Solved Windows 8 Upgrade / UEFI confusion

[Malzie]

Following the crash of my old system due to hardware failure I recently put together the computer I am currently using, the following are the specs and I will get into the issues I am having following.

Mobo: [URL="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128627"]GIGABYTE GA-970A-D3P[/URL]
CPU: [URL="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113284"]AMD FX-8350[/URL]
Memory: 8gigs
GPU: [URL="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202025"]SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition[/URL]

The issue that I have been having is that following a clean install of windows 7 I attempt to upgrade to windows 8 and am halted differently depending on my install method. To begin with, upgrading from the desktop seems to work at first and upon restart I get a windows 8 logo screen, followed by another restart with a blank screen. The system them goes idle and nothing happens.

Upon further investigation, the UEFI settings appear to be the cause of a lot of the issues I am having and as such I create a USB drive to install from. I am able to begin the setup, and after deleting all partitions I am able to set up the drive with a new partition system in GPT format.

Here the system copies the files, expands the files and seems to install everything normally. It reaches the restart portion of the install, and after taking out the USB stick it restarts. From here it loads up a windows 8 logo screen with the dancing dot circle at the bottom, and after a while it will restart again. It loads back into the same dancing dot circle for a while and once again restarts.

However, this time it restarts into a blank screen, and after a little while the HDD stops working and the system seemingly goes into an idle state. Nothing happens, even after about 30 minutes or so. I then shut off the computer and sadly re-install windows 7.

I am at a complete loss with this as I am new to UEFI, and at this point I am entirely unsure what to do.

I have seen that maybe disabling csm in bios may help, but it also may disable my video card. This mobo does not have on board video, so I am again at a loss.

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[theog]

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


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

As you are using a Upgrade, after installing in UEFI mode, follow this tutorial:
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorial...e-firmware-interface-install-windows-8-a.html
Than do the Refresh part of above tutorial.

 

[Dwarf]

You should have no problems, providing you follow the above mentioned Tutorials correctly. I think that your problem stems from you removing the installation media before the install has completely finished (I leave mine in, as I have also got the latest audio and graphics drivers on the USB stick ready to install once everything is ready).

 

[Malzie]

I remove the USB stick when the installation process asks me to remove it. As for the tutorials above, I actually followed them after my initial failure from within Windows 7. The only exception was that I did not use Rufus to create the USB drive.

While I am going to retry using Rufus, I am left wondering if the problem is the install or an issue with UEFI settings in the bios and my graphics card? I guess I don't understand why I would be able to see the windows 8 logo and then after restarts its just blank.

 

[Dwarf]

I don't recall seeing any prompts to remove installation media during my W8 install, but as I said above I have other drivers on the stick so I keep it in until I have installed those. Have you formatted the USB as FAT32?

 

[Malzie]

Would it have worked at all if it was NTFS? I guess I never checked, I actually used the Windows 8 upgrade program to create the initial USB stick, but I never checked how it formatted. Though it was a brand new USB stick that was originally formatted in FAT32.

 

[allgames71]

Install of Win8 Upgrade is nothing simpler. For me, it's guarantee perfect. Before install that , no preinstall of XP,Vista or Win7 is necessary. You've got a Win8 Upgrade DVD on hand, right ? So install that disc directly , here is the brief steps :

1. After boot , type in your Win8 Upgrade CDkey
2. Clean all partitions to make it become GPT
3. Install it to the 4th partition
4. Let it go and you can withdraw this Win8 Upgrade disc after the first reboot (no problem) or you can leave it there
5. When asked to type in name ........ press Ctrl-Shift-F3 at this moment. You'll find it reboot and load again for a while, then go into Win8 Metro UI. If you choose "Desktop" , you'll find on the desktop central position , there's a small size Sysprep Tools.
6. Check the little box on it's upper left and let it Sysprep for you , it will reboot your computer
7. This time again you'll see it ask for name ....... , simply type in everything you want and the Win8 Upgrade is done.

Don't worry about the Win8 Upgrade CDKey Activation :
1. Clean install of Win8 Upgrade can't be activated as it will say it's an upgrade version.
2. This Sysprep install of Win8 Upgrade is different , it allows you to activate as a manufacturer.

Good Luck

 

[Malzie]

So after creating the USB drive using Rufus I was able to complete the installation, and this time it did not ask me to remove the USB drive. It restarted as it should and this time it only restarted one time. However, I was met with a blank screen but this one allowed a mouse pointer. A little confused I remembered I still had my TV plugged into the HDMI port of the video card. Turned on the TV and sure enough there was the rest of the install.

Thank you all for helping get Windows 8 installed. It really leaved me wondering why it is this complicated to install the most up to date operating system from Microsoft. It almost feels like they are trying to discourage self-builds.

Either way, thank you again for the help! I will mark this as solved.