Windows 7: On Clean Install from upgrade cd: kernel is missing or corrupt

Hi All,

I had some issues previously with XP (blue screen of death). I thought I may have had a virus so I went ahead and reformatted my hard drive completely and purchased the win 7 upgrade cd and license in order to do a clean install.

When I try to boot from the cd, I get an error right when it's done loading that says that the kernel is missing or corrupt.



I am not a computer expert, but I'm thinking I may have some sort of motherboard problem at this point... Does anyone know of anything else that might be causing this problem?

Thanks! (Hopefully since they asked me for info on my comp specs initially, you will be able to see them when I post... if not, I will post them.)

Clean install from an upgrade?

If it says missing or corrupt kernel when installing from dvd it is either corrupt media (DVD) or the dvd drive.

Does it reboot after the install and try to launch win 7?


Ken

Where did you get Windows 7? Did you burn it to disk yourself? If so, try burning again using ImgBurn at 4x speed.

Next try wiping your HD to overwrite any corrupt or problematic code: SSD / HDD : Optimize for Windows Reinstallation

If after taking these initial steps you get the same error, google the exact text of error and ID# to find how others have solved it.

As Ken notes, you'll need to take special steps if you install Upgrade version to a cleaned HD: Clean Install with a Upgrade Windows 7 Version

Hi all,

Sorry for taking so long to reply. I keep coming back to this issue trying all kinds of things!

It doesn't even go through the install process. (I purchased the disk and license key at an electronics store so I would be surprised if it's a problem with the disk... I have tried a Vista upgrade disk, also purchased from the store, and it has the exact same issue). Here's what happens:

1- I insert the disk into one or the other of my disk drives. I have two of them and I have tried both.
2- once the machine is powered on, I select esc to go to the boot menu. I select whichever drive I put the cd in.
3- it says "windows is loading files" and has a progress bar.
4- once it's done, a little message comes up that says it's loading windows

Right after this is when I get the error.

It never even gets to the installation menu. If I try to select the Enter option to continue and then select the "Windows Setup" option, it repeats #3 and 4 and then shows the same error again.

As you can see, I've tried both disk drives and more than one legit upgrade disk and nothing works. Is it no longer possible to do a clean install onto a completely wiped machine using an upgrade disk?? Everything I have read online seems to indicate this should be no problem. Very strange.

Any help is appreciated.

Did you follow the suggested steps I gave you above?

If it fails after trying install to wiped HD, then please post back the exact text of the error message.

Yes. I wiped everything on the hard drive. I then used the fdisk command in dos to completely delete my old partitions and create new partitions: One primary partition set as active (c and one extended partition with 2 logical drives (d and e).

It seems like I'm getting some different errors today when I am trying it for the 40th time so I can transcribe the error. One of the errors I get most often is complaining about the kernel being missing or corrupt, but today I'm getting:

windows failed to start
a recent hardware or software change might be the cause
to fix this problem:
1- insert your windows installation disk and restart your computer
2- choose your language settings and then click next
3- click repair your computer

if you do not have this disk, contact your system administrator or computer manufacturer for assistance

file:/windows/system32/drivers/iastorv.sys

status: 0xc000221

info: windows failed to load because a critical system driver is missing or corrupt.

When I googled the various errors I'm getting, most of the info seems to indicate that others are getting the errors AFTER the install process. I am getting them before it even gets to install. As far as I know, my computer is completely empty of files/information so I don't understand how I could be getting errors... I know files are missing. There are no files because I deleted them all... I've googled to see if maybe it's no longer allowed to do a clean install of win 7 from an upgrade disk, but all indications are that this is possible and I might just run into issues with activating windows after the fact. I can't even get that far.

There is no direct upgrade path from XP to Win 7.

Win 7 Upgrade paths

You'll need to wipe the HD using the DISKPART commands given in the tutorial instead of old methods which have XPired now.

Try also removing all but 2gb of RAM to try install.

Unplug all peripherals and other HD's.

Enter BIOS setup to clear the CMOS and set SATA controller to AHCI first, report back other available settings. http://pcsupport.about.com/od/fixthe.../clearcmos.htm