Cannot re-install Windows 7 : no driver for hard drive disk

Hi Julie,

Welcome to the Dell Community , I am Robin from Dell Social media out reach team.

In Regards to the issue that you have unable to install Windows 7 on the system .I would like to know a few basic this like how the format was done in the first place and does it allow you to select the partation to install the windows in .

I would also like to know if you have the drivers and utilities cd with you.

Dell_RobinDcruz

Dell Social Media Responder

Hi Robin, thanks for your attention.

In the first place, my HDD was partitionned in two "virtual drive" : in the first virtual drive there were several partitions :

EFI partition, Recovery Partition,and C partition in NTFS ; in the second virtual drive there was one partition in ntfs planned to data.

First I've used the windows tool to modifie these partitions : format the entire second virtual drive, and reduce the C partition. No problem after this manipulation.

An other manipulation after these : the C partition has been reduced by an asus tool and it seems it has caused an error on the boot manager.

First I tried to repair several time but without success. After I tried to restore and I had the same problem like my last tentative (the re-install of windows) : The installer and the restorer cannot read the table of partition.

So in response to your second point : I cannot select the partition to install windows in because the table of partition doesn't appear! It's an empty table.

Finally, I have in my possession the Dell CD :

"Operating System already installed in your computer"

Reinstallation DVD, Windows 7 Professional SP1, 64-bit

May be the missing drivers are in this dvd but I don't know where exactly.

Thanks in advance for your help.

julie

Hi Julie,

It would be helpful if you have the Drivers cd as its not a part of the OS cd.

If you have the Drivers cd (Resourse Cd) you could follow the following steps:

1. First Load BIOS to Default

2. Confirm RAID is ON under Sata Controllers

3. Proceed with OSRI

4. Once in the partition table Page, if the drive is still not visible, Remove teh OS CD and insert the    Drivers adn resources DVD sent from Dell.

5. Click on Load Drivers- this will take about few seconds and detect the Intel Controller Driver. Select    and Click Next.

6. Now it should show the Drives available and you should be able to proceed with completion of OS    installation.

Dell_RobinDcruz

Dell Social Media Responder

Hi, thanks but I have not the driver cd! It's my problem since beginning.

I can't follow these steps because I haven't drivers. in the dell support site I found just executable file which can load driver only in an operationnal operating system.

Do you know where I can find the real file of drivers?

Thanks in advance

Julie

The most important part of this is your controller.  WHICH controller are you using?  H310?  H710?  Or the onboard SATA ports?

My controller is PERC H310, why is important?

One another person have proposed me to solve this problem to : disable the RAID option in my bios. And install my OS windows on one HDD and after installation, enable the RAID option. Is it a good solution and is it safety (my RAID configuration will kept at the original state?) ?

Thanks

Why is which controller you have important?  Because that is what is controlling your hard drives.  Windows doesn't know how to talk to that controller, so it needs a driver; there is not one driver for all controllers, so you have to make sure you get the driver for the right controller.

http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/04/DriverDetails?DriverId=1DV4H&FileId=2984740710&DriverName=DELL%2CPWA%2CCTL%2CSAS%2CH310%2CADPT%2CFH%2CPWS%2C5.1.119.64%2CA00&productCode=precision-t3600&urlProductCode=False

The above driver must be downloaded and run to extract its contents; the contents can then be put on a flash drive or burned to CD.  When Windows says it can't find any drives, then you must use the Load Driver link in the bottom-left corner, then browse to the location you put the extracted driver files.

If you WANT RAID, you MUST configure it in the CTRL-R utility during POST; you can NOT configure RAID after installing.

The method that "other" person mentioned will NOT work - they obviously do not understand.

Thanks, I found my driver just before your answer! Effectively I've tried to disable the RAID option and it didn't permit me to install windows!

In the installer, now a can load the driver. but windows doesn't want install in GPT partition. To solve this problem, it seems that I must boot in my installation CD in UEFI mode. I can do this, but in this booting mode, the loader of my installer down and the pc reboots.

My last possibility is : recreate an installation CD with my driver in. If it runs, I'll post it because it can help somebody.

Thanks.

Julie

Windows can ONLY boot to a GPT disk IF:  1) it is a 64-bit version of Vista/7/8/2008, and 2) is installed on a UEFI-enabled system.  GPT is also required for disks over 2TB.