Windows 7 - Vista boot animation on new 7 install

Clean installing Windows 7 on an XP Dell Dimension 2400 after upgrading RAM.

Twice installed but still getting Vista boot animation instead of Windows 7. Worse yet, it goes black after two passes then waits about ten seconds before getting a cursor and then blue Starting Screen.

XP is on first partition in a dual boot which I've hidden so owner has path back to XP if desired.

I have checked BCDedit which shows EN so it knows where to look for animation file.

Had bad resolution until driver was installed but the problem persists.
Hardware tests OK.

Anyone had this before and solved it? The BCDEdit is all I find.

Not sure I'll deliver Windows 7 if this can't be solved since there's a black hole in the startup which I've not seen before.

Don't know if this what you're looking for Greg, but I'll post it in hope that is has the solution you're looking for.

Fix and Restore Windows 7 Boot Screen That Changes to Vista Style « My Digital Life

Also, this one: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927392/en-us?p=1

Yes that's where I got the BCDedit fix, but EN file is intact so it knows where to look for animation file.

click to enlarge

Low res can also cause this but I have good res now after driver install.

If I thought XP was the cause I would wipe the HD to reinstall after saving it as an image.

What's your screen resolution?

If it's less than 1024x768, the Windows 7 boot screen will appear as the Vista boot screen.

Right, it was very low during install until the driver was updated as I noted. But it's got good res now.

Greg, did you want to maintain the dual partition, or delete it for just Win 7?

I kept the XP partition in a Dual Boot but turned it's timer off.

Just now I hid XP paritition by moving the System boot files to Windows 7 while marking Active. Behavior is the same. I might image XP and wipe the HD to clean the boot sector then try a clean reinstall of 7, but I'm not delivering it with 7 if I can't solve the Vista animation with 10 second blackout during startup.

I should mention this Dell also has a stubborn 20 second pause on the Dell BIOS loading bar. It is BIOS version 05 which is latest (2005) but I cannot reflash it because it only offers floppy support for BIOS updating. I have unplugged floppy for now and about to pull the bezel to see if jumpers are correct on DVD and separate CD Master/slave since DVD will not boot or register correctly in BIOS. But the BIOS pause is same even with all but HD unplugged.

I'm starting to hate old hardware in spite of having a lot of it myself. It's hardly worth working on except for practice and favors for friends.

Pulled the CMOS battery (no defaults in Setup) which solved the stalled BIOS loading bar. About to Acronis the whole HD then clean reinstall after wiping the boot sector.

I have to go in to BIOS setup to turn off the DVD drive to get CD drive to boot via BIOS boot menu.

Any other ideas?

Would this be helpful to fix the bootloader?

Recovering the Windows Bootloader from the DVD - EasyBCD - NeoSmart Technologies Wiki

I had rebuilt BCD using EasyBCD from Windows 7, and using PW boot disk to Rebuild MBR.

I tried the commands given in your link's Option Two which completed successfully but I still get the Vista animation for two passes and it now goes blank for 20+ seconds before getting the cursor and start screen.

I'm going to back up an Acronis image of the entire HD now and clean reinstall after wiping the HD/boot sector as a last resort.

Meanwhile does anyone recognize this behavior: I have to enter BIOS setup to disable DVD drive to get CD drive to boot on BIOS Boot Menu. DVD is set master, CD slave. DVD won't boot. Could this be jumpers?

Edit: Acronis boot CD is barely readable in boot mode due to bad resolution. Hmm.
I wonder if there's a way to install the Intel display driver to installer for clean reinstall to get better resolution during install - never had it this bad.