Windows 7 Setup Freezes After "Finishing Installation" with Intel Q963

(Note, this is a mirror of a very similar thread over on the Microsoft forums)

So I got this Optiplex 745 and figured I could just throw in a hard drive, install Windows 7, and everything would be good. This has actually been the most frustrating setup I've ever experienced - full details after the break (specs):

Dell Optiplex 745
Intel Core2 Duo 1.8Ghz
1GB of RAM
MM599/KW628 Standard Motherboard
Intel Q963 Graphics

So like I said before, I grabbed a hard drive and threw it in. I discovered that I needed to change some settings in the BIOS that had been mucked up by the previous owner (reset from a motherboard battery change perhaps?) by disabling the (nonexistent) floppy drive and enabling the SATA port that my fancy shmancy SATA hard drive was on. Useless details aside, I got things to a workable point and proceeded on to install Windows 7. Everything went smoothly - I put the DVD in, it asked me where I wanted to put Windows at, so I cleared the drive and it got to work. It went through all the checkboxes except for the last one and reported that it needed to reboot - still completely normal. After a rebooty, we got to the "finishing installation" phase, and the screen blanked out at the point where it loads the graphic drivers to a black screen with no mouse. The monitor's "info" button revealed that the computer was now outputting 1360x768 to it which meant it had located the graphic driver. Subsequent restarts of the computer would get you past the Windows logo, but it would always lock up the computer the second it changed the resolution. Safe mode is prohibited by the computer until setup is complete.

With this in mind, I took the hard drive out and put it in a less troublesome computer and ran the setup with no network access. After it was done, I put the hard drive back in the Dell, and to my surprise, it started. Of course since I had just transplanted the hard drive, it went and installed drivers for fifty new things and suggested I restart the machine, which I did. Once it restarted, the same thing happened as before which tells me (hopefully I'm on the right tracks here) that it is a driver problem. Now I have the advantage of being able to use safemode though. I booted inito safemode and just uninstalled the graphic drivers (they dheidn't look like the generic ones) and restarted.

This time, it started! hooray! Of course the display was in 800x600 because we were using the generic driver, but everything else was good. I downloaded the driver from the Intel website, which reads in device manager, "Intel(R) Q965/Q963 Express Chipset Family (the stock one read, "Intel(R) Q965/Q963 Express Chipset Family (Microsoft Corporation - WDDM 1.0)"). After rebooting, I discovered that the one from Intel's webpage does the same thing. My question is this: is there anywhere that I can get a proper working driver for the Intel Q965 graphics? I would like to be able to use the computer outside of safemode.

Things I have tried:

Dell BIOS Update - Unsuccessful. I'm running 64Bit Windows 7, and it's one of those Windows based BIOS updates that refuses to run on a 64Bit version of Windows. I was able to bypass this problem on a Lenovo computer by using Active BootDisc and run the installer from in there, but I don't get anywhere with this one for some reason.

Any ideas?

Thanks a lot in advance.

- 2B

Have you tried the Dell support site to see if they have the proper drivers for that PC with Win 7?

Check optional Windows Updates for the driver Win7 wants used, if there is one. It should come through in the first few rounds of Updates.

Are you using the Win7 installer with SP1? It may have the newer driver, but it would still come in on optional Updates.

I find these older drivers by Googling deftly to find how others have solved it. Only once in a dozen or so cases where Win7 isn't supported have I not gotten it to run with a Vista or XP driver, sometimes installed in Compatibility Mode.

You were lucky that the moved HD would start up in the problem machine after install on other hardware. If not you could have SysPrepped it, or run Paragon Adaptive Restore CD on it after moving it back.

Short of installing in another machine in these cases you can enter Device Manager during install to uninstall display driver so installation will complete: Device Manager - Access During Windows 7 Installation

You have the resourcefulness to find your driver if anyone can. Keep us posted and we'll try to help.

If you have a Intel chipset try the updater.
Intel® Driver Update Utility
Did you try the Intel updater?

edwar said:

Have you tried the Dell support site to see if they have the proper drivers for that PC with Win 7?

They don't have anything specifically for Windows 7.

gregrocker said:

Check optional Windows Updates for the driver Win7 wants used, if there is one. It should come through in the first few rounds of Updates.

Are you using the Win7 installer with SP1? It may have the newer driver, but it would still come in on optional Updates.

Didn't see anything in the updater. I did use the Windows 7 non SP1 installer disc though.

theog said:

If you have a Intel chipset try the updater.
Intel® Driver Update Utility
Did you try the Intel updater?

Would that thing have a different driver than the one on the Intel official website?

gregrocker said:

I find these older drivers by Googling deftly to find how others have solved it. Only once in a dozen or so cases where Win7 isn't supported have I not gotten it to run with a Vista or XP driver, sometimes installed in Compatibility Mode.

XP Driver - never thought of that. I'll look into it.

gregrocker said:

You were lucky that the moved HD would start up in the problem machine after install on other hardware. If not you could have SysPrepped it, or run Paragon Adaptive Restore CD on it after moving it back.

Yep. I thought it would be a shot in the dark, but I thought if I could at least get it started. If I ever run into this again, I'll keep those software in mind.

gregrocker said:

Short of installing in another machine in these cases you can enter Device Manager during install to uninstall display driver so installation will complete: Device Manager - Access During Windows 7 Installation

That's really interesting - I never knew that before. I'm surprised this isn't circulated as much because that could really be helpful for the rare W7 Setup Fail like this one.

- 2B