Setup:
Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P rev.1.1
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400
4GB G-Skill DDR2-800
Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB SATAII 32MB Cache
ATI Radeon 4890 1GB
Microsoft Windows Vista x64
Just built this new rig, but have a major problem. I am unable to install Vista. After slowly getting to the partition selection screen, I click the only partition on the drive and click either next or format and setup tells me 'Failed to format selected partition. Error: 80070057. I have tried a different drive with the same results. I've put in the drive into my tech station with no issues. I have also tried AHCI mode and loaded drivers, but to no avail. Any suggestions? Is there something I'm missing here?
Thanks.
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you can also test your drive (i know you said it's ok), but it tests also your disk controller on the mobo. (can be a bad mobo)
download ubcd : http://www.ultimatebootcd.
and run the WD diags
btw - what do you mean with "After slowly getting to the partition selection screen" ??
HDD is plugged into SATA 0 while the bluray drive on SATA 1. This shows the HDD as the primary master during POST. I also have a cable running to the front eSATA port on SATA 2. The motherboard also has two other SATA ports named GSATA 0 and GSATA 1. I will give it a shot, but I don't think it is the cause.
I have tested the drive using WD Diagnostics in Windows without any issues. I was able to create, copy to and read from the drive on my tech station.
For some reason, it takes at least 5 minutes to reach the install window, then a few more to get through the product key section, then to drive selection.
>> I was able to create, copy to and read from the drive on my tech station. << you clearly did not understand my post - i told you to test the drive on the mobo in question !
>> it takes at least 5 minutes to reach the install window << clearly, something is wrong here, we should sort that out first !
I've tried testing the drive on the GIgabyte board. Using UBCD, WD Diag 5.04, I get the error code 0132, which according to WD's site says:
Command Aborted. Please ensure that you are using the version of diagnostic utility corresponding to either newer or older Western Digital drives.
This is odd seeing as how it shows me this is the version of software to use.
Sorry nobus, I should have posted this already...
ok - on your other system, delete all the partitions
then try to install Vista again
see second last comment : http://forums.techarena.in
there is clearly something wrong with your hardware.
i suggest testing ram and disk ; download ubcd : http://www.ultimatebootcd.
and run memtest86+ and the WD diag
You're not gonna believe this. I thought, just for the sake of trying it, to 'Load Optimized Defaults'. I've never used the options as I prefer to set it up myself. I did this, and everything went smooth! After loading defaults, I checked the BIOS settings to see what had changed....Nothing. Every setting was where I had set it before. Does this option change settings not available to the end user? If so, I'd like to know what it does as this was a bizarre issue.
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by: maninblac1Posted on 2009-04-25 at 21:32:03ID: 24234615
There's a handful of things to try...but this is the most likely issue, make sure your HDD is connected to SATA port 1. Your board has 6 SATA ports, the ICH8 and ICH9 I/O chips only support "bootable" drives in slots 1/2/3/4...ideally you put your HDD in 1 or 2 and DVD in 3 or 4. If you've put your hard drive in SATA port 6 by mistake....windows will see it, but install will fail, cause the drive isn't in a bootable location. This is a hardware limitation of the intel ICH chips. I'd always put your primary boot device in port 1.
Put your drive in IDE mode. You're not going to get much "performance" benefit from a single drive in AHCI mode. And this will rule out bum drivers.
Also try turning off windows updates during install.