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?

I'll delete your post from the other thread and move my response to 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.

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.

Did he try reinstalling?
Maybe you have to install while the BIOS is set to Legacy.

What brand and model SSD does he have?

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?

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.

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.

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.

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


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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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?

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/

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.

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."

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.

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.

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!

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.

I'm out of ideas!

Oh well! Nice try!

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.


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.

I have done it successfully twice without having to reactivate or call. It can be finicky though... only one way to find out!

What did you do? Just pop it in and hope it worked or did you do something to ready the computer? What's the "finicky" you're talking about?

I had a Windows 7 installation that deactivated itself after I attempted to install MS Office. There was no reason why it should have deactivated -- no hardware change, just some bug associated with installing Office I guess.

If you click Start button --> Control Panel --> System
(or Start button --> right-click Computer --> Properties)
you should get a window with a section for "Windows activation" at the bottom of the window. If Windows has deactivated, you should see a link to "Activate Windows now" in that section. The window looks like this
http://www.kodyaz.com/images/windows-7-activation/activate-windows7.jpg

As long as your computer has an Internet connection and everything else is OK, clicking that link should make Windows re-activate in a few seconds.

The above is the way I did it. There are other ways to start the Activation manager, such as clicking the Start button and typing the word
activate
into the Search box.

If Windows doesn't reactivate, you'll have to call Microsoft for help. They may have a long key to give you, so keep a way of recording it nearby.

More here
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-make-your-windows-7-pc-genuine-again-after-a-hardware-upgrade/


It's a word I saw used when Googling for solutions to problems with M.2 drives.

What Jenny was talking about... sometimes you have to call them and sometimes it reactivates on its own and sometimes you just pop the drive it and boot it up. Since this is a new motherboard, you will need to install the motherboard drivers on the HDD.

This is the biggest mess we've ever encountered with getting a computer up and running. I got up this morning and found this note (husband is sleeping after wrestling with this thing for hours last night). "Need to get online to install GeForce Experience - NVidia graphics card software; Windows isn't detecting Network Adapter; need to install driver for Network Adapter; missing drivers for Ethernet Controller, PCI Simple communications controller, SM bus controller, universal serial bus controller. I installed the motherboard updates. I've yet to connect to the internet and left the internet cable unplugged."

Oh - my - goodness! Edit: All the above might work now that the motherboard has been update. Stay tuned.

Download the drivers from
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4957#dl
and burn them to a disc using another computer.

Did the motherboard come with a driver CD?
You could use that if you're having trouble moving drivers over. The drivers from the CD are probably old, but they'd probably work and get you started.

You need the LAN driver, and possibly also the chipset drivers if you're going to get Internet working.

A lot of your problems are from your motherboard being newer than Windows 7 -- so Windows 7 doesn't have the built-in drivers for them.

We're done! I'm up and running AND with my original drive so new configuration didn't have to happen. Finally! It's been a long, tiring week for my husband. He went online on his own computer and downloaded drivers for all he needed, then used the CD to install them on my computer. Ahhh! So nice to be back!

Thank you, both of you, for all the help you gave us. You are the greatest!

Glad to hear you were able to work it out.
Too bad we couldn't get the M.2 drive working as the main drive.

Oh, oh! One little problem...why won't the computer recognize my secondary hard drive? It recognizes the external one just fine but not the 1 terabyte drive that's there for backups and has my pictures folder on it.

See if the BIOS recognizes there's a second drive.
Check the connections if the BIOS doesn't see it.
Is this a normal SATA drive or is it the M.2?

If the BIOS sees the drive and Windows File Manager doesn't,
use the Windows 7 Start Search and look for
diskmgmt.msc
If you run diskmgmt.msc (the disk management tool), it should show your drive space even if the drives aren't formatted with a file system Windows understands and/or have no drive letter. See if the drive shows up in there (don't format it, but you can assign a drive letter to it if it has none and looks normal otherwise)

Earl said BIOS does not "see" the drive. It is a normal SATA drive. We took out the M.2.

