Windows 7: Win7 32 bit won't get past "Starting Windows"

Thanks for the info guys. Seems strange to me though that I was able to install Win 7 RC on an even older MSI motherboard -- also with an AMD processor -- and this one with "ony" 768mb of ram. That system ran 7 RC fine.

I got tired of pulling my hair out and installed Ubuntu on the machine instead. It runs Ubuntu great, btw!

But since it has two 30gb and two 20 gb drives, I think I might try a dual-boot setup later with Win 7 on the other 30gb drive. I've got other fish to fry right now, and don't have the time to waste--er, spend -- on it right now.



I will ponder your advice and try it out once I've set up a boot manager.

Did you try these steps before quitting, or removing all but 2gb of RAM for install?

Do yourself a favor and install Windows 7 while Ubuntu HD is unplugged, then after install set preferred HD as first to boot in BIOS setup, boot the other HD using one-time BIOS Boot Menu key given on first screen or in Manual.

I think you may actually be the only other person on the planet besides me who has this problem, I managed to figure it out, but I've asked all kinds of HW-gurus as to why but with no luck. I also have AMD on that computer, got bluescreens at first during install, fiddled with ram chips and got to Starting Windows - but the Welcome screen never appeared so I figured I had a faulty ram chip as the errors were irradic. I then systematically used every possible combination of amount and positioning of the chips on the MB to find at least one working chip. The result however was ridiculous: suddenly windows said Welcome; with one chip in slot 1! .. reboot to check consistency, but NO...every time.. back to it then. I continued with 2 chips, slot 1+2 occupied: "Welcome"!.. reboot again, NO... "Starting Windows" forever on every try again. No change with slot 3 or 4 either so I pulled out all but slot 1, and suddenly it booted again! Nice, so I was sure it could do it twice but again it stopped every time on Starting... Put in slot 2 and it booted all the way again!

The only way to boot the machine every time was simply to add or remove memory each boot! Though only toggling slot 2, occupying 3 or 4 didn't work at all. By some utterly weird reason Windows 7 denied booting with the same amount of ram twice, and only whatever I could put in slot 1+2. If I stuck to that, Windows 7 booted nicely every single time ad ran stable weeks on end. I've run every conceivable hardware test, stress tests on ram/cpu - no problem. Infact I still use it like this since it's a box I almost never reboot or change configuration on...

The conclusion, and my suspicions that you have encountered something similar, is that even with 100% working hardware (XP/Vista used ram slot 3+4 nicely so I know they work), there are bizarre AMD/MB configurations that messes up Windows 7's memory oversight. However the solution is simply to change the amount of physical ram on every reboot by removing and replacing the chip in slot 2 repeatedly... For me at least, but it's worth a try I guess.... Please post your progress either way if you reconsider Windows 7.

Indeed, the machine I have this problem on has 1+1GB now, more would loop the same error. Is this a known Windows 7 feature?

Frequent cause of install failure. Remove all but 2gb of RAM for install.