New PC Build, Windows 7 doesn't want to install

ToiletNinja said:

Update: I got to

FORMAT FS=NTFS LABEL="WINDOWS 7"

and it gave me a

'DiskPart has encountered an error: The parameter is incorrect. See the System Event Log for more information.

DISKPART> JFJDJACDFJCMADFJECMIVMFJNDDDDDDD'

after getting 0 percent completed, then I came back and it was 15 percent completed, then this.

Hi there
what OS were you running on -- something obviously recognized your HDD.

What I'd do first is to download the FREE copy of partition wizard

Best Free Partition Manager Freeware and free partition magic for Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Vista and Windows XP 32 bit & 64 bit. MiniTool Free Partition Manager Software Home Edition.

Create a bootable version of this (burn the ISO to a CD / DVD), boot it and then totally wipe your HDD.
Now format the whole HDD with a SINGLE primary HDD NTFS partition and set it ACTIVE. Now if that works then we know your HDD is OK.

Can you try that first.

Once you report back on the status of that operation we can go into the next step of getting your Windows 7 up and running.

(Note if your HDD is 4TB then you'll have to partition it into smaller partitions -- use the same program as above. Also if the HDD is GPT then you CANNOT BOOT from a GPT partition -- convert the Disk to standard MBR partitions).

Cheers
jimbo

jumanji said:

Yep, and if you want to RMA, WD may require that you run the dlgdiag5 and invoke the option
" ENTER AND PRINT RMA INFORMATION - Information pertaining to each drive tested can be customized and printed with this option.'' after the tests.

So be prepared to run the DOS diagnostics but this time set the first boot device to the flash drive in the BIOS so that if it asks you to reset/reboot, it will again boot into DOS - instead of trying to boot from the HDD and I believe that is what happened last time - "bootmanager missing" ( When it boots into DOS it boots from the RAM drive. So there is no question of bootmanager missing. :))

Try running the Quick Test and extended test again as above and if you encounter any problems you can notify WD when you RMA it.

EDIT: If it is a new HDD and within the vendor's replacement policy, you may straightaway get a replacement from the vendor, instead of calling on WD.

Yes, I ordered from newegg, they have a great 30-day RMA policy.

Update; Marking partition 1 as active did not solve the problem. Marking partition 2 as active gave me a 'bootmgr is missing' error.

ToiletNinja said:

Update; Marking partition 1 as active did not solve the problem. Marking partition 2 as active gave me a 'bootmgr is missing' error.

Is this on the PC you moved the bad HD to test it, and now after removing it Win7 won't start on the good HD? There is no reason it shouldn't start if you only plugged in a secondary HD and didn't change the boot order or run Repairs on the bad HD.

Are you sure Partition 1 is 100mb System Reserved and 2 is C? What are you working from?

Did you run up to three separate Startup Repairs with Active flag on each partition? This is how to move the System boot files from system Reserved to C if the 3 repairs don't work with Active flag on System Reserved..

If you can post back a camera snap of Partition Wizard drive map it would be apparent.

gregrocker said:

ToiletNinja said:

Update; Marking partition 1 as active did not solve the problem. Marking partition 2 as active gave me a 'bootmgr is missing' error.

Is this on the PC you moved the bad HD to test it, and now after removing it Win7 won't start on the good HD?

Are you sure Partition 1 is 100mb System Reserved and 2 is C? What are you working from?

Did you run up to three separate Startup Repairs with Active flag on each partition? This is how to move the System boot files from system Reserved to C if the 3 repairs don't work with Active flag on System Reserved..

If you can post back a camera snap of Partition Wizard drive map it would be apparent.

I'm talking about PC #2. And I'll do that next.

Update: (This is on the PC I moved the bad HD to test it, and now after removing it Win7 won't start on the good HD), I've tried marking partition 1 (the 100mb reserved) as active and doing startup repair, then marking partition 2 (the main hard drive) as active and doing startup repair. When I marked partition 2 as active, startup repair looked like it was making repairs instead of giving errors, but no matter which was active or which one I did startup repair on, I get this screen;



Would reinstalling windows help? It's just that I'd prefer not to lose all of my stuff.

Is it possible when you plugged in the other HD you accidentally unplugged or nicked another cable? Go over it closely to see if everything is exactly as it was.

If so the error says it may work in Safe Mode so try that as well as Last known Good Configuration from the F8 Advanced Boot Options . In addition in the disk System Recovery Options try System Restore as far back as necessary. You should be using booted installer for all repairs.

There's no reason to lose your files - which should be backed up at all times anyway - because you can at any time browse into C to copy them out to external or another HD using Copy & Paste - in Windows Recovery Console or Paragon Rescue Kit Free Edition 11.0 Free CD.

When you do that browse into the root of C and see if you see Boot, Bootmgr and bootsect.bak files present.

If not browse into System Reserved and find those files, highlight all at once using the Cntrl key, copy and paste them into C. Then after confirming C is marked Active again, run Startup Repair - Run up to 3 Separate Times

If this last-resort measure fails, then copy out your files to external or another HD. Then boot the Win7 installer to do a Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 deleting all partitions during install. I would read over the steps closely first as you may have bookmarks or other program data files that also need rescue before doing the install.