Need Help...

I have an HP DV4T 1400 Laptop running on an upgrade CD version of Windows 7 Home Premium 64Bit from Windows XP. I have had to reformat this computer many times before due to other problems, but now I keep getting a BSOD. I believe that the problem is my display driver. My screen kept blacking out and then flickering back on with a message at the right hand bottom corner saying that the Display Driver failed but Windows recovered. I also notice that my display starts to have very small green looking dots on it anytime I am watching a video or have graphics loaded. I tried updating my drivers on the HP website, but then came to read that the HP Drivers only work for Windows XP for some reason. After that I tried to system restore my computer to an earlier point, but the only point that saved was 2 days prior to me updating the drivers. After a couple of failed attempts at restoring, which also resulted in errors, I decided to reformat. When trying to reformat, the full process goes through but at the last stage the install doesn't take and returns me to this version of windows I have now, the one with the problems. I am not very tech savy but if given specific directions, I believe I can solve this problem myself if anyone can offer me a detailed solution.

Some Additional Info:
My graphics chip is an Mobile Intel (R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family.
I also cannot access the BiOS at start up, the start up just opens windows and provides my login to the system.
I've read up on the partition option, but I am not sure if my computer has it and when I try to activate, it warns me that if I don't have a partition set then my computer might stop working, so I'm stuck at what to do there.

Thanks in advance, if anyone can help I would greatly appreciate it!

Do you mean "format", which wipes the partition in which you're installing Windows, or just a Windows re-installation? I've never seen a reformat fail and return to the current Windows installation.

The retail upgrade version of Windows 7 permits you to delete the installation partition, re-create and format it. (That's if the machine is booted from the installation DVD.) I don't know about the version HP provides.

Are these the graphics drivers you tried?

Mobile Intel 4 Series Express Chipset Family Graphics Driver (64-bit) HP Pavilion dv4t-1400 CTO Entertainment Notebook PC - HP Customer Care (United States - English)=

If you can't get into the BIOS setup, you have a problem that does not involve the operating system. It may be a hardware problem. The "green dots" bit sounds like a grahics adapter failure.

Hi

First of all thank you for the quick response, appreciate it!

I want to "format" in the sense that I wanted to wipe out everything on the computer and start fresh from Windows 7.

Basically when the installation of Windows 7 happens, right at the last stage where the computer restarts to the clean install, it does not take and Windows returns to the previous OS I am operating. Everything is the same as it was before I even did the format.

Before when I would reformat in that sense, it would give me the option to do what you mentioned but I would wipe out the entire thing. I believe the HP version is the same.

The link you provided is the graphics driver update that I tried, and after that installation of the driver update I started getting these green dots around video and then the BSOD which leads to a restart. I finally got the f8 option to go through on the start up screen and tried to run windows repair but the computer froze.

Any other options I can try?

Thanks again!

When you upgraded, did you run the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor first? It scans your computer and flags up any issues relating to your hardware and software.

Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor - Download - Microsoft Windows

Windows 7 Compatibility: Software Programs & Hardware Devices: Find Updates, Drivers, & Downloads

You can still run it even though you've already upgraded, but going by what you've said so far, it's more than likely your graphics card wants updating for Windows 7.

The results all came back normal, so now I am kind of confused as to what to do...

[quote]I have had to reformat this computer many times before due to other problems[quote]

What problems?

Check your ram.
Memory Diagnostics Tool
Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool

Check the hard drive with the manufacturer's diagnostic tools.
Hard Drive Diagnostics Tools and Utilities (Storage) - TACKtech Corp.
HD Diagnostic

I think your next step should be to run a scan on your system files.

SFC /SCANNOW Command - System File Checker

thetvwatcher said:

Basically when the installation of Windows 7 happens, right at the last stage where the computer restarts to the clean install, it does not take and Windows returns to the previous OS I am operating. Everything is the same as it was before I even did the format.

I think we have a language problem here. "Format" wipes the partition. It sounds like you haven't done that.

(Usually, when I'm re-installing the operating system, I delete the OS partition, and start from scratch.)