0

I recently got an ASUS K55A series laptop with Windows 8 on it, and have been trying to load Windows 7 on it for days to no avail, and recently I discovered how to get my Windows 7 install DVD to boot from the BIOS, but I deleted all of my Windows 8 system information from both partitions of my HDD and Windows 7 setup says it cannot install on the disc because of a partition format issue. I did not delete the recovery HDD partition for Windows 8, but I can't get the HDD to show up in my boot menu in BIOS, and none of the F keys work to get to recovery mode (only DEL and F2 work to get me into BIOS)

Hennes
  • 65,142
Tom
  • 13
  • 2
    What is your question? – Scott Chamberlain Nov 29 '12 at 22:51
  • The HDD is not even detected by your BIOS? That doesn't sound good... – Karan Nov 29 '12 at 22:52
  • It sounds like your trying to use a file system Windows 7 doesn't support. More information is required to help you. – Ramhound Nov 29 '12 at 23:47
  • @Karan

    http://i.imgur.com/hlkgV.jpg

    This is what the BIOS recognizes in the boot menu.

    When Windows 7 setup utility starts I can get to the part where Windows asks you to set up a drive to install the OS onto, but every partition [there's like, 6 of them, the two main partitions, the recovery file, and a couple other un-named partitions] says Windows cannot be installed because of the partition format.

     – Tom Nov 30 '12 at 00:05
  • So what you're saying is, the BIOS doesn't detect the HDD at all, but Windows setup does, it just doesn't allow you to install on any of the partitions? This is the first time I'm reading of such a case, where the BIOS is not able to detect a drive but Windows setup is able to do so. Doesn't seem to make sense TBH. What you can do I guess is boot from a Linux LiveCD/USB and get rid of all the funky partitions (provided your data's backed up, of course). Hopefully you can then create partitions anew from Windows setup and get it to install successfully. – Karan Nov 30 '12 at 00:14
  • @Karan

    I'll give that a shot, what version of Linux would you recommend?

     – Tom Nov 30 '12 at 00:56
  • Ubuntu, or you can directly download an ISO of Parted Magic or GParted. – Karan Nov 30 '12 at 00:58
  • That did the trick, Windows 7 is installing now. – Tom Nov 30 '12 at 05:53
  • F9 should be the key to get you into the ASUS Windows restore –  Dec 28 '12 at 02:59

1 Answers1

1

According to the manual, that notebook supports UEFI boot, which replaces the BIOS for booting.

In addition to that, if you do have UEFI enabled and you're trying to use a 32-bit Windows 7 install source it won't work, as UEFI booting is only supported in Win7 64-bit.

For that notebook UEFI booting is optional. So if it's enabled, disable it and try installing Windows again.

user541686
  • 23,918
Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007
  • 112,807