Asus N76 UEFI - W7 64 Install Hangs on Logo (DVD UEFI Boot)

Hello all,

First, it is not the DVD. There is nothing wrong with the DVD. I have used this DVD elsewhere, as I said, it just hasn't been activated. I know it "looks" like as if the DVD is corrupted but let me assure you, it is not. This is an authentic W7 DVD. I managed to install W7 on the SSD from within Windows 8 but when the system booted and when I selected to continue with the Windows 7 installation, it again froze at the Windows logo....Same as what happens when the DVD boots. I think *there must be somethng* in the EFI that prevents Windows 7 from booting.

Anyway, I finally had enough.....

I took the original hard disk out and I put the SSD. Downloaded Windows 8 Enterprise 90-day Demo and did a clean install. I started having random crashes. Intuition told me that the OS confuses itself between the built-in VGA adapter and the NVIDIA one (screen was flickering) so I disabled the Intel one as I don't need it. That resolved the crashes. Some of the ASUS software must have been some sort of driver that manages my dual VGA adapters....

Anyway, I installed a third party Start Menu and now I feel comfortable again, however I still wait for ASUS to respond to my inquiry about

- How to boot in MBR Legacy Mode (since every EFI BIOS is supposed to have this)
- Explain why W7 install freezes

Hopefully I hear from them.

GOT Legacy MBR GOING!!! YES!!

I found the setting for Legacy MBR Support!!! It was under a menu called "Launch CSM"!!

Have a look and this was thx to a Linux article!

Linux on the Asus Vivobook S200 (x202e)

Who would have thought this? I found CSM curious and I searched it on the net!

W7 Install booted fine!!

I am SO going back to Windows 7!

Mark this thread as solved!

Thank you Greg for trying to help me! I mean it, thanks for your time!

Well, I have a multiboot USB Flash Drive, it is multi-partitioned and it is an MBR based and I successfully booted from it! I think the regular internal drives are not in the screen as an MBR option because they are GPT based.

I have an internal MBR drive in my ZALMAN USB HD 2.5" enclosure and as you can see, it appears on the list so I can boot from. I am sure once I convert my SSD to an MBR drive (and I will during install), it will appear on the list.

I will have to do this later though as I have to go to work now :) I will let you know how I go and you can ask away any questions if you have. This was a big relief from me.

Now that I know what happens, I think I understand why W7 install kept hanging on the logo.

After I clean installed Windows 8, when Windows 8 was launching, it did *not* show me the Windows logo on the splash screen, the flag but instead I kept seeing the ASUS logo all the way until the Windows login screen appeared. So I think there must some sort of internal splash screen in the EFI storage that gets automatically pulled when Legacy MBR is turned OFF *and* Windows is loading and only W8 has this functionality and it makes the W7 incompatible.

To confirm my theory, I will launch W7 install again in UEFI mode while I have Legacy MBR enabled and see if it works.

I have successfully installed Windows 7 (finally) on my new laptop on the SSD using Legacy MBR Mode. So at this point, I am running in full MBR mode. Again, to do this, I had to enable "Launch CSM". UEFI and secure boot is turned off.

I will use the original HD (1TB) for backup in the second HD bay and will format the whole disk as MBR/NTFS.

FYI, I tried to boot the DVD in UEFI mode while Legacy MBR is turned on, by selecting UEFI DVD option, it did not boot. Instead, it went straight to the internal HD.

As suspected, once the internal HD became MBR based, it now appears on the Boot Menu.