Let me see if I understand this.
You had problems installing Win7 on computerA.
You removed the hard drive, placed it in computerB.
You installed Win7 on computerB.
You returned the hard drive to computerA.
ComputerA will not work properly.
Is my understanding accurate? - YES or NO only.
Correct. I know that it sounds like a retarded question, and the question wasn't really "How do I install Win7 on this computer, and put it into my computer?", it was just a cry for help trying to get Win7 on mine.
The problem you are experiencing is - all of the drivers are wrong, the HAL is wrong.
This forum has instructions for installing from a USB thumb drive. Is that an option?
Unfortunately not, as the largest flash drive I have here is a 2gb, and the ISO is 2.3 or something like that. I heard that it was as easy as extracting the ISO to the root of the flash drive with winrar or the like.
I'll go look and see if theres an easier way. I would assume that I could use vlite possibly, and strip it down to 2gigs. Also, the flash drives that I have haven't been tested to make sure they're even bootable, so that might be a bust itself. The other two drives I have here are 1gb each, so maybe those would work, but would involve stripping more from the ISO.
Just a quick addendum, I've tried starting the installation from within Windows XP, and that gave me the same errors I've been having when I switched the HDD. The same freezing up at the same place, etc. I'm thinking the problem is more hardware related than I'm going to appreciate.
Just so you know - NO the WinRAR extracted files will not create a bootable USB. You need a couple of command lines sent to the drive, then copy the files. Instructions are available here at SF.
It was a less than briliant suggestion anyway - I don't think your Dell will support USB boot. I could be wrong.
Resources for lite builds and instructions for making lite builds are available here at SF.
My computer does support booting from USB drive, and its not a Dell. It was made by the now defunct Micron PC, or MPC, however you might know the name. They went out of business this past December, due to bankruptcy.
Do you think that after stripping the ISO down to under 2gb, that it would still be a bootable flash drive, or would I likely be wasting my time? Regardless, I'll give it a shot later tonight.
Damn, now I have to go spend money. Well anyways, are there any recommendations on drive brand? Because I've heard that some just refuse to be used that way.
EDIT:
Just seen your last post. I've looked around for a new DVD drive, but this computer that I have is a PC/Laptop hybrid kinda of thing. It has a laptop DVD drive, and I don't have those laying around like I do PC drives... No external cases either. I've really been wracking my brain over this, and thought about most options already. Still, the suggestions are appreciated.
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