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Can't boot up win7 #1098813
01/30/17 02:43 PM
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My husband installed win7 on a solid state drive on our new motherboard, but it won't boot up. What now? Is the drive the problem?

Last edited by Melia; 01/30/17 02:44 PM.

The four food groups: Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate and HOT chocolate.
Re: Can't boot up win7 [Re: Melia] #1098816
01/30/17 02:57 PM
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I'll delete your post from the other thread and move my response to this one.

Originally Posted By: Melia
Next question...I have a gigabyte GA-Z97X-SLI....also.... That is a 3.0 standard...pci-e x16. Suggestions for this one?


I see the GA-Z97X-SLI motherboard has AHCI drivers for 64-bit Windows 7.
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4957#dl

If the problem is what I think it is, it's that the hard drive uses technology that is "too new" for the motherboard to use AHCI without the OS also being updated with the drivers.

Check the computer's BIOS to see if it has an alternative to AHCI. It might be called "Legacy" or "IDE" or some other thing but it's the alternative to RAID/AHCI. Choose the "Legacy" setting and see if the computer will boot.

This is pretty much the same problem that happened when they first introduced SATA drives with AHCI and people had trouble installing and booting XP from the drives on computers with motherboards set to use AHCI/RAID.

The alternative is to slipstream the AHCI drivers into an image of the Windows 7 DVD (using nlite or similar software), burn that image to DVD, and install using the burned DVD with the slipstreamed drivers instead of the original DVD. It's not something most people want to mess with. Easier to just set the motherboard to the more compatible setting.

Re: Can't boot up win7 [Re: Melia] #1098828
01/30/17 04:35 PM
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My husband did as you suggested and used Legacy. It still won't boot. Now what? I''d show you a photo of the page he was working on, but can't use the computer to get to it.

Last edited by Melia; 01/30/17 04:36 PM.

The four food groups: Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate and HOT chocolate.
Re: Can't boot up win7 [Re: Melia] #1098834
01/30/17 06:07 PM
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Did he try reinstalling?
Maybe you have to install while the BIOS is set to Legacy.

What brand and model SSD does he have?

Re: Can't boot up win7 [Re: Melia] #1098835
01/30/17 06:10 PM
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If this is a recent SSD, I don't think those AHCI drivers should be a problem. I installed Windows 7 on an SSD on a Z68 motherboard using the AHCI drivers in 2011 with no issues.

Trying Legacy or IDE was worth a try though. Do you have a regular HDD he could try to see what happens? Is the motherboard at least recognizing the SSD? Is the SSD listed as first in the boot order?


Gardens put to bed for the winter. Time for some gaming!
Re: Can't boot up win7 [Re: Melia] #1098836
01/30/17 07:15 PM
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BP5e is the model, 80mm (2280) SATA III/6G, M.2 NGFF solid state drive. We think the motherboard is recognizing the ssd because we installed the first part of win 7 on it. Yes, it is listed as first in the boot order. It is the only hard drive installed at the moment.

Edit: We just reinstalled using Legacy in the bios. No joy. It looked like it had gotten internet access. I got to my new desktop ... then it tried to reboot- unsuccessfully.

Last edited by Melia; 01/30/17 07:40 PM.

The four food groups: Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate and HOT chocolate.
Re: Can't boot up win7 [Re: Melia] #1098841
01/30/17 08:38 PM
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Can't say I've ever heard of this brand... has it ever been used before? Ever had an OS or data on it? Have you tried installed using the AHCI drivers again? Wondering if the drive itself isn't defective. What size is it? In GB?

EDIT: Reading up on it a bit. Says it can be used as a cache drive or a boot drive. It does have a specific controller I've never heard of. Is there a disk that came with it?

Looking at one review with OS installation problems... he needed to flash the BIOS to get it updated and then the drive worked. Does that motherboard have any BIOS updates available?

Is this a UEFI Bios? I also found something that said to make sure CSM in enabled if it is... "CSM or Compatibility Support Module is something that allows booting in legacy BIOS mode on UEFI systems."

Also seeing that it is being installed on older laptops for a speed boost.


Gardens put to bed for the winter. Time for some gaming!
Re: Can't boot up win7 [Re: Melia] #1098847
01/30/17 09:32 PM
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I tried flashing the bios, but couldn't because it said to flash the bios from drive - no drive yet, or to save it to drive...again, no drive yet. It's a UEFI dual bios, bios date 6/17/14. How do I enable CSM? Never mind - found CSM and enabled it. Also set bios for both Legacy and UEFI. Am trying to reinstall again.

Edit: Still didn't work.

Last edited by Melia; 01/30/17 10:03 PM.

The four food groups: Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate and HOT chocolate.
Re: Can't boot up win7 [Re: Melia] #1098852
01/30/17 10:29 PM
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Originally Posted By: Melia
BP5e is the model, 80mm (2280) SATA III/6G, M.2 NGFF solid state drive.

