No Hard Drive/ Second Hand Desktop

Lord Snooty

New Member
Hi,

I bought a used computer from an estate sale this morning and seemed like a nice deal, I had first dibs on it as I was first in the line. Anyway, it powered up ok and I got it home and it has no hard drive so I cant boot it up. My question is can I simply buy a new hard drive and use a flash drive with windows 7 pro installer to get it running? There is no OS disc but does have the Windows 7 authorization sticker on the case. Here are the specs on this machine, I got it for $140... Thanks

iBuyPower Level 10 custom CPU case

1200 Watt -- Thermaltake Toughpower W0156RU Power Supply

Quad SLI Ready, ATI Radeon HD 5870 - 1GB - CrossFire Mode (Dual Cards),

ASUS P6X58D Premium -- Intel X58 Chipset CrossFire and SLI Supported w/8-ch HD Audio, Triple-Channel DDR3, 2 Gb Lan, 3 PCI-E MB,

12 GB [2 GB X6] DDR3-1600 Triple Memory Module - Corsair,

Asetek Liquid CPU Cooling System (x58)

Intel® Core™ i7 975 Processor Extreme Edition (4x 3.33GHz/8MB L3 Cache)
 

Laquer Head

Well-Known Member
download windows 10 onto a usb stick and use the windows key on side on tower to activate...

side note: that was an expensive CPU in its day!!! $1200 CAD range
 

Lord Snooty

New Member
download windows 10 onto a usb stick and use the windows key on side on tower to activate...

side note: that was an expensive CPU in its day!!! $1200 CAD range


So, do I add the new HDD first then have the UBS stick ready after the format? I have never bought a used PC nevermind one without a hard drive. On another note I picked this up so my son could play CSGO and Player Unknown Battlegrounds so he gets off my PC which he has recently tried to get on as much as he can. You think I got a reasonable deal for the specs?
 

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
Download the media creation tool, create the usb installation drive. Boot to it and install. Enter the windows 7 activation key when asked for a key. Finish installing windows and you will be set to go. It will automatically activate when it gets to the desktop.
 

Laquer Head

Well-Known Member
So, do I add the new HDD first then have the UBS stick ready after the format? I have never bought a used PC nevermind one without a hard drive. On another note I picked this up so my son could play CSGO and Player Unknown Battlegrounds so he gets off my PC which he has recently tried to get on as much as he can. You think I got a reasonable deal for the specs?

For $140 yeah..to get a mostly complete system..good deal in my eyes..not new stuff..but in its day this was a very solid machine.

Truthfully, its probably a blessing in disguise there was no hard drive...you'd want to reformat anyhow so buying a brand-new drive gives you fresh, reliable, and since its what houses your o/s and data its just as well.

Buy yourself a SSD or HDD ...minimum 240/250GB ..but as large as you need really.. I'd recommend an SSD for the extra speed/performance and since that board has sata 6g you could grab a Samsung 850EVO SSD for like $104 on newegg.

One thing..if that liquid cooler has been on there a while...who knows how long the things been on. It may at very least need new thermal paste..but a visual inspection too to make sure its not leaking and also that the pump is still working.
 

Lord Snooty

New Member
Download the media creation tool, create the usb installation drive. Boot to it and install. Enter the windows 7 activation key when asked for a key. Finish installing windows and you will be set to go. It will automatically activate when it gets to the desktop.
Thanks I appreciate you taking the time to reply, I will give it a go and report back.
 

Lord Snooty

New Member
For $140 yeah..to get a mostly complete system..good deal in my eyes..not new stuff..but in its day this was a very solid machine.

Truthfully, its probably a blessing in disguise there was no hard drive...you'd want to reformat anyhow so buying a brand-new drive gives you fresh, reliable, and since its what houses your o/s and data its just as well.

Buy yourself a SSD or HDD ...minimum 240/250GB ..but as large as you need really.. I'd recommend an SSD for the extra speed/performance and since that board has sata 6g you could grab a Samsung 850EVO SSD for like $104 on newegg.

One thing..if that liquid cooler has been on there a while...who knows how long the things been on. It may at very least need new thermal paste..but a visual inspection too to make sure its not leaking and also that the pump is still working.
I thought it was, the case is bloody huge and weighs nearly 50-60 lbs I think...will take a close look at the liquid cooler, it powered up fine and only had a small noisy fan under the first HDD bay. I wonder if I can just disconnect that fan? It seems to have plenty of ventilation in the case and two large fans gping...Thanks for the recommendation on SsD's, he is only likely to use it for the web and games. I just hope it works when I add a drive.
 

Laquer Head

Well-Known Member
I'd get a SSD and download windows 10.. I'd still recommend giving it a once over - honestly..given the age of it, I'd personally remove the liquid cooler and get a decent air cooler or something new.. If it hasn't failed yet -it will
 

Lord Snooty

New Member
I'd get a SSD and download windows 10.. I'd still recommend giving it a once over - honestly..given the age of it, I'd personally remove the liquid cooler and get a decent air cooler or something new.. If it hasn't failed yet -it will
Assuming I can still get win 10 with a win 7 activation key, with this i7 chip I would download the 64 version? The activation key is for win7 pro
 

Laquer Head

Well-Known Member
Assuming I can still get win 10 with a win 7 activation key, with this i7 chip I would download the 64 version? The activation key is for win7 pro
64-bit yes,,, and whatever the key is for.. download/install the same version... (7 home--->10 home.... 7pro---> 10pro)
 

Lord Snooty

New Member
Well, I think I bought a dud...got a message that hard disk not detected, then BSOD. Went into BIOS and checked all there that it was set to SATA and ACHI, then tried the windows 10 setup on the usb stick on a boot up and it sits with the windows 10 logo on the monitor and does nothing. I tried the HD on two different SATA connectors and made no difference. I am guessing that this has something to do with the motherboard? Well, it was worth a punt I suppose.
 

