Trying to install Win 7 on xp machine.. having trubs..

musiclover7 said:

No.. though I have remote access to the machines current xp installation, walking her through those steps may be difficult. Somehow or another, she has already lost the sound on her XP OS. No sound devices are detected under the control panel applet, though all the drivers remain installed and are working properly.. Not sure what happened there, but my hope is that installing 7 on the new drive, will bring back her sound.. I had her enter the bios, and load the default settings, to double check they had not been accidentally disabled there, no good.. I am banking on the USB drive. And here I thought this operation would be so simple..

Always seems to be that way, when you expect it to take an hour it takes days, and sometimes the opposite but not so much.

Hopefully the USB stick will do the trick.

Let me know how it goes.

musiclover7 said:

I cannot recall the error we got when installing from dvd, but it would start to expand, and then mid way, would report some error that I think was driver related.. It would say, sorry setup cannot install windows..
..

I think the error from dvd is missing drivers?
If this is the case try using a fbootable flash drive.

Here is what I would do. I am a clean install hobbyist who works on friends and family's computers all over the country, doing most of the work when I come to visit (they like to send me tickets) but also connecting remotely as you are, so I know its limits. This calls for a special approach which I have used before in a similar situation. It will preserve the XP drive exactly as it is so that if this fails you can just plug it back in and wait til you go to visit to do the install.

You should do the install at your end on a separate HDD compatible with her computer (IDE or SATA, whichever cables she has) which you plug in to your computer in place of your HDD and install from booting CD. Configure as much as you wish - Adobe Reader/flash, Java runtime, Works, etc. or more if you want to optimize it some - but I would make it basic and limited to what she cannot easily do herself.

Then disconnect the drive and ship it to her, walk her through unplugging her HDD and plugging this one in. It will spend some time changing out the drivers for almost everything - like a waterfall all of the drivers will be swapped before her eyes and prompt for several restarts at certain pauses. When it is done you will have a working Win7 up and running, ready for activation only now that it has the new hardware, with Updates giving most other drivers not included in installer, and ready for adding programs from her collection.

As for the XP drive, I strongly suggest you have her say goodbye to XP since this is what almost everyone has done who dual boots, but she can plug the drive in to the second cable (which should be the one set in the BIOS not to boot) to serve as a data drive to transfer files over. If she really, really wants the XP in a dual boot, then ask here for instructions on how to use EasyBCD or such to discover the XP and add it to boot menu.

I have done this twice now for others exactly as described, and another three times on my own computers which wouldn't boot from installer or failed install for other reasons. It has worked every time on Vista and Win7 but never worked on XP. Afterwards I have checked everything out using Chkdsk, system file checker, and HDD surface scan and never had an issue. Otherwise a repair install (upgrade over itself) would refresh everything if it really needs it and is done from the desktop leaving everything in place.

musiclover7 said:

OMG... Still not working.. Here is the error we are getting..

Windows cannot install required files error 0x80070570
The file may be corrupt or missing.. Make sure all files required for installation are available and restart installation..

We get this during the part where it expands windows install files.. Any advice appreciated..!!

Can you give us some basic info on the computer your trying to install onto?
Check this sticky thread, it's a list of things to check which came from the most common issues we've come across so far, Questions to use for help with Installation Issues.

Since we don't have a lot to go on, I've searched this issue in TechNet, these are some of the solutions mentioned there.

Make sure all non essential devices are removed, only have monitor, keyboard and mouse.

What graphics card is there? Does she have on board graphics? Take out the graphics card if you can. Use VGA cable if you can.

How much RAM? Some MOBOs have a problem with the amount of RAM and number of cards. Use one card.
What MOBO is it? What CPU?

Has the BIOS been updated? If not check for update?

Any other cards in the MOBO, TV tuner, Sound card?
Take them out if necessary.

Have only one HD connected, as you have been doing.

A couple of people said they solved it by running Disk Check utility. If you can get to the Command Prompt, Type chkdsk /r and press Enter.

Let us know if any of these help.

musiclover7 said:

Figured it out.. it was a bunk ram stick.. Brand new ram too.. bummer, but at least I can let this one rest.. Thanks for all the help..

Glad to hear you got it.

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