Does it look like one of these --> ***link***
I've never used that M.2 NGFF type of drive.
It's newer than anything I've worked with.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M.2

Originally Posted By: Melia
It looked like it had gotten internet access. I got to my new desktop ... then it tried to reboot- unsuccessfully.

Are you sure it was trying to boot from the hard drive at that point and not the DVD drive? I can't remember how many times a Windows 7 installation reboots -- or where it boots from.

I looked up the specs for the GA-Z97X-SLI motherboard at
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4957#sp
and it said
Quote:
6 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors
(M.2, SATA Express, and SATA3 4/5 connectors can only be used one at a time. The SATA3 4/5 connectors will become unavailable when an M.2 SSD is installed.)

Could the DVD drive be plugged into the SATA 4 or SATA 5 connectors?
If it is, try plugging it into one of the other SATA connectors that wouldn't conflict.

Re: Can't boot up win7 [Re: Melia] #1098856
01/30/17 11:01 PM
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Something Jenny just said tickled my brain. And any of those SATA connections on the board Marvels? I have a vague recollection of a Gigabyte GA motherboard I was using having two of them and I couldn't plug the SSD into them... At least that's what I THINK I remember.

Let's hope that 4/5 connection is the problem though.


Gardens put to bed for the winter. Time for some gaming!
Re: Can't boot up win7 [Re: Melia] #1098881
01/31/17 01:08 AM
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480GB; the reboot happened so fast, I can't say where it was trying to reboot from. I tried to click on the link to get the internet connection going when it rebooted. It didn't even give me enough time to do that. Do you think I should quickly take the DVD out of the drive in hopes that it won't do that? (I just tried it. Didn't work. It rebooted anyway - and kept on rebooting.)

Oh, it did come with a disc, but we can't use the disc until we have an operating system installed.

There was nothing plugged into 4/5. He unplugged all the SATA connections anyway and we tried to turn on the computer. It wouldn't boot up. The M.2 is plugged in because it's screwed into the motherboard.


The four food groups: Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate and HOT chocolate.
Re: Can't boot up win7 [Re: Melia] #1098882
01/31/17 02:17 AM
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Wait... screwed in the motherboard? I'm puzzled... so it's not connected to the motherboard with a SATA connection? It uses the M.2 port, right? This motherboard comes with one M.2 port.

This one is beyond me... Haven't dealt with the M.2 standard yet. Doing searches on "reboot loops and M.2 ports" does come up with some hits, so you might try doing that.


Gardens put to bed for the winter. Time for some gaming!
Re: Can't boot up win7 [Re: Melia] #1098927
01/31/17 11:27 AM
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This is new technology for me too, Draclvr.
The SATA port for an M.2 looks different from a normal SATA port.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1pd12WBuRU
It's a sideways port and there is a screw on the opposite end from the port to hold it in.

I'm thinking the BIOS update is needed for it to work correctly.

There is a BIOS update from 10/21/14 that was supposed to improve M.2 compatibility.
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4957#bios
Since you said your BIOS is from 6/17/14, which is older, it may not be new enough to support this M.2 drive properly and that may be the whole problem. You may need a BIOS at least as new as the 10/21/14 BIOS. The 2015/09/18 update is the latest that is not a beta.

Is it possible to boot to Safe Mode without incurring a reboot?
If you can boot to Safe Mode, that might be a way to get the BIOS update installed.

If you can't get the computer to stop rebooting, even in Safe Mode, you'll have to find a workaround. If the computer's USB ports work, you could make a bootable USB flash drive and copy the BIOS flashing files to that. You'd need an empty USB flash drive.
I've used this "Rufus" program before to create a bootable flash drive
https://rufus.akeo.ie/

If you have an old style hard drive lying around, an alternative would be to install Windows on the old drive (temporarily and without activation) in order to boot to the drive and flash the BIOS. Of course that would take more time and requires the spare hard drive.

Re: Can't boot up win7 [Re: Melia] #1098938
01/31/17 12:20 PM
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When my son was doing IT repair work, they used a Linux boot flash drive to work on computers which would not boot up or they couldn't get access to otherwise.

That BIOS update could be the key. I had asked earlier if they had an HDD they could use to install the OS... again, as you mentioned earlier, I can't remember how many times Windows 7 will let you do that. As long as you don't activate it, it might be OK.

How to Create a Bootable Linux USB Flash Drive


Gardens put to bed for the winter. Time for some gaming!
Re: Can't boot up win7 [Re: Draclvr] #1098943
01/31/17 01:14 PM
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Originally Posted By: Draclvr
I can't remember how many times Windows 7 will let you do that. As long as you don't activate it, it might be OK.

Windows 7 will work "normally" for 3 days if you don't type in any key and don't attempt to activate online. At least the Windows 7 Pro version I use did. After that I think the screen turns black and it puts up a message in the lower right of the screen about not being "genuine". Even after that some things will still work.

