Problems installing Windows 10 to built PC using flash drive

roflconlol · 11 Dec 2016

FINALLY!!! EDIT: Actually this was only a temporary fix

Here's the *TEMPORARY* SOLUTION for anyone who has the same problem:

Someone on another forum told me to download Ubuntu OS from Linux to a flash drive using Rufus, just like I did with Windows. Plug and boot form the flash drive as if you want to install Ubuntu. It will give you the option of trying Ubuntu without installing. Select that it will eventually load up Ubuntu. Ubuntu could find my HDD with no problem. I formatted the HDD using NTFS by following this guide. Then I removed the partitions (I don't know if that was necessary). I put in the flash drive with Windows 10 Installer on it and it FINALLY recognized the hard drive. But it gave me some error saying "Windows Cannot be installed to this disk the selected disk is of the GPT partition". I pressed Shift + F10 --> opens command prompt --> type "diskpart" [enter] --> type "list disk" [enter] --> take note of which disk # is your HDD, it will probably be 0 --> type "select disk #" [enter] and replace with whatever number the HDD is --> type "clean" [enter] --> close command prompt. Click the back tab to go back to the beginning of the Installer and it will show your drive will pop up.

I think when I early terminated the Windows 7 installation, it did something to the HDD which prevented Windows Installers from being able to "see" it.

DonCuthbert · 11 Dec 2016

Had you ever tried running Diskpart prior to this? I wonder if it would have seen the disk all along?

Actually, if your PC is capable, you might want to run it in UEFI BIOS mode and initialize the disk as GPT, as that is a more robust disk layout for Windows 10. If you have the option to enable UEFI and Secure Boot and enable them both, then you would need to use a GPT-initialized hard disk for Windows.

roflconlol · 11 Dec 2016

DonCuthbert said:

Had you ever tried running Diskpart prior to this? I wonder if it would have seen the disk all along?

Actually, if your PC is capable, you might want to run it in UEFI BIOS mode and initialize the disk as GPT, as that is a more robust disk layout for Windows 10. If you have the option to enable UEFI and Secure Boot and enable them both, then you would need to use a GPT-initialized hard disk for Windows.

Yes I tried Diskpart before the format. But before the format, unplugging the HDD from the motherboard before start up was the only way to prevent the Windows Installer from timing out. If I reconnected the HDD after the Windows Installer loaded, the Windows Installer couldn't detect my hard drive. I tried running the Diskpart command from the Windows Installer after reconnecting the HDD and it would only list my USB flashdrive. I couldn't find the HDD in command prompt at all. After reformatting the HDD in Ubuntu, I was finally able to have the HDD plugged in at start-up without the Windows Installer timing out. And I was also finally able to see the HDD in command prompt using diskpart, which allowed me to reformat the HDD once again in a way that the Windows Installer was able to work with.

alphanumeric · 12 Dec 2016

I have no idea what the actual issue was? But I am glad you solved it. Was that disk new or used? If used what OS was on it originally, before you did anything to it while trying to install Windows?

roflconlol · 12 Dec 2016

alphanumeric said:

I have no idea what the actual issue was? But I am glad you solved it. Was that disk new or used? If used what OS was on it originally, before you did anything to it while trying to install Windows?

I think you were right. The hard disk is bad. Windows was working fine but it'd stall whenever I did anything involving writing big files. When I tried to download a 15 GB game through steam, it crashed and gave me a blue screen saying it couldn't boot. I tried repairing it using the Windows 10 installation but it kept saying a repair was not possible.

I screen shoted everything i have been doing. When I ran Ubuntu to format the hard drive yesterday, it detected 454 bad sectors. I thought a bad sector was only temporary and was fixed with a format. I didn't realize that meant my hard drive was bad.

The hard drive is brand new less than 4 days old from best buy.com. I hope getting a refund for it goes smoothly since it is technically an opened product

NavyLCDR · 12 Dec 2016

roflconlol said:

The hard drive is brand new less than 4 days old from best buy.com. I hope getting a refund for it goes smoothly since it is technically an opened product

They should be able to see the S.M.A.R.T. diagnostic report on the HDD and see the increasing bad sectors and replace it under warranty. I believe within 30 days they will exchange it at the store and not make you send it back to the manufacturer.

alphanumeric · 12 Dec 2016

Ok, I was leaning towards it being a dud hard drive. Check the sticker on the drive, there should be code to get the manufactured date. Open box kind of sounds like somebody did a switch (bad drive for the good drive) and return.

DonCuthbert · 12 Dec 2016

roflconlol said:

I think you were right. The hard disk is bad.

OK that makes sense now. I have an old hard disk that was replaced under warranty, yet it still sort of works. It also takes a long time booting and was slowing down my startups, even when mounted as a secondary data disk. I was able to get it mostly working using Seagate SeaTools (even though it has SMART errors) but it was intermittent and vanished at times, so I finally shelved it.

I doubt that you will have problems getting an exchange.

roflconlol · 12 Dec 2016

Bestbuy customer service gave me the option of an exchange or a refund. I didn't want to wait up to a week for a new one to come in the mail so I just got a refund. I bought a new hard drive, a different brand, and it is working fine now.

alphanumeric · 13 Dec 2016