive to install Windows 7 (Press F6 during Setup start).

The only options are ACHI, RAID or Disabled, i'm not sure what you mean by compatibility mode. Where would I find compatibility mode? Does it matter where the drive is connected on the motherboard, there are 6 SATA connectors, we have the HD in one and a CDROM in another. It seems like the problem might be how I have the HD hooked up on the motherboard. It's plugged into the GSATA connector on the motherboard and there are two other SATA connectors. If both the CDROM and the HD are coming up as masters is that an issue. Thank you for your fast reply. This is the first computer I have built from scratch, and it seems as though everything else is working.

AHCI is supported by Windows Vista and 7, so choose this mode. Windows XP does not support it so you disable it in that case.

What hard drive is this? Have you tried formatting it before installing Windows?

DJBPace07,

Thanks for the response! I guess reformatting the Hard drive makes sense. I have never tried to install an OS on a brand new Hard drive. How would I do this. It is a Western Digital 1 TB HD. Would I put the Hard drive in another system as the slave drive and go to disk management and format the hard drive. Let me know. Thanks.

ps Would this explain why the OS is not recognizing the Hard drive?

Should have started with this one...what is the media that you are attempting to use for this install?

Neither a recent system nor an install of Win 7...would require installation of SATA drivers. XP would, if the system BIOS did not contain native SATA support which used IDE-emulation/simulation....but I digress .

What does your motherboard manual say about the SATA/AHCI thing?

FWIW: You can connect a SATA drive to any connector and install Windows on it.

Louis

i got a few suggestions. the hard drive is being detected in the BIOS just fine, so I set the option to disabled as I am assuming if it is set to disabled it will automatically determine which configuration is best for the computers setup (rather than specifically RAID or AHCI). I also went to HPET and set the option to 64-bit as that is what we are doing. I am thinking it could be a driver related issue. Based on some of the suggestions I am going to reformat the hard drive, then if that doesn't work I will find the drivers for it and install them via a flash drive. Hopefully one of those two options will resolve the issue. Do you have any other idea's on something that I might try? Also, hamluis what is IDE emulation/simulation? do you think it might be a driver/bios misconfiguration or a mishap in the way the hard drive is set up in the computer?

The Windows 7 install gets far enough to the point where it asks which hard drive i'd like to install Windows on but the actual Hard Drive doesn't show up (and the setup runs exorbitantly slow). Since it doesn't show up, Windows Setup asks to insert the driver disk to help detect the hard drive, i think that's an indication that the hard drives drivers need to be installed before I can put Windows on it, is that safe to assume?

thanks!

<<Also, hamluis what is IDE emulation/simulation?>>

Wihtout going into unnecessary detail...it's simply a process employed by the BIOS for XP installs on SATA hard drives...it eliminate the need to install a SATA driver during the install of XP by "fooling" XP into seeing the SATA drive as an IDE/PATA hard drive.

XP did not have native support for installing on SATA drives and this was developed to overcome that. No application whatever to installing Vista or Win 7.

As Romeo29 suggested, AHCI is the setting that should be employed for Vista, Win 7...because they support AHCI natively and there is no need to introduce SATA drivers during an install of those two operating systems.

Louis

ic ic, i will give it a shot. i will post an update of my trials soon.

DJBPace07 - You were right! I formatted the drive using G Parted Live and then W7 then located the hard drive. Was a little surprised that W7 Index score gave my Hard drive a 5.9. http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx...N82E16822136284

Thanks for all of your help.