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Can not install Any Windows on z170

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capwn2626

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Mar 17, 2016
With this new uefi bios thing it can't find my CD/DVD drive so can't install my windows cd. So I downloaded a Windows 7 boot on USB which it does pick up but then it still demands a cd drive! This is a common problem with gigabyte motherboards from what I've read and they have a dedicated blog about it, essentially the board requires something that is not on the Windows install. They made a tool to bypass it but then when it asks which hdd to install onto it says I need drivers for my hdd! I can't even find such drivers on a working PC.

http://gigabytedaily.blogspot.ca/2015/09/having-trouble-installing-windows-7-by.html
 
W8 and newer will install without issue... if you were considering upgrading to W10, now is a great time as Z170 doesn't technically support W7.

The problem with XHCI USB drivers typically. I used that tool on my W7 USB install and it worked just fine.
 
Oh believe me, I'd happily pay the $200 for Windows 10 if it 100% worked. Actually downloaded an unofficial copy for a test before spending $200 and it had exactly the same error, needs Magical drivers for my HDD that cannot be found anywhere.

Also, was talking to a Microsoft tech support and they said I had activated my official W7 on a different board so can't reuse it on this?

Which only complicates matters. So either way I will buy Windows10, but for now that's not the answer unfortuantly. This problem runs much deeper.
 
capwn2626 said:
Oh believe me, I'd happily pay the $200 for Windows 10 if it 100% worked. Actually downloaded an unofficial copy for a test before spending $200 and it had exactly the same error, needs Magical drivers for my HDD that cannot be found anywhere.
Click to expand...

That's not normal when running from a USB drive with Windows 8.1 and later!

Even Windows 7 should be fine when setup is ran from a DVD.

Thus, you could be required to RMA the motherboard! It may have a bad SATA controller.

Additionally, it can be a red herring and symptom of a bad SATA cable or a bad drive.
 
You can try different programs to make the bootable usb. You can retry making the bootable usb itself, sometimes it just doesnt work and you have to give it a few tries. You can try using different usb ports .
 
It finds the USB but still needs drivers. I also can't get the board to boot from Dvd as it can't find it in uefi bios. So dvd and USB sticks appear to be out of the question.

- - - Updated - - -

"Select the driver to install" have tried downloading all sorts of data/hdd drivers but nothing seems to be compatible.
 
is this a new build? are you sure youre using a usb 2.0/1.1 port on the back panel? have you read the manual as to what sata ports you should be hooking what peripherals to?
 
Yes new build. Yes using usb2 slots (tried ones on back of machine and also in my monitor, both work fine and see the USB) no just stuck sata in without thinking about which one etc
 
Make sure you're using the intel ports and not an add on like asmedia
I'll move this to Intel Motherboards not AMD
 
Nope. In uefi it says sata controller enabled, it's set to ahci (only other option is road, that doesn't work either) and in serial ata port 0 it says empty. Same for other ports.

It's a WD 1TB hdd
 
When you boot up and see the Bios screen press F12 so you can boot with the CD that has windows.
 
Confirm that the drive is plugged in properly, receiving power and is on. If it is try other sata ports just to see if it will list in bios. how old is the drive?
 
capwn2626, I would suggest you put you rig specs in your signature. This is a second thread and we still don't really know what parts we're dealing with. It does help us help you.
 
WD 1tb Hdd, purchased new yesterday.

I rejigged sata cables, tried different ports and nothing. Though it feels warm so think it's working.

When I hit F12 it automatically boots from HDD which it finds but says "reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media in selected boot device and press a key"

So I'm using USB to bypass this step, even if cd worked we'd run into the same issue.
 
Does it do this with any other drive?

Is the HDD intialized and formatted? If not, try doing that.

(sorry if you did that already..didnt really read through it all)
 
EarthDog said:
Does it do this with any other drive?

Is the HDD intialized and formatted? If not, try doing that.
Should it matter if it's formatted? Seems odd that he can boot to a device that isn't listed in bios.

(sorry if you did that already..didnt really read through it all)
Click to expand...

What's the boot priority? Set usbhdd first, then hard drive. IDK o_O?
 
When you select F12 during the boot up you should be able to select what device you want to boot, select DVD. Sounds like your not hitting the F12 key repeatedly.
 
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