Upgrade/repair stopped mid-upgrade. Why?

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  1. Posts : 6
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
       #1

    Upgrade/repair stopped mid-upgrade. Why?


    I needed to "repair" my Win7 Home Prem 64-bit (OEM) because optical drives could no longer write. sfc /scannow found nothing. So I chose upgrade in place because the idea of re-installing everything would be too disruptive and shouldn't be needed for this kind of problem. I had Kaspersky AV turned off. I was "upgrading" within Windows, as suggested here in Brink's tutorial and would not change versions.

    After finding all the 550,000 files the upgrade process started to expand Windows files. The computer restarted right away after the beginning of that process but it went to the log-in and put up a message stating that "This version of Windows could not be installed." Nothing has changed on my mobo since the original install except a flash of a new BIOS version from Gigabyte. In fact, recently (but before the BIOS was flashed) I did re-install Win 7 from scratch (clean) and that went off without a hitch. As suggested in the message box I looked at the "Upgrade Adviser" pages but nothing seemed to be about this issue: same Win7 and same install DVD as its last clean install.

    Any suggestions? I had considered fixWin before doing this, but sfc /scannow seemd like the stongest tool in its arsenal and I already did that and found nothing.

    Thanks, in advance, for any suggestions.

    jonathan7007
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 22,814
    W 7 64-bit Ultimate
       #2

    Hello jonathan7007, welcome to Seven Forums!



    "because optical drives could no longer write"




    To me, this doesn't seem like a Windows issue.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 6
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
    Thread Starter
       #3

    Yes, I wondered about that.
    A week ago I had starting a burn on one of the two DVD writers and - goofy mistake - I moved another file to the writer icon mid-format (I think that's what it was doing...) and since then Win7 does the following:
    1. when I put CD media in either drive and move a file Win 7 offers a format choice box that offers a. USB-like formatting, or b. CD/DVD formatting. BUT the CD/DVD choice is greyed out.
    2. If I choose USB-like formatting the drive starts to format, gives a capacity, spin for a while and gives up in about 30 seconds or a minute and puts up the message that Windows could not finish this format" I looked to see if I made a screen grab of that but - sorry - I don't have one to give you the exact wording.

    Because BOTH drives did that after my mistake I thought it might be the drives. I was trying to run a Seagate diagnostic in DOS and that program couldn't find the very drive that had booted the program in Caldera DOS that was running!

    One of my DVD writers is Toshiba and the other a SONY Optiarc. I didn't think in this day and age these companies would have posted drivers I could re-install.

    But the issue remains - perhaps for the future if there's a good fix for the drives inability to write - why would the repair upgrade in place not work?

    Is it the BIOS re-flash?

    Thanks for your response. Have to sign off here (Hawaii) until tomorrow.

    jonathan7007
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 22,814
    W 7 64-bit Ultimate
       #4

    Hello again Jonathan.



    I'm not sure where to start with this, it's just that stuck out at me; I'm sure someone more versed with hardware issues will assist you before long so be sure to keep checking back.
      My Computer

  5.    #5

    Extract the DVD to your desktop to run Setup as Administrator. This will cut your DVD drive out of the picture during Repair.

    If this fails, download ISO and extract to Desktop.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 6
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
    Thread Starter
       #6

    Gregrocker,
    Thanks!
    Do you believe that the upgrade-in-place will help with the optical drive problem -- because I'd take less risky steps if I could. As this computer is a production machine I can't have the process go south and require even more work. So I'm risk-averse.

    Also, don't the copy protections make taking the whole disk image on to the hard drive hard to do? I have ImageBurn and I *think* it would do this if there are not protections.

    Thanks, again, for replying.

    jonathan7007
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 6
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
    Thread Starter
       #7

    Given that upgrade-in-place is supposed to work without taking such steps, what went wrong?

    Is flashing a mobo enough to change the id number that Windows (OEM) looks at?

    jonathan7007
      My Computer

  8.    #8

    Why are you dragging and dropping to your OD's? Use ImgBurn and browse to the files. If you need to burn other files click on the file and use WIndows Image burner.

    Maybe the BIOS flash affected OD settings in BIOS. CHeck to see.

    You can extract the ISO to the desktop at any time as long as one of your OD's will cooperate. If not send it over the network or put on USB storage using another machine. ImgBurn will work fine.

    Back up your files and a System Image as Repair Install like any install or repair can fail.

    It remains to be seen if this can correct the strange probs that occurred with both your OD's in Win7.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 6
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
    Thread Starter
       #9

    Greg,
    checking that part of the BIOS carefully is a very good idea because this mobo from Gigabyte (X58A-u3dr) has - among the others -a pair of SATA connectors driven by a Gigabyte-made controller. This augments the 6 Intel 'bridge units and a Marvell SATA-3 pair of dedicated SATA-3 connectors. I get 10 SATA connections in all.

    I placed both of the optical drives on the gigabyte controller... Hmmm. might check in with their forums and support to see if they have any issues showing up with that chip under that BIOS version re: optical drives.

    If I switch cable locations I have to re-install Windows though the repair process anyway, right?

    The last time I switched cables it was to make AHC possible on all the drives and I did the repair (from boot) to set the drivers correctly.

    But I will look closely at the BIOS settings and ask in the Gigabyte forum about other people's experience with this BIOS version - and opticals on the Gigabyte controller. Let's see if I can fix this without resetting cables.

    Again, thanks for the ideas and suggestions.

    jonathan7007
      My Computer

  10.    #10

    Hi again Jonathan -

    I think you're on the right track. Doubt you'll have to reinstall 7 if you solve OD probs in BIOS or otherwise. Only if you change SATA controller setting may you need to reinstall.

    The Repair Install is from the desktop in Win7, remember, so you'll need to be able to boot in to do it and you might not need it if after fixing the OD's.

    We have a good hardware Forum here, and I'll ask for some bigger guns to help on this.
    Last edited by gregrocker; 19 Oct 2010 at 00:29.
      My Computer


 
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