Well I turned pc on and it actually went to the windows installation and i started it advanced to do a total replacement, it went through the whole step one, restarted right back to a black blank screen. So The 2nd time around I went and did a startup repair and its been on that screen now 2 hours. it says might take over a hour, but don't see any cpu lights or dvd rom light blinking showing any activity. Not sure what to do next.
I gave you steps not completed yet. Report back results of each.
While resetting BIOS to defaults, boot into BIOS setup to check if HD is detected. Note also SATA controller setting if any.
Did Startup Repair tell you it was checking the disk and might take some time? This makes running HD diagnostics even more important, after checking if HD is even detected.
I reset the bios to factory defaults way earlier this morning, yes the hd was detected. Sata I believe was there, I chose first the windows installation as stated and it went almost all the way through to the restart and blank screened again. So I rebooted it and tried the start up repair, its now been 2 hours and its still attempting repairs, so is it frozen and not gonna actually complete or still in progress? I believe I did all you asked. I tried everything throughout the night from kaspersky rescue 10, to a win boot, now to the startup repair. and no start up did not tell me its checking anything. next?
What are you trying to repair if you've already wiped out the previous install with a new one which failed while underway?
If you'd made it clear that you had gotten beyond the first step (which is what you said before) then I would have advised you to try the most common fix for installation failures which is to wipe the HD first with Diskpart Clean Command as follows:
Unplug or disable all other HD's and peripherals. Boot into BIOS setup to enable Legacy BIOS if present. Next check BIOS Boot order for an EFI Boot Disk and if present remove it, set DVD drive first to boot, HD second. Then set SATA controller to AHCI. Save changes and Exit.
Then boot into installer DVD or flash stick burned or written using tool and latest ISO for your licensed here.
At first installer screen Press Shift + F10 to open a Command Box, type:
DISKPART
LIST DISK
SEL DIS 0 (after confirming Windows 7 target HD #)
CLEAN
CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY SIZE=102400 (for 100gb partition, adjust as desired)
FORMAT FS=NTFS LABEL="WINDOWS 7"
ACTIVE
EXIT
EXIT
Next click Install Now to Clean Install Windows 7 to the partition you created. If it fails then report back at which step and the verbatim error message.
In addition read over these steps to understand the tools and methods which work best to get and maintain a perfect Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7. The steps are the same for retail.
Last edited by gregrocker; 25 Nov 2012 at 17:27.
The one windows 7 install disk gave me the option to format hd/erase them will that work, I'm confused as I cannot find a link to download EFI ?
Download EFI what? Where does it say anything about downloading EFI?
The step only checks if you have an EFI BIOS so that you can disable it correctly to proceed with a normal install.
Yes you can try deleting all partitions using the WIn7 installer but as I explained wiping the HD also solves many other problems including installation failures.
Ok I hit shift and f10 at the windowns installation menu to get where you told me to go to enter the commands into bios. Its almost complete now, So all I do is click install? I don't have to go into advanced options for anything else? I did most all work on 95,98,me and xp lol. Totally diff ball game her on 7. So I appreciate your patience in helping walk me through this.
Last edited by BadCompany; 25 Nov 2012 at 17:50. Reason: revision for gregrocker
Please rewrite the first sentence to actually explain what you've done fully.
You don't need Advanced Boot Options if you create the partition using the commands. Just make sure you type them accurately and each is acknowledged.
I mean once I click install, it says upgrade "will keep files", or custom, "to completely replace windows "you will lose everything". Thats what i meant by advanced sorry.
You have nothing to Upgrade - that only works when running the disk from Vista, or from the Win7 desktop to do a Repair Install.
Choose Custom. Clean Install Windows 7
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