Well, no that's not really the problem. A drive already formatted NTFS should work fine (it always has for me). But in any case I just think it's still a good idea to reformat the disk using the Windows 7 DVD.
The problem is your computer doesn't seem to like booting from the DVD. I've had that problem before too. Many things can cause it. Faulty hardware or firmware, incorrect BIOS config or drive jumper settings, etc.
Maybe your in need of a new DVD drive?
Thanks for the link, Frostbite. I can't even get to step 3, where it shows the graphic and you select your language.
To eliminate as many variables as possible, I've removed all expansion cards from the machine except the video card. I also flashed the BIOS with the latest available one.
I've been keeping a log of the various screens, etc, that I get as I do this. The variety (basically four different ones) has been interesting, but ultimately frustrating.
I've been able to boot two different Linux utilities CDs from this drive, and one DOS CD (even had DOS installed on a small partition for a while). Still, your suggestion's worth checking, I suppose. I guess I can always rob the DVD burner out of my daughter's machine. She won't like it much, but oh well.
Can you boot from the Windows 7 DVD in another computer?
The first screen you see when it starts reading the Windows 7 DVD is below. If your not even seeing that then its not reading the DVD properly.
What build of Windows 7 are you trying to install and where did you get it from?
Sorry, didn't mean for this post to get this long, but I have a fair amount of info to pass along.
First off, thanks for all your continued help, guys. It is really appreciated. I know more now, am getting closer, but am still frustrated at this point.
Sup3rsprt, yes, I can boot the Win 7 DVD on my XP machine.
Frostbite, I had not seen that screen until a short while ago. I d/l'd the RC build 7100.0.090421 from Microsoft's site about five days ago, maybe? Once I have it up and running, I'll try one of the later builds.
Here's the latest, and what I found out:
A friend of mine located a Vista restore iso for me, so I burned it to a DVD. Tried it in the target machine and was getting the "CDBOOT: Couldn't find boot manager" message.
I was really puzzled by this and getting unbelievably frustrated. Then something occurred to me. I was successful booting two Linux CDs (OS on the CD) and installing FreeDOS from CD. But I haven't been successful at all booting frrom DVDs. So, I burned the Vista Restore iso to a CD, and whammo! It booted.
I used the Vista Restore CD to "repair" the machine, then tried again with the Win 7 DVD. This time it booted, and I got past the screen where it asks for the language and stuff.
But my elation was short-lived. It halted, asking me for a driver for the DVD/CD-ROM drive. My suspicion is slowly being confirmed, I think. The problem is most likely the new drive I have installed in that old machine.
It's a Samsung SH-S222A lightscribe drive. Nothing fancy -- 25 bux at MicroCenter on sale.
So, I go to Samsung.com to d/l a driver for my light drive, and find out that they have firmware d/l's only. That wasn't going to do me any good since I need the OS up and running to run the firmware ap, so I got the idea to check the drivers for the DVD drive in my XP box. Both systems are running the same exact DVD drive, so I was hopeful.
At the XP box's Device Manager, I looked at "Driver details", located the drivers installed for the drive (all Microsoft, btw), and copied them to a 3.5" floppy. Then I loaded the floppy in the target machine, hoping it would accept the Microsoft drivers in use on the XP box.
No joy. So, thinking I had nothing to lose, I booted my Vista notebook, and did the same with it, copying the files to a flash drive, then transferring them over to a floppy on my XP box. The XP machine had four driver files installed -- the Vista one had only two, but those two had the same name as two of the ones for the XP machine, but different dates. Gave them a shot with the target machine, but once again, nuthin doin.
It ticks me off that Samsung does not supply drivers for their drives, but nothing I can do about it. So, unless I can find a set of drivers that Win 7 will accept, I'm stuck. Well, maybe.
My daughter's machine has two DVD drives -- one's an older Memorex DVD (reader)/CD (burner) drive, and I know it came with drivers, cuz I remember seeing the CD recently. Probably no Vista drivers though. The newer burner in her machine is also a Memorex, so I'm gonna check on both at Memorex's site, and see if they have Vista drivers for these drives. If they do, I'll "borrow" one of her drives and give it a go on the target machine.
Dunno if I'll get to this tonight, but regardless, I'll let y'all know what I find out.
A general statement about compatibility issues with Win 7: If Microsoft is really serious about their minimum requirements, I think they need to actually pay closer attention to the majority of systems out there that will meet these minimal requirements (you can click on my system to see in detail what it is). My target machine is a prime example: the motherboard and processor are about 8 years old, and as a result, the bios does not mention "DVD". Even after upgrading the bios to the latest available, which is still about 7 years old, this does not enable native DVD support.
I am not 100% convinced that it is a BIOS issue, though. I'm still somewhat suspicious of the drive itself. I'll be able to confirm my suspicions, one way or the other most likely, by replacing the drive with one of the Memorexes.
Does this make sense to you guys?
Best,
Michael
Got my fingers crossed right now, but it looks like things are going well. I replaced the Samsung SH-S222A DVD burner that I bought new like three days ago with an old Memorex DVD reader/CD burner drive that's probably six or seven years old.
Immediately I noticed a difference. Instead of sitting for a while at the "boot from CD" prompt delivered by the BIOS, it blinked through this stage almostly instantly. Didn't sit there and think about it for a while as it began loading Win 7 either. Plus it sailed right past the point at which I was stuck before, with it prompting me for a driver.
It just finished installing a few minutes ago. Now it's time to hook up the cards and drives I removed. Dunno if I'm gonna reinstall that Samsung drive, though. I'm thinking I should oughta return it and try another brand.
Again, thanks guys for all the help and insights you provided.
Best,
Michael
Nice to hear you got it sorted. Strange that the drive Samsung SH-S222A was not working since it's using an EIDE/ATAPI interface. Perhaps the drive was not falling back to older interface speeds thus causing the problem.
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