Maddening issue installing Windows 7

[Fatal_Wound]

Alright, so I just built a new PC from scratch, and it went quite swimmingly. I installed Windows 7 using a disk from my father and buying a CD Key online. Everything was fine last night, yet today any time it booted it gave an immediate error: "The boot selection failed because a required piece of hardware/software is missing." Okay, so at this point, I was sometimes able to return to the menu that offered to start windows normally. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. When it did work, everything went fine and Windows booted normally. When it didn't however, it simply gave a "No Operating System" type error. I tried multiple times to repair the startup sequence via Windows 7 disk. It said it found 1 error, yet when i had it fix that error, it simply just rebooted into the same behavior. I wanted to try doing a clean install, yet it said that the partitions were the wrong formatt (odd to me since it was already installed and proved to be working. At this point, I tried formatting the hard drive (it was split into 3 partitions, with one main one and two smaller ones), so i formatted every partition. It still refuses to let me install windows again, saying that the drive is a gpt partition. This has been mind numbingly annoying trying to rectify this. Any help getting my system running for real would be greately appreciated.

 

[mcnumpty23]

how big is the hard drive?

dont think gpt is needed unless its over 2tb

use the windows 7 disc to go to repair option

then to command prompt and use diskpart to convert it to mbr from gpt

instructions for diskpart here

http://www.partition-tool.com/resource/GPT-disk-partition-manager/convert-mbr-disk-to-gpt-disk.htm

 

[alexinnes]

I am agree with @mcnumpty23 but failing that it might be a faulty hard drive. How old is the drive or is it brand new?

 

[Fatal_Wound]

how big is the hard drive?

dont think gpt is needed unless its over 2tb

use the windows 7 disc to go to repair option

then to command prompt and use diskpart to convert it to mbr from gpt

instructions for diskpart here

http://www.partition-tool.com/resource/GPT-disk-partition-manager/convert-mbr-disk-to-gpt-disk.htm

It is in fact 2 terabytes. How do you go about accessing command prompt in the windows install disk?

 

[Fatal_Wound]

Also, the drive was only purchased a day ago. I installed Windows 7 last night, started installing programs, and noticed this problem every time I booted. At first, I was able to just tell it to startup Windows normally and it would sometimes (the other time it would say no operating system), but then it completely stopped.

 

[Fatal_Wound]

A quick update on what has occured - I followed the link that the first responder sent, but i did the instructions to convert to an MBR drive, rather and a GPT. Windows is currently installing on it now. There was a volume (224 mb) that was deleted and the memory seemed to disappear. It's a rather small chunk out of 2 terabytes, but I'm just checking to make sure that that is in fact supposed to happen. Windows is currently installing, so hopefully this will lead to more progress.

 

[smorizio]

fatal...before you installed windows...did you update your mb bios?? with new ib and the new ram and a lot of the new hard drive that are out there there are a few bug fixes for bios to see those larger drives and new cpu code. with more then one hard drive or ssd when you do an install (new or clean) you have to remove the vendor partion if there is one on the hard drive or ssd. (windows wants to make two partions) the system restore (small) and a larger data partion. if there is a partion on the drive already it can screw up the windows install. I would use a bood cd like http://www.hirensbootcd.org/download/
do and fdisk /mbr and then a fdisk and remove all of the partions. (also on your dad windows cd is it a copy or hacked windows cd or is it microsoft cd with the hologram. it it a hacked copy you dont know if it a good copy or if there a virus on that cd.
if your having issue and you think it dad cd...download the free microsoft windows 8 cs put the iso on a usb stick and see if the new system run fine. in the bios you want to put the dram profile to xmp to get the ram to run at it rated max speed and set the sata ports to achi not raid or ide. also check that you have your ssd/hd on the intel 6g sata port for the main drive. any other data drives should be on the sata 3g ports. one thing too check that your ram in the right two main slots if you have one or two dimms.

 

[Fatal_Wound]

fatal...before you installed windows...did you update your mb bios?? with new ib and the new ram and a lot of the new hard drive that are out there there are a few bug fixes for bios to see those larger drives and new cpu code. with more then one hard drive or ssd when you do an install (new or clean) you have to remove the vendor partion if there is one on the hard drive or ssd. (windows wants to make two partions) the system restore (small) and a larger data partion. if there is a partion on the drive already it can screw up the windows install. I would use a bood cd like http://www.hirensbootcd.org/download/
do and fdisk /mbr and then a fdisk and remove all of the partions. (also on your dad windows cd is it a copy or hacked windows cd or is it microsoft cd with the hologram. it it a hacked copy you dont know if it a good copy or if there a virus on that cd.
if your having issue and you think it dad cd...download the free microsoft windows 8 cs put the iso on a usb stick and see if the new system run fine. in the bios you want to put the dram profile to xmp to get the ram to run at it rated max speed and set the sata ports to achi not raid or ide. also check that you have your ssd/hd on the intel 6g sata port for the main drive. any other data drives should be on the sata 3g ports. one thing too check that your ram in the right two main slots if you have one or two dimms.

Good info to have... as a person who's new to desktop building, do you have a simpler explanation for all of that? I'm new to this... I'm unfamiliar with when you need to flash the BIOS and other things like that (I wasn't aware it has to be done before you install Windows).

 

[smorizio]

bios or the mb boot code..you look inside the bios first to see the rev of the bios. then go to the mb vendor web page under downloads..there have a list of the bios files and there bug fixes. the problem is that parts come from overseas so there a 4-12 week lag. parts that are in our hands now were made weeks ago. so there going to have old bios if one drops to fix a keyboard hang issue. start will the bios file above the one that loaded onto your mb. put it on a usb stick and boot into the bios. most new bios have a flash menu in them. some of the new mb from asus have a bios flash back port on the back of them. dont ever flash a mb in windows...you can brick it. always boot into the bios or from a usb stick and run the mb bios updating tools.

 

[Fatal_Wound]

bios or the mb boot code..you look inside the bios first to see the rev of the bios. then go to the mb vendor web page under downloads..there have a list of the bios files and there bug fixes. the problem is that parts come from overseas so there a 4-12 week lag. parts that are in our hands now were made weeks ago. so there going to have old bios if one drops to fix a keyboard hang issue. start will the bios file above the one that loaded onto your mb. put it on a usb stick and boot into the bios. most new bios have a flash menu in them. some of the new mb from asus have a bios flash back port on the back of them. dont ever flash a mb in windows...you can brick it. always boot into the bios or from a usb stick and run the mb bios updating tools.

It's an old rev from 2011... I've got the ASUS P9X79 mobo. Why is it considered unsafe to flash the BIOS in windows? Do i have to reinstall Windows after flashing it?

 

[smorizio]

you wont need to reinstall windows..your mb like my asus sabertooth has on the back of it what called a usb flashback port.
all you need is the bios file...rename it per what asus says under the bios flashback renaming guild. make sure the mb is off but has power. you plug the usb stick into the usb flash back port and hold the button for three sec...if the file is named right the blinking will change speed and the mb will be flashed. when the light goes out on the usb flashback button. take out the usb stick and power on..you have to go into the bios and hit f5 and then hit save and exit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XI-zGV8SLho
why you dont want to flash a mb in windows is if windows locks up or the anti virus turns on it can lock up the flash program causing the flash to fail and bricking your mb. i seen a lot of bricked bios and see a lot of them here when they try to use the windows tools to do a flash update.
just make sure you do the flash files in order from the lowest number up...