Dual boot BSOD

I mean booting from the install cd. It crashes before I get to select where to install it.

Whereas in the virtual machine it installs fine.

I put the SATA drivers in the image as per the tutorial.

Can you run XP virtually? This is probably the best approach unless you want to work with Theog to get your SATA drivers slipstreamed correctly as it can be dicey. XP is nearly XPired and hardly worth the effort otherwise.

I can run it virtually fine yes.

I wanted to install it directly so I can see how various programs run on it. As at the moment im getting crippling CPU spikes in 7

Open Task Manager, Process tab, show processes from All Users, click CPU column to see what is spiking CPU.

In msconfig>Startup uncheck everything except AV and gadgets. Reboot. If anything shows up again in list turn it off in it's Program Preferences. Startup Programs - Change - Windows 7 Forums

Next in msconfig>Services, Hide all MS Services, then uncheck anything you have not started yourself, either turn it off in Program Prefs or uninstall it.

Done and done.

The thing is the spikes only happen when applications are running. It will be fine then spike then be ok again then spike etc, with gaps of a few mins.

Ive tested the cpu with a program that says its working at 100% efficiency with the right speed.

Try resetting your BIOS back to default.

Theres two versions of BIOS available on the website.

One Win 7 and one for Vista, which the machine was originally sold with.

Are you saying put the Vista version back on, even though it has Win 7?

Clear CMOS - 3 Ways to Clear the CMOS - Reset BIOS

Hi, I didnt get a chance to do this until today.

Seems to have reset fine, but CPU still spiking when i run certain apps.