W7 will not Install correctly on older laptop

The laptop I am trying to fix for a friend is a Dell Latitude D600. It has a 1.6 GHz processor and 512mb of DDR2 RAM (I know it is pushing it for system requirements). It had Windows 7 Ultimate on it on it before, but it was having intermittent problems with the network and it would randomly blue screen, so instead of trying to deal with that I whipped the drive and I am now putting W7 Pro on it. It starts to install, then when it gets to the restart process, it restarts and does not continue installation.
I have tried to use the recovery disc and use the fixmbr and fixboot commands and they where successfully repaired.
The hard drive acts as if it it is blank at boot up.
When I look at the hard drive when I am using the recovery disc, it says that there is Windows 7 on the drive.
This is so confusing....

As the HD drive old, I would Check the hard drive with the manufacturer's diagnostic tools.
Hard Drive Diagnostics Tools and Utilities (Storage) - TACKtech Corp.
Hard Drive Diagnostic Procedure

It's absurd to try to run Win7 on 512mb RAM. 1gb maybe, if that's all it will accept, but 512 is just ridiculous.

What's equally important is having a perfect Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 with a totally clean boot except for lightweight MSE. These tools and methods which work best are the same for retail.

Version has nothing to do with it except Basic turns off aero which likely won't work anyway on your hardware. You also want to edit Visual Effects of all fading, sliding, animation, dragging intact and selection rectangle as shown in Optimize Windows 7 - Windows 7 Forums

How are you activating Win7?

gregrocker said:

It's absurd to try to run Win7 on 512mb RAM. 1gb maybe, if that's all it will accept, but 512 is just ridiculous.

What's equally important is having a perfect Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 with a totally clean boot except for lightweight MSE. These tools and methods which work best are the same for retail.

Version has nothing to do with it except Basic turns off aero which likely won't work anyway on your hardware. You also want to edit Visual Effects of all fading, sliding, animation, dragging intact and selection rectangle as shown in Optimize Windows 7 - Windows 7 Forums

How are you activating Win7?

I stand corrected, it does have 1GB of RAM.

I haven't even activated it. It wont even finish the install, that is problem, the first time that it resets during the install, it doesn't continue the install on reboot.

A thought just came to mind, that I might be able to do it if I low level format it, but that is obviously the last thing I want to do.

Back up your files and a System Image if you want a path back to the OS you have now, unplug all other HD's and peripherals,

Boot into BIOS setup to set DVD drive first to boot, HD second. Then set SATA controller to AHCI. Save changes and Exit.

Then boot into installer DVD or flash stick burned or written using tool and latest ISO for your licensed here.

At first installer screen Press Shift + F10 to open a Command Box, type:

DISKPART
LIST DISK
SELECT DISK 0 (after confirming Windows 7 target HD #)
CLEAN
CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY SIZE=102400 (for 100gb partition, adjust as desired)
FORMAT FS=NTFS LABEL="WINDOWS 7"
ACTIVE
EXIT
EXIT

Next click Install Now to Clean Install Windows 7 to the partition you created. If it fails then report back at which step and the verbatim error message.

In addition read over these steps to understand the tools and methods which work best to get and maintain a perfect Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7. The steps are the same for retail.

I figured it out, when it asks you to install, instead of formatting the drive at the choose your drive screen, it gives you the option to delete the drive. For some reason that worked.

Thanks all for the help.