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Error Message "Invalid System Disk"

1K views 4 replies 3 participants last post by  Comm.Adm 
#1 ·
After formatting I keep getting error message "Invalid system disk
Replace the disk, and then press any key"

I use this drive for an old PC that was running Xubuntu but now want to reinstall Win 7 after I went complete Linux on my main machine. I know it works. Every article online says the drive is either dead, infected, or whatever. I'm also booting from a flash drive, another thing I read is it's trying to boot from CD instead of USB and change boot order to fix, obviously that's what I'm already doing.

It's formatted fat32 with MBR. Any ideas what to do?

Thank you.
 
#2 ·
The machine is not seeing the drive with with the windows setup. You're trying to set up from your optical drive?
If you can't get anywhere changing the boot order in the BIOS, you can try setting the BIOS back to default setting and then try booting from your optical or USB again. Sometimes that gets it "unstuck". If this is an older BIOS, disable the diskette drive (if there's a separate option for that).
 
#5 ·
No, I'm trying to install Windows from USB flash drive. The problem is with the hard drive. For some reason it's not recognizing the windows install. Linux distros see the hdd fine.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
Not to nitpic but I believe you meant to say that it's the windows installation routine that is not recognizing your HDD and not the other way around. Usually windows will get HDD information from the BIOS. I would verify that the BIOS is recognizing the HDD properly (IE: with proper size parameters) so check that first.

If the BIOS sees the HDD correctly but windows still doesn't, then it's proabably a good indication that the HDD is functional but the issue is with windows not recognizing it properly.
Usually, during the windows installation, there will be a portion of the install that asks where (what partition) you would like windows installed what kind of formatting (FAT, NTFS, etc...) Depending on what options you select, it formats the partition/drive and then proceeds with the windows install. From the message: "Invalid system disk. Replace the disk, and then press any key" this is not what's happening.

I was confused when you replied "For some reason it's not recognizing the windows install." but I get it now.

The message you're seeing is a BIOS message not a windows install error message because windows has not begun to install, yet. You got that "Invalid system disk...." message during the POST, right after you power on your machine.

If you've performed a low-level format on the HDD and the MBR on the HDD has been affected, that might render it unrecognizable to certain older BIOSes.
 
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