Try reseating the cables, both the data and the power cables.
Try plugging into a different SATA connector and using a different power connector.

He said he's already done all the above to no effect.

Do you have another computer you could put the drive in to test whether it works there?
If it works in another computer, then there might be some BIOS setting on the GA-Z97X-SLI motherboard that affects whether it's being detected. After flashing the BIOS, did you check AHCI, Legacy, CSM settings?

The C drive had be turned back to IDE. It wouldn't work otherwise. But he can check all the rest. Edit: OK...he checked the drive on his computer which has the BIOS set to ACHI. The computer I'm using is not able to boot the C drive on ACHI so he had to change it IDE.Which is weird, because our daughter's external drive shows up just fine on this computer via a USB 3. But not my 3 terabyte...it doesn't show up. The files are all there, thank goodness. I just can't access them. He's going to try checking the Gigabyte motherboard website and see what else he can update on the drivers.

It sounds like the storage drive was from a computer that used AHCI and Windows 7 needs AHCI drivers to read it. Maybe one of the drivers on the Gigabyte website under where it says "SATA RAID/AHCI."

At least you know the drive and your files are OK.

OK. It's been days since we contacted you about the hard disc that the computer can't "see." We contacted Gigabyte support and they said that with new hardware we should have reinstalled windows 7 to the "C" drive because there could be registry problems associated with a new mother board.
Well, we didn't do that because you all indicated it was possible to use the old hard drive successfully and not have to re-format the entire drive with a new win 7 OP, re-install EVERYTHING (we hate Microsoft for making this such a destructive process), etc.
Two if the hard drives work - the "C" drive that we boot from and our daughter's external hard drive where she keeps all of her pictures. It's loaded so she used a secondary drive to warehouse everything. BUT, the hard drive where I keep my pictures won't show up. Why? We can't figure this out. We tried using it as an external drive - didn't work either.
We don't think contacting Gigabyte support will help with this. They are so used to doing things one way I don't think they've tried to figure out alternative routes like you guys.
I just used CCleaner on the registry in hopes it would help. It didn't. I was thinking of using the drive on my husband's computer and finding a way to share all the files so I could see the pictures, upload to the hard drive as needed, in short, use it from my computer to his. I don't even know if that's a possibility.
Help!

I think it is because if Windows 7 was installed while the BIOS was set to "Legacy/IDE" -- that it can't read drives that were created on a computer where the BIOS was set to AHCI. You'd think that installing the AHCI drivers in Windows 7 would allow it to read the backup drive, but apparently not.

I don't see a solution unless you ...

1. Get a new hard drive of sufficient size
2. Format the new drive on the computer that's using Legacy/IDE so it's ready to copy files to.
3. Remove the new drive from the Legacy/IDE computer.
4. Connect both the new drive and the backup drive to the computer that is able to see the backup drive.
5. Copy all files from the backup drive to the new drive.
6. Remove the new drive from the computer that's using AHCI and put it in the computer that's using Legacy/IDE.
7. Check that the files are viewable.

You'll end up with two backup drives. I think this is the safest method.

There are how-to's online for changing Windows 7 that was installed using Legacy/IDE to one that can boot AHCI. Doing that wouldn't require a new hard drive, but you said your Windows 7 wouldn't boot after you installed it with the BIOS set to AHCI.

If you want to try it anyway, Google something like

change windows 7 to ahci

and you'll find how-to's like this
http://winaero.com/blog/switch-from-ide-to-achi-after-installing-windows-7-or-windows-8/
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/wind...0b-219fcaab2ac9
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help...-the-boot-drive
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/98737...alling-windows/

Apparently this doesn't work for everyone, so I think the 2nd hard drive is safer.

Alternatively you could get a 2nd external drive and copy the files on the backup to that using the computer that can read the drive.