HELP: Fresh install stuck?

[spt60]

I'm trying Vista Home Basic 32-bit on my T60 Core Duo. The primary partition is formated by diskpart in command prompt using Vista dvd --> as fresh as it could.
I succesfully loaded the AHCI Intel driver. Then as I process to install, I chose the primary 93GB disk0-partition 2 (the 196MB disk0-partition 1 came with manufacture, also primary and I obviously don't want to mess with it). Click Next and the famous "Windows is unable to find a system volume that meets its criteria for installation" came up. How??? Shouldn't it be ready to go?

All my hdd firmware and BIOS are all up-to-date.

I truly need help. Thanks

[K0LO]

How did you format the partition that you will install Vista on? To install, Vista expects an NTFS partition with a cluster size of 4 kB. If you made the cluster size anything larger than 4 kB then you will get the error message that you are seeing. Another cause is if the partition has not been set as active, so you can do this with diskpart. Here are a few other reasons that you might get the error message.

You should be able to install to unformatted free space, so if all else fails you could also try deleting the new partition and letting the installer do its thing.

[spt60]

I format using diskpart when booting directly from Vista installation dvd. It's the only active partition. I did try delete the partition and renew it then format but no luck.

How did you format the partition that you will install Vista on? To install, Vista expects an NTFS partition with a cluster size of 4 kB. If you made the cluster size anything larger than 4 kB then you will get the error message that you are seeing. Another cause is if the partition has not been set as active, so you can do this with diskpart. Here are a few other reasons that you might get the error message.

You should be able to install to unformatted free space, so if all else fails you could also try deleting the new partition and letting the installer do its thing.

[ryengineer]

I format using diskpart when booting directly from Vista installation dvd. It's the only active partition. I did try delete the partition and renew it then format but no luck.

Perhaps Intel Matrix Storage Manager Driver isn't properly loaded. Try switching HDD settings from SATA to Compatibility mode in the BIOS to see if that makes any difference. If not then you might consider about performing a low level format on that drive.

[spt60]

I tried compatibility mode prior to the AHCI loading driver mode and they both didn't work. I'm considering low level format at this time however I really want to keep my manufacture partition just in case. Low level format format the whole disk doesn't it?

I format using diskpart when booting directly from Vista installation dvd. It's the only active partition. I did try delete the partition and renew it then format but no luck.

Perhaps Intel Matrix Storage Manager Driver isn't properly loaded. Try switching HDD settings from SATA to Compatibility mode in the BIOS to see if that makes any difference. If not then you might consider about performing a low level format on that drive.

[spt60]

Finally got it to work. I used Hiren's BootCD to fix the MBR and everything's good...for now. Thanks for all of the efforts and supports

[K0LO]

Very curious. I presume that you had the IBM Master Boot Record with the extended boot code to allow the "ThinkVantage" (blue) button to boot into the recovery partition. I wonder what the Vista installer found objectionable about this MBR?

I'm glad that you found a solution but I don't understand why it worked.