OMG, I CAN'T INSTALL WINDOWS. Seriously.

SodaSoda Ann Arbor, MI Icrontian
edited July 2012 in Hardware
I am booting from a USB image of Windows 7 x64 pro made using the official Windows 7 USB DVD Download Tool. The image is verified to be working because I can launch it from the USB drive from windows, and I get no errors. I boot from the USB drive, it loads setup files, and then presents the screen for selecting language/keyboard layout. I click next or ok, I forget what the button is named, but it takes me to the next screen. I am then presented with the "Install Now" option, or help/repair underneath it to the left. I click "Install now", and after a few seconds where it is attempting to load my hard drive information, I get the error message "Windows could not retrieve information about the disks on this computer", and it takes me back to the "Install now" screen.

I recently purchased a P8Z77-V LK motherboard and 256GB Samsung 830, which is the reason for a fresh install. I even booted my old windows and initialized the Samsung 830 (as MBR) and formatted it, and could copy files to/from it to verify it was fine. I have tried every combination of drives to the point where only my assuredly working previous hard drive was hooked up, and can even be booted to, and the same error message occurs when attempting to install. So it's not a bad drive, whether my new or old one. I have fiddled with the SATA settings on my new motherboard to run as IDE and AHCI, but no change. Updated my motherboard's BIOS to the newest revision, and attempted all of this over again, and still no change. Even though I verified the image to be working, I downloaded a new one, and tried it again, and still no change. I suppose the only thing I have left to try is to install my old DVD burner and burn a DVD image to try it again, but that seems like it has pretty close to 0 chance for a different result.

I have spent a significant amount of time researching this problem, and tried everything I could think of. Every post about this problem is always during an attempting upgrade from windows, and it's always the virtual disk service (the only one that was the same case as mine was on some other site's forums, and it remained unsolved). It's possible it's a hardware problem I suppose, but considering I can still boot into my old installation of windows on my old drive, and it works fine, that seemed almost impossible?

If this proves unsolvable for some reason, I CAN install it by loading it off the USB drive from my old install of windows, but I'm not sure what it does with the bootloader, and the idea is to put everything on the new SSD from scratch, thus I'm hesitant to not do a clean boot/install. It would be very unfortunate if it had to initialize my hard drive to point to the SSD as my windows installation location, where as if I boot from the drive and do it from scratch, I know it's all on the new SSD.

I am pretty much out of ideas, and totally clueless. I might try poking around the BIOS more at random, but I really looked around already, and saw nothing that seemed even remotely relevant. Anybody have any ideas?

Comments

  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    edited July 2012
    There have, in the past, been various SSDs that need a firmware upgrade to read right-- also, is the SSD in boot menu in PC BIOS. There have also been a few that need special drivers for Windows to work right. Can you research these POSSIBLE issues on Samsung's site?
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    Throw it in another system and fast format it NTFS. Try again.
  • TushonTushon I'm scared, Coach Alexandria, VA Icrontian
    edited July 2012
    As stated, check firmware updates (which you should anyways), format in another system, install. What, you don't have another system handy? Gparted (among 1000 other ways) to the rescue. Your board should absolutely be set to AHCI and the SSD plugged into a SATA III port.
  • SodaSoda Ann Arbor, MI Icrontian
    I had already tried all the things mentioned here unfortunately, to no avail.

    @Straight: I actually UNPLUGGED the new SSD so ONLY my old hard drive was plugged in, which is bootable, and it STILL threw that error when attempting to install windows, so the SSD is not the culprit. But yes, all drives show up in the bios perfectly.

    @Thrax: I actually booted my old install of windows and initialized it as MBR and did a fast NTFS format. I even copied files to/from it, so I'm damn sure it's working.

    @Tushon: I already upgraded firmware on my motherboard to the latest. No sense it doing it to the SSD, as that is disproven as the culprit. It was plugged in to the SATA III port.

    I put in a help request on Microsoft's site, as it seems possible at this point I've encountered some kind of bug in their installer.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    The SSD has its own controller, that will not be identically compatible with every mobo you plug it into. It has not been ruled out as the culprit.
  • TushonTushon I'm scared, Coach Alexandria, VA Icrontian
    edited July 2012
    I was specifically requesting that you check SSD firmware, since you mentioned having updated BIOS on the motherboard already. There could be lots of sense to do it to the SSD, for performance gains, space gains, etc.

    And to confirm, load BIOS, set optimized defaults, note any other changes, and confirm that AHCI is on (not IDE-mode) for SATA ports.
  • SodaSoda Ann Arbor, MI Icrontian
    @Thrax: I unplugged the SSD man, I booted with just my old western digital hard drive connected to my motherboard, and nothing else. Booted into the windows installation and I get the same error, that's why I ruled out the SSD =(. Unless there's some kind of long lasting effect.

    @Tushon: yeah, that's a good point =P. Done.
  • SonorousSonorous F@H Fanatic US Icrontian
    edited July 2012
    Seems to me like it is a bad source image. Have you tried installing from that disk on another pc?
  • SodaSoda Ann Arbor, MI Icrontian
    edited July 2012
    Yeah, I'm not sure, as I tried 2 separate images. I eventually got it to work by borrowing a Dell image from the admin at my company =P. It was a clean image, and they happen to use the same exact OS version, so it worked, and now everything is great. REALLY annoyed at the amount of hours I drained into it.
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