Windows 7: Boot-up issue! PLEASE HELP!

HunterG · 08 Nov 2009

Hello Windows Seven Users,

Today I downloaded Windows 7 Ultimate. Before that I had Windows Vista Home Premium. I put the installation disc and upgraded...the installation worked perfectly but when my computer restarted for the final time(meaning the end of the installation process) before I get to the password stage of getting to the main screen of my computer(desktop) a screen comes up on my..Gateway P-6301 Laptop.
The screen says..System Recovery Options.
1. Select language
2. Select an operating system to repair and click Next. (I clicked Windows 7)
3. Password
4. (Then the screen) SYSTEM RECOVERY OPTIONS which includes the options of doing Startup Repair, System Restore, Windows Complete PC Restore, Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool, Command Prompt, Recovery Manager.

I am quite upset because I have clicked just about everyone one of those...(instead of the System Restore because I want to keep Windows 7) and none of them have seem to have helped.

If there is anything you could do to help me that would be fantastic. If you need anymore information I will be happy to give that to you in order to solve this problem.

Thanks so much!
-HunterG

rsvr85 · 08 Nov 2009

HunterG said:

Hello Windows Seven Users,

Today I downloaded Windows 7 Ultimate. Before that I had Windows Vista Home Premium. I put the installation disc and upgraded...the installation worked perfectly but when my computer restarted for the final time(meaning the end of the installation process) before I get to the password stage of getting to the main screen of my computer(desktop) a screen comes up on my..Gateway P-6301 Laptop.
The screen says..System Recovery Options.
1. Select language
2. Select an operating system to repair and click Next. (I clicked Windows 7)
3. Password
4. (Then the screen) SYSTEM RECOVERY OPTIONS which includes the options of doing Startup Repair, System Restore, Windows Complete PC Restore, Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool, Command Prompt, Recovery Manager.

I am quite upset because I have clicked just about everyone one of those...(instead of the System Restore because I want to keep Windows 7) and none of them have seem to have helped.

If there is anything you could do to help me that would be fantastic. If you need anymore information I will be happy to give that to you in order to solve this problem.

Thanks so much!
-HunterG

Hi HunterG :)
It sounds like one of your keyboard keys are sticking. Can you try another keyboard?

EDIT: Ma bad, it's a laptop, can you confirm that the "F" keys aren't stuck.

HunterG · 08 Nov 2009

I am definitely sure none of the keys are stuck. :/ Any other ideas?
Thanks for your help.
-HunterG

Dave76 · 09 Nov 2009

Welcome to Seven Forums.

If your installation DVD is still in, take it out and re-start the computer.

If that doesn't work, check if your recovery partition is marked active.
You would normally do this in Disk Management, but since you don't have a functional OS you will need a boot CD that can see you hard drives and partitions.

If you don't have one, down load Partition Wizard, and the boot CD ISO file. Burn it to a CD.

Boot to the CD and check if your recovery partition is marked 'Active'.
Change the 'Active' to the OS partition.
If the computer won't bootup normally, run 'Startup Repair' three times. This should repair the boot manager.

If this doesn't work run you upgrade installation again.

zx81 · 09 Nov 2009

I am not sure, but could it be you are booting from a (pre-installed) recovery partition?

You could go into BIOS and try to select a different boot order.

Best regards,

zx81

wallyinnc · 09 Nov 2009

HunterG, I understand you are trying to do an in-place upgrade, so you might want to keep your present files and settings. So, before you proceed backup any files and settings you want to preserve.

gregrocker · 09 Nov 2009

There is a slight possibility your Win7 upgrade never completed so first step should be to boot into Win7 installer REpair console and see if it finds a Win7 installation to repair, then run Startup Repair repeatedly until it boots.

The installation is apparently booting into your Vista recovery partition.

Hopefully you backed up all of your files, because you still could lose your Upgrade at this point. If you absolutely have to roll back to Vista, you can try to do so since it is booting into your Vista recov partition now.

If you want to proceed with Win7 installation either to salvage the Upgrade or proceed if necessary to do a clean install then:

Using Dave's link above, boot into Partition Wizard disk and delete the Recovery partition, rightclick>mark WIndows 7 partition active, and if desired rightclick Win7 to Move/Resize into the deleted recov partition's unallocated space.

After these operations complete, boot into the Win7 installer's Repair console and run Startup Repair 3 times to repair multiple boot issues on the Win7 installation.

If Win7 will not start up it probably didn't complete installation, so you need to boot into the Win7 installer and do a clean install to the Win7 partition. If you failed to remove the recov partition earlier, be sure to do it now with the Custom>Advanced tools which will allow you to delete, create and format partition(s) as you like.