Components assembled - can't get Win 8.1 to load from USB - Help?

BenEadir

Hi guy's,

I purchased this system a couple of weeks ago (with a lot of help from you guys on this forum) and today myself and my son assembled it. It was a totally new experience for us and there were a few occasions we regretted not paying HWVS the extra €30 to assemble it for us but in the end we got it done and it boots to the Gigabyte boot screen which is a big achievement for us



The problem now is I can't get the Win 8.1 ISO image I downloaded from https://www.reddit.com/r/microsoftsoftwareswap/comments/2ixue7/h_windows_7_8_81_windows_server_office_visio/ to boot from the 8GB USB drive I downloaded it to. I originally thought it was because the image is close to the FAT32 4GB file size limit so I reformatted the drive to NTFS and reloaded the image but same result. All I get is the following screen



I can get into the Gigabyte boot screen by hitting F2 during boot up and I've moved the USB drive to be the first drive the machine looks to boot from but it doesn't make any difference.

The above is the main issue I have but I'm also curious as to what I was supposed to do with this cable which originates in the top of the case? For the life of me I couldn't figure out if I was supposed to insert it anywhere or whether it's just some sort of antenna??



I really hope you guys can help me get this build up and running!!!

braddun

http://superuser.com/questions/834765/how-to-install-windows-8-1-on-new-pc-with-ssd

BenEadir

braddun wrote: »

http://superuser.com/questions/834765/how-to-install-windows-8-1-on-new-pc-with-ssd

Thanks Brad, I read that and I've no clue what it means. I guess I've bitten off more than I can chew!!

Quandary

BenEadir wrote: »

Thanks Brad, I read that and I've no clue what it means. I guess I've bitten off more than I can chew!!

Hello Ben, I can understand the problems you are running into when you mightn't be familiar with new builds.

If you have a windows 8 ISO file you cannot just put it on a usb drive and expect it to boot.

Try following this guide to help you create the bootable usb drive

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windows-8/a/install-windows-8-usb.htm

Seeing as you already have the windows 8 ISO file you can go directly to step 2 on in the guide

It will tell you to download this tool - http://wudt.codeplex.com/

Just follow the instructions from there and see how you get on.

Best of luck!

BenEadir

Thanks Quandary, I think you've hit the nail on the head. I'll have a go at that tomorrow. Time to wrap up for this evening!!

EoinHef

What USB ports are you using? The ones at the front?

Try using a USB 2.0 port(black usually,3.0 being the blue ports) on the back of the PC. Presuming you have boot priority set to USB in the bios

BenEadir

Quandary wrote: »

Hello Ben, I can understand the problems you are running into when you mightn't be familiar with new builds.

If you have a windows 8 ISO file you cannot just put it on a usb drive and expect it to boot.

Try following this guide to help you create the bootable usb drive

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windows-8/a/install-windows-8-usb.htm

Seeing as you already have the windows 8 ISO file you can go directly to step 2 on in the guide

It will tell you to download this tool - http://wudt.codeplex.com/

Just follow the instructions from there and see how you get on.

Best of luck!

Couldn't wait until the morning. Tried that process and it worked a treat! Thanks.

The machine booted into Windows install mode. All I need now is the key from the Reddit guy and hopefully we'll be hot to trot.

wotzgoingon

Ben I told you in the other thread you made to extract the iso and make sure the usb stick is bootable. You can't just put a iso file on a normal usb key to make it boot. Plug the usb key into laptop or desktop whichever you have that has windows on it at the moment and run command prompt and run diskpart and make the usb key bootable. Then extract the iso file and put the contents on the usb key you made bootable.

wotzgoingon

Also i know I'm coming rude(I hope not) I told you in your other thread, that piece of wire is a ceramic capacitor that was soldered on after they found a very small bug with timing in the control panel of the desktop case. It is nothing to worry about. It is a cost cutting measure happens more often than you think with electronics. If they didn't add that they would of had to destroy all the panels they made and get new ones built again which would have lost them a lot of money depending on how many they made. Most likely the version 2 of that case will have the capactior added without it hanging out of the case. Most times they make it more un-noticeable and you wouldn't even know they added anything to the pcb board, but in your case they did not.

BenEadir

Thanks Wotzgoingon, I appreciate all the advice you've been giving me.

Once i get the Win 8.1 key from the Reddit guy (if he ever responds to my PM) I should be good to go but just in case he doesn't respond can anyone recommend the cheapest place to buy la egitimate Win 8.1 key? They are $119.99 on the Microsoft online store.

Lu Tze

BenEadir wrote: »

Thanks Wotzgoingon, I appreciate all the advice you've been giving me.

Once i get the Win 8.1 key from the Reddit guy (if he ever responds to my PM) I should be good to go but just in case he doesn't respond can anyone recommend the cheapest place to buy la egitimate Win 8.1 key? They are $119.99 on the Microsoft online store.

Can you not use windows 8.1 for a period before activation? On windows 7 you could use it for up to 90 days i think (could tie you over until you get the key).

BenEadir

Lu Tze wrote: »

Can you not use windows 8.1 for a period before activation? On windows 7 you could use it for up to 90 days i think (could tie you over until you get the key).

Never even thought of that!! I'll give it a go later. Have to pop out to do some Xmas shopping :mad:

TerrorFirmer

Doesn't Win8 have an indefinite period? Or used to? As in, no expiry on how long you could use it, but it had a few very irritating features that made you well aware of the fact you weren't using a license.

BenEadir

The first thing the bootable USB does is load the Windows image, asks for confirmaiton of language, keyboard etc etc and once you've chosen those it asks if you want to start the install which all looked promising but then before the install starts it requires the product key and I can't get past that point.

I'm still waiting on the Reddit guy to get over his hangover and check his PM's!!

Anyone aware of any similar online locations where I can buy legit Win 8.1 product keys who might be happy to receive some cash on a Sunday???