"Cannot find a valid partition to install on" says Windows Vista

[MithrilFox]

So I was trying to install Windows Vista after getting Leopard up and running, and despite the fact that I've formatted a partition properly, and that it even reports it being OK, when I click install, it says something like "Could not find a suitable partition to install to." Sorry I can't give the specific wording, at work now.

 

Here's my setup:

 

Intel Core 2 Duo

8GB RAM

ASUS P5K-E mobo

500GB HDD + 1TB HDD, both SATA drives.

 

Alright, I installed Mac OS X (now 10.5.6 with updates) on the 1TB drive, and used Mac OS X to partition the 500gb drive into two parts, one as a scratch disk for Final Cut Studio data, and the other as a Windows partition (made it FAT32). I made the whole disk MBR to be compatible with Windows.

 

I then booted up using the Vista install CD (Premium) and formatted the first partition from the 500gb drive as NTFS, and then when I hit Install I get that error. If I select any other partition, it says that it cannot install to it, but when I select the first one that I plan to install to, no error is displayed until I actually hit "Install."

 

I guess I'll try installing Vista with the 1TB HDD disconnected? Perhaps there's something there interfering with it, though I couldn't imagine what or how.

 

If that doesn't work, I'll see if creating a partition on a drive using Boot Camp will yield better results. Obviously, I can't follow Boot Camp's procedures all the way, just use it to make the partition, then boot with the Vista install CD.

 

Anyone else encounter this strange problem?