Laquer Head

Well-Known Member
Well, I think I bought a dud...got a message that hard disk not detected, then BSOD. Went into BIOS and checked all there that it was set to SATA and ACHI, then tried the windows 10 setup on the usb stick on a boot up and it sits with the windows 10 logo on the monitor and does nothing. I tried the HD on two different SATA connectors and made no difference. I am guessing that this has something to do with the motherboard? Well, it was worth a punt I suppose.

So you grabbed a brand new hdd or ssd.. and tried 2 of the sata ports.. what about the other 6?? That board has 8 Sata 6g ports total.. 6 on an Intel controller and 2 on a marvell controller..although the 2 on the marvell may be data drives only..and not boot drive..regardless try the other ports!

did you set the boot priority in BIOS to that usb stick with windows 10 installer on it? and make sure its in a usb 2.0 port and not a 3.0 port
 

Lord Snooty

New Member
So you grabbed a brand new hdd or ssd.. and tried 2 of the sata ports.. what about the other 6?? That board has 8 Sata 6g ports total.. 6 on an Intel controller and 2 on a marvell controller..although the 2 on the marvell may be data drives only..and not boot drive..regardless try the other ports!

did you set the boot priority in BIOS to that usb stick with windows 10 installer on it? and make sure its in a usb 2.0 port and not a 3.0 port
There are two ports with connectors I tried them both, the other 4 have none. I am not sure if I can access any of the other ports, though I see 6 in the BIOS. You were right in regard to the USB ports as I had the stick in a 3.0, I changed it to the 2.0 and it worked, though the product key did not work.....
 

Lord Snooty

New Member
So you grabbed a brand new hdd or ssd.. and tried 2 of the sata ports.. what about the other 6?? That board has 8 Sata 6g ports total.. 6 on an Intel controller and 2 on a marvell controller..although the 2 on the marvell may be data drives only..and not boot drive..regardless try the other ports!

did you set the boot priority in BIOS to that usb stick with windows 10 installer on it? and make sure its in a usb 2.0 port and not a 3.0 port
Oh and first I tried an old HDD I had lying around, it did not detect, then it showed the Win XP loading page then BSOD. ( I was hoping I could reformat it). Then I inserted a new HDD, and it was still not detected.
 

Laquer Head

Well-Known Member
There are two ports with connectors I tried them both, the other 4 have none. I am not sure if I can access any of the other ports, though I see 6 in the BIOS. You were right in regard to the USB ports as I had the stick in a 3.0, I changed it to the 2.0 and it worked, though the product key did not work.....

The other 4 have no connectors?? what do you mean, like they are broken off? If this is your board --> ASUS P6X58D Premium you have 4 light blue sata 6gb and 2 white sata 6g/// they are all together.

The likely reason the key didn't work is because you don't have the original hard drive that had that windows install on it to do the upgrade - so its as if you have a new system thats never had an o/s on it.
 

Laquer Head

Well-Known Member
Oh and first I tried an old HDD I had lying around, it did not detect, then it showed the Win XP loading page then BSOD. ( I was hoping I could reformat it). Then I inserted a new HDD, and it was still not detected.

Using an old drive with xp on it will do nothing for you..it wont load/boot anything.
 

Lord Snooty

New Member
The other 4 have no connectors?? what do you mean, like they are broken off? If this is your board --> ASUS P6X58D Premium you have 4 light blue sata 6gb and 2 white sata 6g/// they are all together.

The likely reason the key didn't work is because you don't have the original hard drive that had that windows install on it to do the upgrade - so its as if you have a new system thats never had an o/s on it.
I see the 4 blue and two white on the board, the connectors I was talking about are the ones that go directly into the HD, I have only two but I swapped them around on the board but no luck. I swapped out one that was going to the front of the machine that had an E-Sata connector. The bios says that it does not detect any of the SATA slots, all 6 of them. Maybe this is a stupid question, is there any chance I could do harm to the new HD by attaching it to this old computer? Reason I ask is I don't want to throw good money after bad, I can use the new HD in my normal machine as a secondary drive..
 

Laquer Head

Well-Known Member
I'm kinda confused now.. you basically wanna run the new HDD/SSD sata cable from drive to one of those top 2 white/grey sata 6g ports... then the other cable for power..one end to drive one end into the power supply..thats all.

In BIOS boot from the USB drive that you downloaded windows too, click save and reboot.

the setup process should start.

Unless you need to manually enable sata ports on that board..I'm not sure..
 

Lord Snooty

New Member
I'm kinda confused now.. you basically wanna run the new HDD/SSD sata cable from drive to one of those top 2 white/grey sata 6g ports... then the other cable for power..one end to drive one end into the power supply..thats all.

In BIOS boot from the USB drive that you downloaded windows too, click save and reboot.

the setup process should start.

Unless you need to manually enable sata ports on that board..I'm not sure..
The new HD did not come with a SATA cable so I am using the ones that are connected to the two bays from the two blue SATA ports (which there are 4) on the MB, the connectors (in the bays) are data and power joined not separate. I tried to add a photo but it's too large even though I had resized it. It should be easy but it's not proving to be, even if I did get the HD recognized I still wont have an OS...
 
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