Windows 8 clean install does not work. *Windows cannot be

I am trying to do a clean install of windows 8 on my laptop (Elitebook 8770W) from a USB stick with original MS Windows OEM iso. Once I boot from usb stick, at the setup screen I enter the product key and then choose advanced to do a clean install. I then choose my hard disk partition to install windows but I get stuck here with this error:

"Windows cannot be installed to disk 0 partition 1"

I deleted the partition and choose to install on the unallocated space (150GIG) But still get the same error and when I click on the error this is what I get:

"Windows cannot be installed to this disk. This computer's hardware may not support booting to this disk. Ensure that the disk's controller is enabled in the computer's Bios"

In bios I have my disk set as Raid and I also have a m-sata Flash cache. If I change raid to AHCI I will be able then to install windows. But if I turn it back to raid after install I will no longer be able to boot I have to be in raid mode to use my m-sat as cache drive.

So here I am stuck not being able to install windows I even downloaded latest intel rapid storage technology drivers and put them on the usb stick with windows setup files. When i got the error I choose to load driver. But even after that I was getting same error and windows would not install on my HDD.

Can anyone here explain what's the right way to install in this condition (raid)?

Are all youre USB settings set to Full initialization in bios?

To clean install:
1) Clean the HD Drive, using Step one in this tutorial:
SSD / HDD : Optimize for Windows Reinstallation - Windows 7 Help Forums
than
2a) Clean install with the OEM manufacturer's Recovery Disk.

[DEL]2b) http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2299-clean-install-windows-8-a.html[/DEL]

2c) http://www.eightforums.com/tutorial...e-firmware-interface-install-windows-8-a.html


http://www.eightforums.com/installa...retail-windows-8-1-windows-8-product-key.html

x64
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/15458-uefi-bootable-usb-flash-drive-create-windows.html

@theog
Thanks for your reply and the useful guides. I have one question remaining before I can try!
I have a one Tera Hitachi 7200rpm Hdd with 2 partitions: 1- 150GIG for windows 2- remaining 780 gig where I have my data

In every guide we totally wipe the HDD before installing windows. But Is it possible to clean just the first partition and install
on it (as unallocated ) exactly like the guide but still keep the second partition with data?

To resume I just want to keep my 2nd partition as I have data on it and no space to back that up.

Always back up your DATA.

rezpower said:

@theog
Thanks for your reply and the useful guides. I have one question remaining before I can try!
I have a one Tera Hitachi 7200rpm Hdd with 2 partitions: 1- 150GIG for windows 2- remaining 780 gig where I have my data

In every guide we totally wipe the HDD before installing windows. But Is it possible to clean just the first partition and install
on it (as unallocated ) exactly like the guide but still keep the second partition with data?

To resume I just want to keep my 2nd partition as I have data on it and no space to back that up.

Click to expand...

I do it. I have a 1TB drive in my desktop PC that is setup with an OS partition and a Data partition. On a clean install I just delete the OS partition and the hidden System Reserved partition, and leave the Data partition as is. Hasn't been an issue for me.

Yes I have done this 100s of times too. I still have no solution for raid drive not being used by windows during setup!
I found a way (install using AHCI and then switching back to raid) I don't know if this is best solution?!

The RAID setup problem may be because Windows needs a RAID driver. That or the fact that its not your standard raid setup of two identical drives.