Yesterday, I began assisting a family member in building a new computer, as his old computer is around seven years old. Long story made slightly shorter, the actual build went fine. It powers on, I get one POST beep, the MOBO splash screen*, and then it asks for media to boot from. I popped in an XP disk, with the intent to use a Windows 7 upgrade disk immediately. Windows loads stuff, then BSODs with STOP: 0x0000007B.
I grab an Ubuntu CD and do a live boot. That works out, so it seems clear that there aren't any obvious issues with the actual physical assembly and no integral parts are failing. I use the live boot to check the hard drive out with the SMART feature in disk utility, and am informed that the drive is "healthy." A lengthy scan returns a similar result. I try to install Ubuntu to a small, freshly-created partition. Upon restart, it is as though the installation never occurred and the computer requests boot media again.
Puzzled, I decide to try the Windows 7 disk. I choose the "Custom" route, at which point I am informed that "Windows cannot install to disk 0 partition 1." No amount of partitioning and reformatting can make this issue go away, so I boot back into Ubuntu live. Using disk utility, I check the file system, and am informed that the "file system is not clean." I use GParted to try to fix it. The fix is completed in 0 seconds, which suggests to me that nothing actually occurred. Naturally, the file system is still "not clean."
At this point, my only conclusion is that the hard drive is somehow screwed up. Alternatively, I am missing an obvious solution. Either way, I need help from people who know more than I do.
If it is the case that the hard drive is the issue, can I take an old hard drive that has 32-bit Windows 7 on it, put it in the build, boot up, then upgrade with the 64-bit disk? I don't want to screw up said hard drive by experimenting, but my intuition is that doing so might be a plausible fix.
SPECS:
CPU: Intel Core i5-4570 (purchased 12/28/13)
MOBO: ASRock Z87 Extreme3 (purchased 12/28/13)
GPU: ASUS Geforce GTX 650Ti OC Edition (purchased 12/28/13)
RAM: 2x4 GB Crucial Ballistix (purchased 12/28/13)
HDD: Western Digital Black 1TB (a few months old, previously unused)
PSU: CoolerMaster 500W (from family member's old computer, known to be working properly as of 12/28/13)
Case: Corsair 300R (purchased 12/28/13)
*The MOBO splash screen only comes up after a fresh start. Restarting the computer makes the BIOS inaccessible and there is no POST beep. I was told by a few individuals that this is a "feature" that makes for faster restarts. Is this true, or is this indicative of an issue?
Memtest also returns no issues.
I grab an Ubuntu CD and do a live boot. That works out, so it seems clear that there aren't any obvious issues with the actual physical assembly and no integral parts are failing. I use the live boot to check the hard drive out with the SMART feature in disk utility, and am informed that the drive is "healthy." A lengthy scan returns a similar result. I try to install Ubuntu to a small, freshly-created partition. Upon restart, it is as though the installation never occurred and the computer requests boot media again.
Puzzled, I decide to try the Windows 7 disk. I choose the "Custom" route, at which point I am informed that "Windows cannot install to disk 0 partition 1." No amount of partitioning and reformatting can make this issue go away, so I boot back into Ubuntu live. Using disk utility, I check the file system, and am informed that the "file system is not clean." I use GParted to try to fix it. The fix is completed in 0 seconds, which suggests to me that nothing actually occurred. Naturally, the file system is still "not clean."
At this point, my only conclusion is that the hard drive is somehow screwed up. Alternatively, I am missing an obvious solution. Either way, I need help from people who know more than I do.
If it is the case that the hard drive is the issue, can I take an old hard drive that has 32-bit Windows 7 on it, put it in the build, boot up, then upgrade with the 64-bit disk? I don't want to screw up said hard drive by experimenting, but my intuition is that doing so might be a plausible fix.
SPECS:
CPU: Intel Core i5-4570 (purchased 12/28/13)
MOBO: ASRock Z87 Extreme3 (purchased 12/28/13)
GPU: ASUS Geforce GTX 650Ti OC Edition (purchased 12/28/13)
RAM: 2x4 GB Crucial Ballistix (purchased 12/28/13)
HDD: Western Digital Black 1TB (a few months old, previously unused)
PSU: CoolerMaster 500W (from family member's old computer, known to be working properly as of 12/28/13)
Case: Corsair 300R (purchased 12/28/13)
*The MOBO splash screen only comes up after a fresh start. Restarting the computer makes the BIOS inaccessible and there is no POST beep. I was told by a few individuals that this is a "feature" that makes for faster restarts. Is this true, or is this indicative of an issue?
Memtest also returns no issues.
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