Windows 8.1 Installation not working

Unnamed430

hi guys i built a pc yesterday and only finished up late last night but now when i go to install windows on the hard drive on the "where do you want to install windows" page. windows says that "windows cant be installed on this drive"also it says to "ensure that the disk's controller is enabled in the computer BIOS menu"
i looked in the bios menu and it says that the HDD is in the first boot but other then that i don't know what to do.
any advice thanks

ED E

Some boards have an OS mode or Install mode for the sata/ahci controller for installation.

You might also need to put storage drivers on a usb key if windows can't detect generics.

Unnamed430

how do i do that

ED E

Whats the board?

The manual will tell you what to do.

Dcully

Friend of mine had similar issues last week.
7th attempt to install eventually worked despite same procedure each time.
Weird one.

Unnamed430

i have an asus m5a97
and i have tryed about 50 times
still no luck

Gadgetman496

Are you attempting to install Windows from a USB or Disc? & is it 32bit or 64bit?

If the board is UEFI you should read THIS

PropJoe10

Make sure your disk drive is set to AHCI in the BIOS, and try booting the Windows 8.1 from a different boot device i.e. DVD or USB. Unless its a very old hard drive, there should be no issues.

Unnamed430

i am installing from a disk and it is 64 bit
it is a new hdd and set to AHCI
any help

ED E

You sure the HDD works? Tested it in another rig?

Unnamed430

don't have anything to test it on (using a laptop now)
but it is showing up in the bios so it think it is fine

PropJoe10

Try installing another operating system on it, such as Ubuntu, and see if you're still getting an error. You can download Ubuntu and create a bootable USB or DVD for free.

http://www.ubuntu.com/

ED E

Potentially relevant:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/319543-30-asus-m5a97-system-hangs-installing

Could be a corrupt image, have you tried a fresh disk/ISO?

Manual is copy protected it seems, I cant copy/paste it here. Section 3.5.4 has a legacy mode, try that.

Nothing else of note in there that I can spot.

This isnt perhaps a 6TB disk is it?

Unnamed430

now it is not saying i cant install on drive but it is saying

"windows cannot be installed to this hard drive disk space windows must be installed to a partition formatted NTFS

Windows cannot be installed to this hard disk. The partition is an EFI system partition (ESP)"

what could be wrong now?

Unnamed430

it is a 1tb WD blue

PropJoe10

Unnamed430 wrote: »

now it is not saying i cant install on drive but it is saying

"windows cannot be installed to this hard drive disk space windows must be installed to a partition formatted NTFS

Windows cannot be installed to this hard disk. The partition is an EFI system partition (ESP)"

what could be wrong now?

It sounds like you need to delete the existing partitions on the drive. When you're installing Windows, click on Custom Installation and delete the existing partitions, then see if you can install.

Unnamed430

PropJoe10 wrote: »

It sounds like you need to delete the existing partitions on the drive. When you're installing Windows, click on Custom Installation and delete the existing partitions, then see if you can install.

Yes but do you not have to partition the drive
And this error happens when I click new then apply. I have to wait a while for it to load then only 2 partitions show up and when I click next it says the.error

PropJoe10

Unnamed430 wrote: »

Yes but do you not have to partition the drive
And this error happens when I click new then apply. I have to wait a while for it to load then only 2 partitions show up and when I click next it says the.error

In the Windows setup utility, it will partition it for you. If you delete any existing partitions, you should be left with the whole drive as unallocated space. Just click on Next and Windows will create partitions for you - one system partition and one installation partition. Before you click next and get the error, click on each existing partition and click Delete. When its all unformatted, click on Next and it should go ahead and install.

Unnamed430

i found the problem it was the hard drive i sent it back to amazon
thanks for the help lads