Factory reset ended in failure

I had another stick but it is the same model with lower capacity - only 4GB.

It has 4GB of RAM. CPU is Intel core i5-3317U @ 1.70 GHz.

The long delay I found particularly is the blue circle loading screen on every step I do. Even clicking New on seventh step in UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) - Install Windows 7 with took like 5 mins to pop up a box saying that Windows may need to create new partitions. Clicking OK, then it went back to the blue circle loading. I fear that this "lag" is a sign that later on there will be performance issue when Windows 7 is up and running.

It could be hardware which might need later testing from Troubleshooting Steps for Windows 7 to confirm it's good, or it could be just a crummy stick that is slower than usual.

I keep thinking that I'd want to verify the presence of the SSD chip since it could be problems if its really a bad chip on your board. I didn't hear back if you saw it on the drive selection screen or in Diskpart List Disk so assumed you didn't. There's a way to get these to show themselves to format them, known by the manufacturer I linked you to earlier. If you get it formatted you can always move the paging file there, if not set it up as manufacturer recommends (usually in some sort of RAID).

Yes, gregrocker. In the "Where do you want to install Windows" box, it shows 2 disks. Disk 0 with 30GB and Disk 1 with 465GB. We can assume that Disk 0 is the SSD itself.

It has been up to 8 minutes and it is still blue loading circle after clicking OK in the last box. I don't think it is supposed to be this long. Everything I've been doing so far since the start of the original problem has been slow too....

You could try Win7 install to the SSD as a comparison. This will hold your OS and most used programs, though files and lesser used programs will need to be directed to the hard drive you can format in Disk Mgmt after install.

If it installs quickly to SSD then it might point to the HD needing testing as suggested earlier.

You may need to reformat the stick or try another stick to compare. Remember you must use a USB2 port (no blue inside).

I gave up since it take a very long time and, to narrow down the problems, I switched USB and is now following the guide to install Windows 7 with USB 3.0 in your earlier posts. Will also try to install to the SSD too. I will update as any other problem arises.

Update. Changing the USB seems to do no change in the speed of installing. It still take so long to advance from each step.

Additionally, Windows gave me a warning when I selected the 30GB partition that Windows won't install to it. Looking back at the SSD installation guide you posted earlier, I don't think it will work with my current condition now since I can't boot to Windows.

So as a last resort, I am now installing it in the Primary partition of the HD. Might as well get myself to become more patient and wait for another hour or two.

Anyway thanks for your help so far and I will update more if any other problem exists (except the long loading ofc lol)

Great news! After bearing with for a longer time the installation did finally finished. Upon restaring, it also take a long time in the "Starting Window" screen and "Setup is updating registry setting", which ended with the same error of the original problem. I surfed on the Internet more and found a solution: opening command prompt with shift+f10 at the error screen, went into msoobe and it popped the window similar to a proper installation. (Asking for User Name, PC Name, Product Key and Time)

Ref: "Windows could not complete the installation. To install Windows - Microsoft Community

Upon restarting after doing above method, I still find a long boot time, and interestingly, the message "Setup is updating registry" pops up again for a while before it went into the login screen. It took around 10 minutes to boot. Nevertheless, after doing Updates for Windows, boot is only in 1 min which is wonderful.

Thanks grerocker for assisting me in this problem. Much appreciated, learn so much about computers.

Did you import the chipset from the model's Support Downloads webpage?

After installing all Important and Optional Updates what drivers are still missing in Device Manager?

If you have not already done so test the hard drive with the maker's HD Diagnostic extended CD scan followed by Disk Check.

See if there is a setting to disable the SSD chip in BIOS setup anywhere. Look at the Updates for your BIOS to see if there are any newer and what they are for. Look for surrounding information for the BIOS downloads, or you may need to extract the download to read the ReadMe file to see what it's for and how it's installed.

Did you ultimately get a UEFI install done?

Use Clean Reinstall Windows 7 setup steps as a checklist to make sure you've done everything that works best to set up perfect Win7. Once you've done that, report back on performance in detail.

gregrocker, yes, thank you for checking up on me again.

I did diskcheck before and it ran with no problem. I also have installed the chipset provided from my manufacturer.

If I remember correctly, Windows Update did not update the audio (Realtek) and I need to download nVidia GeForceExperience to update the driver to latest. (I saw nVidia driver being listed in the Recommended Windows Update, though).

Yes, I believe this installation is a success. The performance is terrific, of course! Boot time was even faster than the last Windows! Additionally, when idle, I can see the RAM at around 0.9-1 GB, whereas the first Windows will have to sit at 1.3-1.4 GB even only on desktop!

Again, I thank you for your support, gregrocker. Cheers!

Great to hear.

Just a mention that I'd not run GeForce experience or anything else that wants to run at Startup in msconfig>Startup or msconfig>Services (after Hiding MS Services) except free lightweight recommended AV like MSE or Panda Cloud.