GA-X58-UD3R Windows 7 drive corrupt and no install found

[devosion]

I had 2 existing OS installs on 2 Sata drives (1tb and 140gb) that I migrated over to a new pc. After loading everything up I am able to load my Ubuntu partition, but my Windows 7 install doesn't load at all. When I run a system restore Windows states that is unable to determine the hard disk installed on the 2nd disk. The error message outputed from System Restore is corrupt disk. I tried to install the GSATA drivers on the install disk, but this doesn't work. When I look at the disk in Ubuntu all the contents appear to be fine and nothing seems corrupted. What drivers should I be installing on the disk to get Windows 7 to recognize the disk? Or is there another solution I need to do?

[devosion]

Ok the problem finally seems to have migrated to my Ubuntu installation. Every once in a while now Ubuntu is hanging while loading and comes out with an error message regarding the install drive and missing modules. Then it shows an error message saying the drive itself doesn't exist. I have both the drives set for IDE, and this drive itself has loaded successfully without a problem before. Im beginning to think there is a problem with the motherboard itself. Im at my wits end here and im ready to reinstall my old mobo.

Also the bios is detecting the drives with no issue every time. They get loaded at post, it is only after post that all these issues begin occuring.

[devosion]

Yet another update, so I went ahead and backed up the Windows 7 install through ubuntu and decided to format and reinstall. The Windows 7 disk had no problem formatting the partition, but the moment I tried to install the disk began giving me errors that it can't install Windows 7 on the drive. I've loaded drivers for GSATA, Marvell, and a few others on the setup disk that came with my mobo but none of them allows Windows 7 to continue with the installation. I tried to install the chipset drivers and the install gave me a new error message: Windows is unable to install to the selected location. Error:0x80300001. Windows continually see's the drive, but no matter which drivers I try installing I can't figure out how to get be able to access this drive for install. Someone needs to have some idea what drivers I need to install to get this working. I dug around for more info on gigabyte drivers for linux and it looks like i'll need to install them there. I need some help please.

[devosion]

This is a complete and utter joke. I've reconfigured the bios to try to load the drives as ahci, ide, and raid, and i've tried the Windows 7 install on each variation, while loading every driver I can find for the sata devices and still nothing. Can't get Windows to load at all. I even pulled out my Vista cd and I can't get it to recognize the drive either. I can't believe this board is listed as being Windows 7 compatible when I can't even get an install going. By all accounts I should have just been able to plug-and-play and install a few drivers through Windows in order to get the drive operational. Instead I am greeted by BSODs and nothing but hassle. I'll be ordering a different mobo from a different manufacturer asap.

[devosion]

Well it seems that things have officially gone to hell with this mobo. Where before Ubuntu now worked, now it doesn't work at all. Ubuntu now seems to load into an infinite loop of checking the drive for errors. Having had enough, I took the hard drives out and put them into my old box to see if it was just the mobo. I get the exact same thing of checking for errors and not loading into the OS. At this point im not sure whether I did something while moving the drives back and forth, or if this motherboard is to blame for all the mishaps that occured on two of my most important drives. At this point im not sure what to say and having not received any assistance on this issue from Gigabyte, or the community, im definately gonna have to choose a different manufacturer.

[absic]

Hi,

I'm not too familiar with Intel boards as I use AMD but if you could post your full system specs it would help with trouble shooting.

Silly question but have you checked you are running the latest BIOS version for your mobo?

Please don't give up on the forum. It's a bank holiday weekend and many regular users maybe away for the weekend!

ATB

[devosion]

Im not using the latest version, but the version I am using is the next latest. I can't remember the designated code from the mobo upon boot. Unfortunately I couldnt even get around to doing that if I wanted because Windows won't load, and I can't get an install to work. And the bios updates I found all require Windows. I tried to use Wine for Ubuntu at one point, but I was receiving messages that I don't meet the system requirements from the update.

At this point i've put the new mobo to the side and am focusing on just making sure the data on my ubuntu drive is gonna be ok.

[absic]

Hi,

Unfortunately I couldnt even get around to doing that if I wanted because Windows won't load

You can flash BIOS without using windows by using the Qflash utility in BIOS. In fact I would say this is the best method of flashing BIOS.

Download the latest version of BIOS which I think is F5 for your Mobo (http://www.giga-byte.co.uk/Support/Motherboard/BIOS_Model.aspx?ProductID=3305http://www.giga-byte.co.uk/Support/Motherboard/BIOS_Model.aspx?ProductID=3305 ) Please check that I have provided correct link as I think your mobo is the GA-X58A-UD3R.
Extract the folder and put it onto a USB stick.
Start the PC and press the "END" key to go straight into Qflash or go into BIOS and press F12.
Follow the on-screen instructions.

ATB

[devosion]

Ok i'll give that a shot. Here are the specs to the machine if they help any.


GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Patriot G Series ‘Sector 5’ Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model PGV34G1333ELK
Intel Core i7-930 Bloomfield 2.8GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Model BX80601930
CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST31000528AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s
Western Digital Caviar Blue WD1600AAJS 160GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s
GeForce 9500gt 512mb

On the same note though, is there any reason why the mobo would cause corruption on the disc even if it isn't using the latest bios? I haven't had a chance to do a recovery on the ubuntu disk, but that strikes me as odd and uncertain about reinstalling that hd on that board. I'll be using the cleaned 160gb disk, but it's still an important concern of mine now that I am having a hard time with the data on that disk.

[absic]

To be honest I'm not really sure why your HDD's have become corrupted and from your specs nothing jumps out as a probable cause. But, as I said before, I am not familiar with these boards so am going through the same steps that I would on the AMD platform in an effort to help you.

As a matter of interest are you using the SATA3 ports for your HDD's or the SATA2?

If I were in your situation I would flash BIOS, load Optimised defaults and then re-build with only 1 stick of RAM, 1 HDD for OS (on a SATA2 port), GPU, DVD writer and keep things basic until I can trace the fault. My first thoughts are a memory issue (hence only 1 stick in the first place).

ATB

[devosion]

I installed on sata ports 0 and 1 which are sata3, ich10r, and i had them set up as ide initially and then moved them to ahci as I begin tweaking the settings to see if I could get the windows drive to work.

It's pretty late here so im gonna turn in for the night and tomorrow i'll post information on how things go when I update the bios tomorrow and try to install windows 7 on the 160gb hard drive.

[absic]

Hi,

as your HDD's are SATA2 I would recommend using the SATA2 ports on your Mobo not the SATA3 ones. At this stage of the game there is nothing much to gain from SATA3 unless you are actually running a SATA3 HDD.

Unless you are planning to use AHCI for hot swapping drives, I would also suggest just using native IDE mode as this tends to be more reliable.

Hope this helps.

[devosion]

Well I updated the bios via qflash, and the first thing I tried was to load ubuntu 9.10, and it went straight back into the issue where it would go into a drive check then into a black screen with a flashing cursor. After that I tried to install Windows 7 and was receiving a hang up on the install screen so I disabled my floppy drive in the bios, which fixed that. Then I tried to install on my 160gb drive and found I was receiving the same message before where Windows says it cannot be installed on the drive. So i loaded the ich10 drivers, because my sata drives on installed on those ports, and the install continues to say the exact same thing. I'm going to move the hard drives to the gigabyte sata ports and give that a shot.

The drives were moved to the gigabyte sata ports 8 and 9, and still have the same issues, regardless of the driver is loaded or not. Windows 7 just won't load. All drives are set to IDE, and the dvd drive is working just fine cause im using the ubuntu 10.04 liveCD to try to fix my damaged ubuntu partition drive.