Vista install woes (new problems)

Alrighty. This is very interesting.

I go to install Vista. At this time I have one 80gb IDE drive, 1 200gb Sata II drive, one 80gb Sata I drive.

I install Vista on the 200gb drive w/o needing any drivers or anything what-so-ever. 4-5 days ago I unplugged just the power connection to the IDE drive becuase I was getting ready to ditch it. Two days ago I ditch the 80gb IDE drive for a Sata II drive. After putting in the new drive Windows cannot boot. Ok I think w/e must have accidently installed on the IDE drive. I want to install on this new Sata II drive. I try to install and I get a message saying that none of my drives are good enough for Vista. The 80gb Drive I am trying to install to is set as "active".

So i cannot install on either of my 3 Sata hard drives, very weird. I go install the IDE drive again and I can instantly install Vista on ANY of my hard drives, all 3 Sata drives and the IDE w/o problems. WTF!? Remove the IDE drive and instantly I cannot install Vista on any drives again...I tried using ALL drivers I could find on the internet, the driver cd that comes with it, everywhere. Nothing worked.

So I plugged the IDE drive back in, Installed Vista on my 80gb Sata II drive and thought I was doing good. After a few hours of running great I turned off the computer and removed power+Ide connector from the IDE hard drive while leaving the cable connected to the mobo. Started it up and Vista automaticly booted to a recovery thing where it told me something has happened and it needs to fix it. Ok so it does its thing and it boots up great!

Finally I think I am done with my problem. Computer runes mint for 5-6h. I get home from work, do some stuff and decide hey lets remove that hard drive. Turn off the system, remove the Ide cable + hard drive (had to unplug sata drives from MB to get the drive out but plugged all back in) and boom. It doesnt boot.

After playing around alot today I managed to get a BootMGR is missing prompt. All appears to be there on the Sata drive as well as the IDE hard drive.



To sum it all up
1. Install vista on Sata drive with IDE drive in machine.
2.Unhook IDE drive from power for ~3 days sytem runs great.
3. unplug IDE connector and physically remove IDE Hard drive and I cannot boot nor install Windows with ANY drivers.
4. With IDE drive hooked up I can install Vista on any hard-drive without a hitch.
5.unhook IDE drive again, from power + Ide cable (cable still in MB) system boots and Vista fixes a problem
6. Come home to computer running great. Turn off again remove HD and cable, no boot. Finally shooting a BootMGR is missing error.



Please try to give me hand, I am so lost.

Yeah, I had a hell of a time once getting Vista to install.

Have you tried formating? If that dont work, try using a bootdisk to delete the partition, then format with the boot disk (it is okay to use FAT32), then try to install Vista. I would also disconnect (power and sata) all the drives you wont need during install.

After fighting with it for days on end I finally decided to go over everything again. Basics first. Than it came to me, what if I only have one drive in at the time of installation, I tried that after all.....didn't I?

Nope because I am dumb. I am not sure why Vista cannot do anything with 3 sata drives plugged in (Maybe because one is Sata I and others are not) but with just one drive plugged in, it went right away.

Thanks for the advice though Oroka.