Re: Can't boot up win7 [Re: Melia] #1098953
01/31/17 02:51 PM
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Hi, this is Earl. I've got Ubuntu running from a DVD. I've also got a second DVD containing a flash program and the BIOS flash data file. There is an autoexec.bat file with the line "Efiflash.exe Z97XSLI.F9". All I want to do is execute the batch file. Double-clicking on the bat file only opens it with an editor. Right clicking I can get a list of applications to use--but which one? I'm familiar with cmd--is there anything like it on linux?


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Re: Can't boot up win7 [Re: Melia] #1098960
01/31/17 04:10 PM
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I think Efiflash.exe is a Windows or DOS-based program.
It might run on Linux with the WINE emulator, but for something as critical as a motherboard BIOS I think I'd try to run it from DOS or Windows.

There seems to be a procedure that installs a BIOS update directly from the BIOS using only the update file described here
https://www.gigabytenordic.com/how-to-update-your-bios-on-gigabyte-motherboards/
Quote:

Download the latest BIOS for your motherboard from gigabyte.com
Unpack the the file you just downloaded.
You now see three files, Efiflash, autoexec together with a file thats called the same as your chosen motherboard. In this example we will use X79UP4.F2 (since we have a GA-X79-UP4).
Take the X79UP4.F2 file, and copy it to a USB flash drive.
Reboot your computer, and during boot press ”END” (like you normally press ”DEL” to enter BIOS”.
GIGABYTE flash tool will now pop up, and you can load your new BIOS from the USB flash drive.
Choose ”Update BIOS from Drive”
Choose your device – press enter and pick your BIOS file.
Done!

If that works with your motherboard, you don't have to worry about booting to an OS. Just copy the Z97XSLI.F9 file to a USB drive and access it through the motherboard (provided this procedure works with your model). It's worth a shot.

Re: Can't boot up win7 [Re: Melia] #1098961
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Earl again. I found the command line processor. But I can't execute the batch file because I can't cd to the cd rom drive that has it. Using the GUI, I was able to copy the flash files to the SSD. Still unable to cd to the partition with the flash files. Again using the GUI, I was able to use Run Software, but it gives the error message "Unable to locate the program."


The four food groups: Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate and HOT chocolate.
Re: Can't boot up win7 [Re: Melia] #1098962
01/31/17 04:45 PM
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If you're using a Linux OS, the file structure is different from Windows. Instead of D: for a DVD drive, the DVD might be mounted as /media/username/discname or some other location depending on Linux version.

You can't run a DOS/Windows executable file directly from Linux. Linux doesn't understand the file without an emulator like WINE. I don't know if WINE is included on a Live Linux DVD. What you can do with a Linux Live DVD is copy files around using the GUI, but not run Windows or DOS files.

DID the instructions I posted above for the using motherboard's built-in BIOS utility not work? You don't need Efiflash.exe for that. You activate the utility by using the END key during boot. Then you point it at the Z97XSLI.F9 file.


Re: Can't boot up win7 [Re: Melia] #1098970
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We got the BIOS flashed. I didn't know about the BIOS flash program built into the BIOS. So it was easy, and we didn't need a bootable DVD.

We are trying now to get the SSD drive to work.Edit: It still won't work. It isn't compatible with the new motherboard. Ideally, if we can use my old, already loaded harddrive, it would solve reinstall of all data and programs and mail addresses problems. Do you know if Microsoft will let people use a harddrive from one computer to another? If not, are there exceptions, as only the motherboard is changed.

Last edited by Melia; 01/31/17 06:02 PM.

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Re: Can't boot up win7 [Re: Melia] #1098972
01/31/17 05:59 PM
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I thought it was odd that a UEFI board didn't have a BIOS flash program built in. Both of mine do. Well, that's one thing down... now to try to solve the rest of the mystery. Sorry I'm not much help with this new interface!


Gardens put to bed for the winter. Time for some gaming!
Re: Can't boot up win7 [Re: Melia] #1098974
01/31/17 06:52 PM
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We've given up installing onto the SSD. We'll use a HDD and go from there. :( Earl thinks the computer found the SSD just fine, but for some reason it wouldn't boot off of it.


The four food groups: Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate and HOT chocolate.
Re: Can't boot up win7 [Re: Melia] #1098978
01/31/17 07:45 PM
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I'm out of ideas!


Gardens put to bed for the winter. Time for some gaming!
Re: Can't boot up win7 [Re: Melia] #1098981
01/31/17 08:17 PM
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Oh well! Nice try!


The four food groups: Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate and HOT chocolate.
Re: Can't boot up win7 [Re: Melia] #1098984
01/31/17 09:21 PM
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I've read that M.2 drives can be finicky.
Maybe you can use the M.2 drive as a secondary drive for storage, even if it can't be used as a bootable drive.
At least your BIOS is up to date.

Originally Posted By: Melia
Do you know if Microsoft will let people use a harddrive from one computer to another? If not, are there exceptions, as only the motherboard is changed.

Windows 7 might deactivate and need to be reactivated. Depending on your Windows 7 license, you might have to call Microsoft and explain you had to change your motherboard. Or it might reactivate on its own. I think you'll be able to keep the Windows installation though.

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