Problem with Vista 64bit

[jmp9782]

Hello,

I had followed a thread posted by 'bilboxxx' about a problem he had with Vista 64bit and a WD hard drive.

I had a similar problem and I took my drive and put in a different computer that runs XP and formatted the drive. I was then able to put the drive in a new computer and load vista 64bit on it.

Everything was okay. I installed the drivers for my motherboard, VGA, sound, wireless, etc. I turned the computer off for the night and then when I went to turn it on in the morning I get the "cannot find a primary drive" error.

My computer's specs are as follows:

http://reviews.cnet.com/desktops/asu...-33699688.html

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks

JP

[Niclo Iste]

Double check in the bios that the drive is present. If it is I'm assuming it's SATA on that system and you should make sure that the boot sequence is set to the hard drive first or the cd-rom then hard drive. You may have to specify which hard drive or what port the drive is plugged into depending on the bios.

[slgrieb]

Howdy, jmp9782! Welcome to WinDrivers! As a general rule, most problems related to hard drives are caused by bad hard drives. Yes, even brand new drives. You can find an a drive diagnostic tool for your drive here and you should download the diagnostic to a working computer, burn a bootable CD, and report the results.

[jmp9782]

I have checked the drive with seatools and it passed the test.

I used windows xp to format and partition the drive and now vista can recognize it. I am installing vista on it right now and it is working.

I have already done this before but after installing the drivers when I went to turn the computer on it couldnt recognize the drive.

Thanks

JP

[Ferrit]

I dont think where you formatted it has anything at all to do with it.

[jmp9782]

Okay so after taking the PC to Geek Squad, we found out that the MB is shot. I can either pay twice the amount and let them fix it or just find a similar board online and stick it in the computer.

The MB that is in the computer now is:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...ards-_-NA-_-NA


It is discontinued. I need a similar board that will be compatible to my processor and memory. I tried to check the specifications of a board and I just need a confirmation that this board will work instead of the asus one with my computer and I wont have to buy anything else.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128467

thanks

JP

[Guts3d]

The chip will cross over; however the ram won't. Old ram is DDR2 and the new board is DDR3. I looked on E-bay, your old board is still for sale there. A little pricey, though. Link

[slgrieb]

The chip will cross over; however the ram won't. Old ram is DDR2 and the new board is DDR3. I looked on E-bay, your old board is still for sale there. A little pricey, though. Link

I'd give serious thought to going ahead with the buy on the Gigabyte board and purchase some DDR3. DDR3 is cheaper than DDR2 right now, and the difference is only going to get wider; RAM is currently heading up a bit in price.

If you decide you want to increase your memory, even if you do it during the next 3 to 6 months, I think you are going to be unpleasantly surprised at the cost of DDR2. So, rather than spend way too much with the Geek Squad, or buy a too expensive direct replacement for your current board, I'd invest in something with a little more future life.