Missing DVD driver during Windows install AND bad hard drive

I removed the DVD drive in in Sony SA290x some time ago and swapped it for a second hard drive. This worked fine for over 2 years.

Yesterday I was using my laptop without any problems and turned it off. Turning it on again an hour later I got the error "Operating System Not Found".

I took out the main hard drive, connected it to my other computer and found it had a damaged partition. 7-Data was able to recover the files so no problem there, I figured I had identified the problem.

I then tried to reinstall Windows from USB on the other hard drive but got the familiar "DVD driver missing" error during install.


1 I tested the USB in my other computer and it installed fine so that cant be the problem
2 I moved the hard drive to my other laptop and installed windows fine but when I transferred it back I got a quick flash of a blue screen then it restarts
3 Obviously all other hardware is as before
4 I have tested all other available BIOS settings always with the same result

Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

If there is a setting for SATA make sure it is set to Compatabilty mode and not AHCI in the bios.