It was necessary to change the HDD reading mode of the computer in the BIOS. 
This is an IBM Thinkcentre from 2005. It must be in Serial ATA native mode. NOT Automatic.

I also was unable to install to this machine, but once I installed to a Dell (which 
wouldn't boot) i used that HDD on this machine and it worked. Quite a workaround!
Needless to say, I have a copy of the HDD.