Tech Support Forum - View Single Post - Please help: Having huge trouble installing OS on a new WD SATA2 HDD.

DoronF · 12-15-2008, 06:15 PM

Hey guys, what’s up?

So I bought a new computer a few days ago, a little gaming monster that can help me shoot a few North Koreans… (“Crysis” reference…) but apparently someone up there decided that it’s time for me to pay for all my sins so he struck my HDD with some kind of a temporary “stroke” and I could really use your help now…

Here are the details:

Motherboard: Asus P5Q LGA775 P45 Chipset

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 1333FSB 3ghz
HDD: WD 3200AAKS SATA2 320GB
Memory: Adata 4GB DDR2 1066
Graphic Card: Gigabyte nVIDIA GeForce 9600GT 512MB PCIe
DVD: LG Light Scribe
OS: XP Pro (I tried Vista Ultimate SP1 32bit, got burned, now I only try XP Pro).

And here’s the story:
I got my computer ready for OS installation. I installed Vista Ultimate SP1 32bit; became DEEPLY disappointed, so I decided that the 50GB I gave to the Vista in drive C can now be converted into 20GB because I’m moving back to the good old XP Pro.
I used “Partition Manager” to take 30GB from drive C in order to make a new partition out of it. (C=20GB, D=270GB, E=30GB).
After applying the changes Partition Manager restarted my computer and from that point my computer stopped working properly.

Next, I inserted the XP Pro CD (very old version) in order to format drive C and install the XP, so I tried doing that, but it could only find one partition of just a hundred and something GB. I said “what the heck” and formatted it.
After formatting, it copied the files, restarted, and instead of continuing the installation process it started it (the installation) from scratch. Again. If I change the booting sequence to start from the HDD after this restart, it starts regularly and a few seconds later, when it’s time to load the OS it doesn’t find anything useful and without writing anything it resets. If I don’t stop it, it can repeat that forever.

Next step I tried the Vista again (32 bit SP1) but every time I try to install it (32bit AND 64bit) it doesn’t find drives or partitions (show’s an empty list) and it tells me to find some driver. I tried from the motherboard’s CD but nothing fits. Somehow from the Vista installation I got to DOS, so I formatted the HDD again. This time it seems that it actually turned all 3 partitions into a big one.

The next one I tried was XP Pro with SP3 in it – a newer version, which DID recognize that the HDD has 305GB, (supposed to be 320,) but the situation right now is like the last time I tried installing the XP: it formats, (I tell it to do that), copies the files and then again, when it naturally needs to restart, it always goes back to square one of the installation (boots from the DVD, configures my computer’s hardware…) instead of continuing the installation process.
And again, if I change the booting sequence to the HDD it just boots and restarts after about 15 seconds. Over and over again.

I hope that someone here with a huge brain can help out a guy who just wants to shoot the bad guys …
(The last game I played and dominated was “Soldier Of Fortune 1”…)

If you need any more details, just ask. I’m here.

Thanks in advance, guys.

Doron.

12-15-2008, 06:15 PM	#1 (permalink)
DoronF Registered User Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 4 OS: XP Pro	Please help: Having huge trouble installing OS on a new WD SATA2 HDD. Hey guys, what’s up? So I bought a new computer a few days ago, a little gaming monster that can help me shoot a few North Koreans… (“Crysis” reference…) but apparently someone up there decided that it’s time for me to pay for all my sins so he struck my HDD with some kind of a temporary “stroke” and I could really use your help now… Here are the details: Motherboard: Asus P5Q LGA775 P45 Chipset Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 1333FSB 3ghz HDD: WD 3200AAKS SATA2 320GB Memory: Adata 4GB DDR2 1066 Graphic Card: Gigabyte nVIDIA GeForce 9600GT 512MB PCIe DVD: LG Light Scribe OS: XP Pro (I tried Vista Ultimate SP1 32bit, got burned, now I only try XP Pro). And here’s the story: I got my computer ready for OS installation. I installed Vista Ultimate SP1 32bit; became DEEPLY disappointed, so I decided that the 50GB I gave to the Vista in drive C can now be converted into 20GB because I’m moving back to the good old XP Pro. I used “Partition Manager” to take 30GB from drive C in order to make a new partition out of it. (C=20GB, D=270GB, E=30GB). After applying the changes Partition Manager restarted my computer and from that point my computer stopped working properly. Next, I inserted the XP Pro CD (very old version) in order to format drive C and install the XP, so I tried doing that, but it could only find one partition of just a hundred and something GB. I said “what the heck” and formatted it. After formatting, it copied the files, restarted, and instead of continuing the installation process it started it (the installation) from scratch. Again. If I change the booting sequence to start from the HDD after this restart, it starts regularly and a few seconds later, when it’s time to load the OS it doesn’t find anything useful and without writing anything it resets. If I don’t stop it, it can repeat that forever. Next step I tried the Vista again (32 bit SP1) but every time I try to install it (32bit AND 64bit) it doesn’t find drives or partitions (show’s an empty list) and it tells me to find some driver. I tried from the motherboard’s CD but nothing fits. Somehow from the Vista installation I got to DOS, so I formatted the HDD again. This time it seems that it actually turned all 3 partitions into a big one. The next one I tried was XP Pro with SP3 in it – a newer version, which DID recognize that the HDD has 305GB, (supposed to be 320,) but the situation right now is like the last time I tried installing the XP: it formats, (I tell it to do that), copies the files and then again, when it naturally needs to restart, it always goes back to square one of the installation (boots from the DVD, configures my computer’s hardware…) instead of continuing the installation process. And again, if I change the booting sequence to the HDD it just boots and restarts after about 15 seconds. Over and over again. I hope that someone here with a huge brain can help out a guy who just wants to shoot the bad guys … (The last game I played and dominated was “Soldier Of Fortune 1”…) If you need any more details, just ask. I’m here. Thanks in advance, guys. Doron. Last edited by DoronF; 12-15-2008 at 06:18 PM.