Cannot install Win 7 OEM or Ubuntu 10.10

[Klosteral]

Hey guys,

I have a new rig and I cannot install either my OEM copy of Windows 7 Home Premium x64 or Ubuntu 10.10 x64.

When I try and install Windows, the installation goes through and then - just before it says 'Complete' - it says something along the lines of "Failed to make bootable" and then says press any key to restart.

When I try to install Ubuntu, I cannot select my preferred partition. And when I go into [Specify partitions manually] and select one, it says 'No root file system is defined. Please correct this from the partitioning menu.' And nothing I do can change this.

What do I do?
I cannot just have a $1500 gaming computer sitting around without an OS, so any help will be appreciated.
Thanks,
-Klosteral

 

[Ijack]

Do you think that a few details about your system would help people give informed advice?

 

[nocheese]

Both issues (Windows and Linux) point to something amiss with your hard drive. Use a tool form the drive manufacturer (or some 3rd party freeware) to blank the drive and then attempt to perform a default installation of either operating system (just take all defaults and install to entire drive).

See where that gets you and troubleshoot from there.

 

[house70]

Use a different PC and download/burn a bootable copy of Killdisk. The free version allows you to zero the HDD, rendering it in factory clean state. Boot from that CD and perform the erase HDD, then remove Killdisk, install the OS.

 

[aalinuxx]

Did you check the "virus warning" setting in BIOS? It may be set to enabled. Set it to disabled.

http://www.pcguide.com/ref/mbsys/bios/set/advVirus-c.html

From pcguide.com:

Virus Protection / Virus Warning

This setting has one of the most misleading names of all of the parameters in the BIOS. The system BIOS really has no way at all to tell which programs are viruses, and which are "wanted" programs. If enabled, what this setting does is to trap any and all writes to the hard disk's master boot record, and display a message to the screen each time asking if you are willing to allow the write. Since one common type of virus is the boot sector infector, this can indeed prevent the spread of these viruses.

However, this setting will also cause the BIOS to display its warning message for any legitimate access to the boot sector. So if you use any utilities that modify partitions, or even if you reformat your hard disk, this message will pop up rather unexpectedly. You can of course just "authorize" the BIOS, telling it to proceed with the write, but this can grow rather annoying if it happens often. It can also be quite confusing to someone who doesn't understand what this strange BIOS message means.

Some people prefer the safety of having this enabled, others find it annoying and turn it off. In fact, most people don't regularly run utilities that modify the boot sector. If you turn this setting off, you can probably find a similar feature, more elegantly implemented, in a memory-resident anti-virus program.

 

[Klosteral]

Ok I have fixed that problem - well I worked around it - and after a couple days of working, I have hit this problem:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/307258-13-boots-seconds-restarts-infinitely#t2283783
And I am as annoyed as ever...

Thanks,
-Klosteral

 

[nocheese]

Ok I have fixed that problem - well I worked around it - and after a couple days of working, I have hit this problem:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/307258-13-boots-seconds-restarts-infinitely#t2283783
And I am as annoyed as ever...

Thanks,
-Klosteral

And what was the fix or workaround?