W7 x86 build 7000 fails on install...

I tried this as both an upgrade to Vista SP1 and from scratch with the same results. I install W7, everything goes well, and on the "final reboot" the system just hangs there with the new 3D Windows logo on the screen and goes no further. I tried to boot into safe mode, which kind of succeeded once, but it just gave me a message that I needed to complete my install in "normal" mode and offered to reboot for me. Tried that, and got the same result. The problem is, I don't know how to go about even debugging something like this.

Its an older all-in-one system based on a 1.6GHz Centrino /512MB Ram / ATI9600 graphics. All works great under Vista SP1.

Anyone have any ideas on how to debug????

Thanks!

Although Windows 7 uses alot less ram then the other systems it takes more then 512 mb ram to boot the operating system because i tried that much ram on a virtual machine and it didnt succed it took 1 gb ram to boot the opertating system. That maybe your problem. Or ur dvd is lacking some files

Hmm...I would say ram is okay, had no problems with 512mb in VMware so far.
I'd also rather say there's something wrong with your installation media.

Is it the stock DVD image, or a slimmed down version?

Just wondering, since that sounds a lot like the errors i got when i tried to slim down the install source with vLIte and sort of overdid it (Or sometimes it would simply create a corrupt ISO file once in a while)

/edit: did you get any errors during install?

Thanks for the feedback. I found some memory and upped the system to 1.25GB, but no change. There are no errors I have seen during installation. It seems to get to a point where it is "completing installation" and hangs. One thing that is possibly different on this unit is that the keyboard / mouse are not connected to the root USB port, and go through an external hub. I'm going to try three things next, I think. First, re-download W7 x86 and build a new DVD. Second I'm going to try the 64-bit version and see if it operates differently, and finally I think I'll try connecting a keyboard and mouse directly to the root USB hub. Sigh.

Thanks!

Is your processor Hyperthreaded or actual dual-core? The RAM shouldn't be the problem, I had it running on a Inspiron 6400 on 512, Aero and all. I'm guessing that since it didn't finish the wizard, you can't use the repair feature as it will just rerun the wizard... You might try and see if your BIOS is up to date. I'm nearly sure that the last part of install is drivers...are you connected to the internet during the install? It could be hanging on a driver install. Also, since it's a download, I'd also jump in the boat of corrupted install media.

Hmmm. I did try the repair feature, but as you mentioned, it just tries to reinstall. The CPU is a Pentium M 1.6GHz that's a few years old, so I suspect it is neither hyperthreaded or multi-core. I don't think that ve used it to install on other machines (I do have W7 running in a VM, but there's so much you can't see in that environment). The machine is a custom design that had a very limited production run, so there are no BIOS or SW updates available for it. It has a USB hub that controls the kbd/mouse as well as media readers on a wireless dock that may be part of the problem. Sometimes not having a keyboard plugged into the root hub can be an issue. Another possibility might be that the DVD reader could be marginal. Or it could be there's just a piece of HW in there that W7 just doesn't like and refuses to tell me about it! ;-)