Windows 7: Clean install to Win7, no drivers found?

I've been searching for an our or so all over trying to find something that helps me with this problem, but nothing seems to be working.

I have an HP dv6780se Pavillion Laptop.

I put a new hard drive in it to restore and the restore disks are working correctly. It will install windows vista, but then when it starts installing all the bloatware the computer restarts and says OS not found.

So, I figured I'd install windows 7 since I was planning on doing it anyway.

My problem now is that I'm wondering since restore disks only install vista and don't finish the other hp stuff that the drivers aren't getting installed for vista...hence when I try and do a clean install of Windows 7 it says no drivers found.

Any idea what I can do to get my install going?

Im assuming that you have a bootable DVD, so Id suggest formatting your drive with the custom install option, then install windows7. Once you have installed it, be sure to run Windows Update, then image your drive/partition as a precaution..

Welcome to Seven Forums ..

How do I format the drive with the custom option? The first thing it does after I click the custom option is tell me the drivers aren't found?

(though now for some reason it's trying to open vista rather than boot from the Windows 7 disk )

Hi, you need to have the disc in the drive and then turn your PC off
so that when you restart, it should boot into your Windows7 OP, and from there you will be able to format the old one if you wish, or make a new partition also if that is what you want.

well apparently i let the computer run the restore until it messed up (black os not found screen again) and it got far enough to install the disk drivers...Win 7 is installing now

fingers crossed

Thanks for the advice so far

Perhaps we could be of further assistance if you completely filled out your system specs... click the link in my sig....

I'm planning on it, but since my computer is out of service at the moment, I'm waiting to get Windows installed so I can actually see what they are...I don't know them off the top of my head

ok, looks like Win 7 is up and running now. Have a question though. When I turn on the computer, it's asking whether I want to boot Win 7 or Vista...is there a way to remove this choice? I thought the Clean Install would have completely removed Vista?

p.s. Specs Updated..except I can figure out the MoBo

@ Cyber

You might want to find out all of your system info from this program


Link: SIW | System Information for Windows by Gabriel Topala



SIW is an advanced System Information for Windows tool that gathers detailed information about your system properties and settings and displays it in an extremely comprehensible manner. The system information is divided into a few major categories:

• Software: Operating System, Installed Software and Hotfixes, Processes, Services, Users, Open Files, System Uptime, Installed Codecs, Software Licenses (Product Keys / Serial Numbers / CD Key), Secrets (Password Recovery).
• Hardware: Motherboard, Sensors, BIOS, CPU, chipset, PCI/AGP, USB and ISA/PnP Devices, Memory, Video Card, Monitor, Disk Drives, CD/DVD Devices, SCSI Devices, S.M.A.R.T., Ports, Printers.
• Network: Network Cards, Network Shares, currently active Network Connections, Open Ports.
• Tools: Eureka! (Reveal lost passwords hidden behind asterisks), MAC Address Changer, Monitor Test, Shutdown / Restart.
• Real-time monitors: CPU, Memory, Page File usage and Network Traffic.

It is very comprehensive in detailing everything about your system


Hope SevenForums will be a great help to you.

Thanks I'll download that and check it out.

Ok, to expand my question 2 posts up as well...

I downloaded Partition Wizard to see what's going on.

I have two partitions, C and D

D says Active & Boot
C says System

When I installed windows 7 I installed it on the larger partition (C I'm assuming). Does that mean it left Vista on D? Can I simply do the install again on the D partition to remove Vista?

Also, I've already installed some programs, etc...since all this info is on C, installing Windows 7 on the D won't make me have redo all that will it?

My main goal is to make Vista go away completely