Upgrade Install Problem

Even though you have retail Win7, the steps given here to Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 will assure you get and maintain a perfect reinstall.

OK, the problem turned out to be the fact that I had the HDMI cable plugged into my AVR and video card. The PC had been built and the OS installed with the monitor hooked to the video card via the VGA cable. Having the HDMI port on the card also occupied seems to have made the PC unable to decide which monitor to use--the LCD or the HDTV. So it decided to not give me anything other than a blank desktop. Once I unplugged the HDMI cable from the card and rebooted, everything worked fine again. So, to get the video driver to display the option of also having the HDTV to use REQUIRED that I use a DVI cable to connect to the LCD display.

It was either all digital, ie, DVI, or all analog, so to speak, via VGA. It just would not even display the HDTV option in the AMD Catalyst Control Centre software unless the LCD monitor was connected using the DVI port.

So how is that for weird?

Believe me, I could not have made this story up if I tried. In fact, I'm rather proud of myself for having finally figuring out what went wrong. It only took about 5 hours of laying in bed and wondering what could possibly have happened.

I suspect this is one for the record books ...

Thanks for your help guys.

Now the PC seems to have gotten itself hung up in the middle of a Windows Update install. It is just sitting there whirring like there is no tomorrow, as it tries to shut itself down to complete the update. If it is still stuck in the morning I'll just have to hope it can survive a shutdown and reboot without completing its update install. Maybe I need a little Divine intervention at this point, eh?

This is why it says in Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7:

8. Unplug all other HD's and peripherals

gregrocker said:

This is why it says in Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7:

8. Unplug all other HD's and peripherals

Alas, my version is the retail Upgrade, not OEM.

Trying to get the AMD Radeons to do multi monitor output, especially to my 1080p HDTV, is quite an experience in frustration. But I imagine that is a problem for a different line of inquiry in the forum.

It doesn't matter what the OS version is, the Best Practices for install are the same which is why I specifically said

gregrocker said:

Even though you have retail Win7, the steps given here to Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 will assure you get and maintain a perfect reinstall.

Windows did finally install correctly. It took a few twists and turns but it finally saw the wisdom of obeying my wishes, ha, ha!

The hard part now is getting the dumb thing to boot up with only my 52" HDTV as the monitor, via the HDMI output. I have a Radeon 5450 and it is giving me all I can handle right now!

OK, the problem turned out to be the brand new HIS 5450 video card. Took it back and exchanged it for a Gigabyte 5450. End of problem!

I have never had a HIS card that actually worked properly.

Good work getting it replaced.

When ready you can mark the thread Solved at top.