Windows 7 Windows 7 will not start,re-install or repair

[goodevans67]

Okies, so today I backed up my files when prompted by the little flag icon, they went on an external HDD. Updated everything. Went back to pc after tea, and when i switch on it can't boot windows.

1.. it asks me to put the cd in, when i do it goes through to the option to upgrade, repair or custom. If i try to custom install it tells me no drives were found.

2It won't let me upgrade either.

So i put the disc for the motherboard etc in and ask it to repair

it says
IDE drive doesn't exist or ALL primary partitions are occupied



HELP!!!

 

[Trouble]

goodevans67;
Hello and welcome to the forums.
First please disconnect all peripheral devices (USB, firewire, esata, etc. especially hard drives.
Boot your system and enter the BIOS setup.
Make sure your BIOS is seeing your primary hard disk and that it is selected as the first boot device.
Keep us posted.
Regards
Randy

 

[goodevans67]

stupid question, but how do i know? I'm in the BIOS screen now, in the list where it says First Boot device, it has Hard Disk and external hard drive is not connected, so i assume thats the pc's HDD?

 

[Trouble]

I assume that your assumption is correct. If you have multiple internal hard disks it may require an additional selection. Is the Hard Drive listed and identified properly in the system bios? Have you done anything else in the bios that may have changed the mode that the hard disk controller operates at? Have you changed it from AHCI to Native IDE or Compatability Mode? If so you will probably need to return it to it's proper setting.
And when you did the backup after being prompted, did the prompt include any warning regarding any pending hard drive problems / failure?

 

[goodevans67]

Not changed anything in the BIOS, wouldn't dare. The only thing i did was back up to ext HDD and update. The updates included IE9 if that makes a difference, but there were LOADS of them. Prompt didn't mention any hard drive issues, it was just telling me I'd not done any back up yet (pc is only 2 weeks old, from overclockers, the link below is the exact rig if its any help

"Cataclysm Hogger" Intel Core i3 540 3.06GHz @ 4.20GHz DDR3 World Of Warcraft Limited Edition System []