[G75] Frustrated trying to upgrade to SSD

[rlwhite86]

Hi all, thanks in advance for your help.

I recently bought a G75 from Best Buy, and also ordered a OCZ 120gb SSD from newegg to replace the 5400rpm disk.

My problems began when clean recovering from the 3 recovery DVDs. The process ran smoothly and completed, but after restarting and removing the installation disc, the laptop informed me I had no bootable disks. I went into the BIOS to check it out, and it lists the new drive under SATA properties, but not as a boot option. There is a way to create a boot option, but I am unsure of the command with all of the efi stuff. (It's been a while since I built a computer)

Putting the original HDD back in boots fine, and the BIOS boot option lists it as Windows startup or thereabouts. Still no listing for the SSD though when it is inserted.

I'm running the recovery process for a 3rd time now, but not having much hope.

Do I need to create a boot option for the new drive in te BIOS? It does not seem like it should be this difficult.

Sorry for any spelling errors as I am having to post from my phone!

[john_from_ohio]

My Intel 520 SSD was completely clean doing a complete recovery from the recovery DVDs ... it does take a very long time and it goes thru a bunch of boots that look like the "last time" ... so make sure that you let it go all the way completely thru.

I don't recall exactly but when doing the restore I think it asks if you want to completely reformat the replacement disk ( or something similar ) so make sure you say yes to that.

There is a part of the BIOS ( F2 on restart ) where it selects boot order etc so double check that to make sure that something there is not interfering ...

[Cecil_2099]

The recovery DVD process first creates the recovery partition on the drive, restarts, then prompts the user to choose 1 of 3 options on how to restore the install (entire drive, first partition, two partitions). After the user selects that option then you have about another 45min-1hr of the program automatically restarting the computer multiple times. Best thing you can do is start the process and let it run until it stops restarting. Eventually you'll get to the point where it looks like it did when you first unboxed it and powered it on the first time. If you interrupt the process before then, you mess it up.

Taking out the 5400rpm drive prior to starting the restore process also helps ensure the restore goes smoothly.

[rlwhite86]

Thanks for the responses,

I do not touch the computer during installation, and I have the 1tb drive removed. The recovery DVDs load fine, I get prompted about a full recovery and wiping the drive. That all works fine. When the installer is done, it asks you to hit ok and restarts the computer. This is where I start having problems.

When restarting, I get a message saying that windows did not start properly, and to go to recovery mode. I select recovery mode, and it takes me to a ramdisk (I think) option as the only one. After that, it goes back to the first recovery menu, leaving it in an endless loop. If I try to restart the computer, I get the message saying there is no boot disk.

I've done this countless times on other computers, I'm just not sure what the issue is. The BIOS does not even give me the SSD as a startup option, although it is listed under SATA properties.

My only other thought would be to reburn the recovery discs. But I'm not sure that's the problem

[Holy]

what format is the ssd? not sure if its relivent or not.

[rlwhite86]

Update-

Just reburned the recovery discs. Reinstalled, and had the same issue. At the first reboot after it copies from the DVD, I get the windows prompt that asks you to insert the recovery disc to repair. At this point, you can hit enter and it take you to the recovery option screen. The only one available is the "ramdisc options". Selecting that takes you back to the first screen.

A reboot takes you to a black screen saying no startup disk.

Only other thing I can think of would be a retail windows DVD to repair the hdd with the recovery partition and see if that will make it start the rest of the recovery process.

Any help would be appreciated. I'm at a loss.

[Holy]

yes it would most likely work i used a retail disk to reinstall onto my patriot pyro 120gb. and it works perfectly. its worth a try.

[rlwhite86]

I guess that will be my last option. Where do you go about getting all of the drivers if I go that route?

[m3rcer]

I guess that will be my last option. Where do you go about getting all of the drivers if I go that route?

I basically ran into the same problems you had, but I did the system image onto my external usb drive instead. The recovery disc didn't want to boot, so I used my old Home Premium upgrade disk and eventually succumbed to doing a clean install. Time wasted including downloading and installing the drivers, but now I'm very happy. 12 second boot!

And here's where to get all the drivers: http://support.asus.com/download.asp...yI9iViQxXxueTd


One more thing - If you got the bestbuy version of the G75, the lan port and wireless are the Atheros drivers not the Intel. That'll save you a few minutes.

[Holy]

lol i have yest to see a default build without the Atheros cards.