Need help with formatting a computer. Please, please, please.

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Ronjay

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Right, a couple of weeks back I got a virus on my computer and got it fixed by following a guide on-line. Problem now is that I have just bought another HDD and want to replace it with my old one. I set the boot disk to cdrom and all that, as usual to format the drive and install windows but it point blank refuses to boot. Instead of the usual "press any key to boot...." like it normally does, it says "press [Esc] to boot..." then gives an error message telling me to reboot or select a valid boot devise.:confused:

Fusking frustrating as I want to start using my new 1Tb as my primary HDD so that I can have all my stuff loaded on one drive and use my other rives as back ups. (tired of loosing all my stuff, had a lightening strike knock out my computer which isn't a problem but all my software including save games on games I hadn't finished went bye-bye:mad: )

Please, someone help the knob-head that I am out of the drink.:o
 
What point does it actually refuse to boot at? Sounds like an incorrect bios boot setting
 
is your motherboard compatible with a 1tb hdd?
if yes boot into windows and format it from my computer
 
troublezn said:
is your motherboard compatible with a 1tb hdd?
if yes boot into windows and format it from my computer
Click to expand...

Yeah but I want to load windows on it. Need to boot from the cd to do that. don't want another drive in the pc. It's definitely compatible.
 
OK, first things first. When installing a fresh copy of Windows (before you copy across your old documents) you should disconnect all other drives (and unneeded USB ports - remove all flash disks also).

After Windows and your virus scanner is installed, then you can plug in your old drive and move all the old docs across to the new drive.

Trust me, this is a wise idea because 1) you won't accidentally format your old drive and 2) it will not give you some weird configuration where your old drive is drive C and your new drive is drive E.

Now, as to your problem... there must be a boot sequence page somewhere in your BIOS that you are overlooking. Please let us know what motherboard you are using as well.
Go back into your BIOS and look for the boot sequence page and shift the drives around until you get the correct order (look - you should only have two possibilities here - the new drive and your CD-rom drive - disconnect everything else).
Also, what kind of boot media are you using? Is it a legit copy of Windows 7 or one that you burned yourself?
 
Garyvdh said:
OK, first things first. When installing a fresh copy of Windows (before you copy across your old documents) you should disconnect all other drives (and unneeded USB ports - remove all flash disks also).

After Windows and your virus scanner is installed, then you can plug in your old drive and move all the old docs across to the new drive.

Trust me, this is a wise idea because 1) you won't accidentally format your old drive and 2) it will not give you some weird configuration where your old drive is drive C and your new drive is drive E.

Now, as to your problem... there must be a boot sequence page somewhere in your BIOS that you are overlooking. Please let us know what motherboard you are using as well.
Go back into your BIOS and look for the boot sequence page and shift the drives around until you get the correct order (look - you should only have two possibilities here - the new drive and your CD-rom drive - disconnect everything else).
Also, what kind of boot media are you using? Is it a legit copy of Windows 7 or one that you burned yourself?
Click to expand...

Thanks, I will do what you say.

It's a legit widows 7 disk.

Main-board is a elitegroup g31t-m7
 
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Right tried the suggestions by Gary but still nothing doing. Maybe, I'm going to have to take it in to the PC shop. I've never had to take in a PC before but this has really got me stumped.
 
If you haven't tried yet - set your bios back to defaults. Also does your HDD have jumpers in use?
 
maybe try different SATA cables and power leads? And a different port on the MB?
 
Ok, you have an existing hdd connected via sata that boots?

Remove that drive and connect the new drive to the same port.

Configure bios to boot from cd rom.

Install Linux (Ubuntu etc) on the new drive.

Reboot, set bios to boot from hdd and see what it does.

This is purely for testing.


Have you tried the latest BIOS version from ECS?
 
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Sounds like a BIOS issue but it could it be the CD Rom on the blink.
 
There must be some option while it is posting to enter a boot sequence menu where you can manually set it to boot from the CD ROM drive.

Alternatively, try installing Windows from a flash drive.
 
Alan said:
Sounds like a BIOS issue but it could it be the CD Rom on the blink.
Click to expand...

I was thinking the same thing about the BIOS but it's not the cd, It's a new DVD RAM I bought a few weeks ago and I've tested it at my mates house along with the new HDD.
 
Rodent-Boy said:
There must be some option while it is posting to enter a boot sequence menu where you can manually set it to boot from the CD ROM drive.

Alternatively, try installing Windows from a flash drive.
Click to expand...

I haven't seen any option menu. Starting to feel very low.:cry:

Unfortunately my flash drive was pinched a couple of months ago and I haven't replaced it yet. It was a nice 4 gig one too. I have the worst luck.
 
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