mouse keyboard freeze during installation

Hi,
I have a dell vostro 420, and I want to install windows 7 32bit home edition.
I was running xp fine untill a while ago. I was having hard drive problems.
I ended up getting a replacement hard drive, which is now in my PC.
I tried to do a clean install of 7, but the mouse and keyboard froze during install.
I'm able to install xp, which works fine, but would rather be running windows 7!
how can I fix this!?

I did manage to get it up and running eventually on the old hard drive-after turning off and on many many times during install due to mouse/keyboard freezes! and general 'hanging' at points during install
windows 7 then locked up my mouse keyboard after a few seconds or minutes (or froze?)
windows 7 safe mode worked fine.

please help!
-c


Current Operating System, pre-install

• Do you have a single OS on your computer, are you planning on multi-booting with this installation?
-Its currently got a fresh install of xp on it, which I dont want.
-Only want windows 7 on there.

• Are you multi-booting now?
-no

Current Hardware

• How many internal hard drives (HD) are connected to your system?

• Are they IDE or SATA?
- 1 SATA

• How many DVD drives are connected to your system?

• Are they IDE or SATA Drives?
- 1 SATA

• Any external HDs used?

• Are they connected by USB or eSATA?
- no/none

• Check Disk Management for any HDs listed with a yellow triangle and explanation point?
-?

• Is this a New Clean HD?
-yes

• Have you pre-formatted the HD?
-yes, I think so!

Windows 7 installation details

• Which build number and version of Windows 7 are you installing?
-windows 7 home premium

• Are you installing a 32 bit (x86) or 64 bit (x64) OS?
-32bit

• Where did you get the ISO file from?
-store brought/retail

Installation Media

-From a DVD

• Any Over Clocking of the RAM, CPU or GPU?
-no

My collegue Wally is correct. The 420 page does not exist on dell support. could you tell us if you are running 32bit?

thanks

Ken J+

1
VOSTRO 420 LMT : STANDARD BASE MINI TOWE1
PROCESSOR : INTEL CORE 2 QUAD Q9400 (2.61
SHIP ACCESSORY : ENGLISH DOCS1
RESOURCE DVD : VOSTRO 420 MT DIAGNOSTICS1
MEMORY : 4096MB (2X2048) 800MHZ DDR2 DUA1
FLOPPY DRIVE : 19-IN-1 MEDIA CARD READER1
HARD DRIVE 500GB SERIAL ATA NON RAID (721
OPTICAL DRIVE : 16X DVD+/-RW DRIVE1
ROXIO VISTA - CREATOR / MYDVD 10.31
OPTICAL DRIVE : POWER DVD 8.21
DISPLAY : 24IN E248WFP UK/IRISH BLACK WI1
GRAPHICS : 512MB NVIDIA GEFORCE 9800GT (1
AUDIO : INTEGRATED HDA 5.1 DOLBY DIGITAL1
SPEAKERS : NOT INCLUDED1
MODEM : NOT INCLUDED1
BELKIN 802.11G WIRELESS USB 2.0 NETWORK1
MICE : DELL OPTICAL SCROLL USB (2 BUTTON1
KEYBOARD : UK/IRISH (QWERTY) DELL ENTRY1
OPERATING SYSTEM : ENGLISH (DOWNGRADE) W

Those are the specs I can find on dells support site, hope they can help.
I was running xp ok, not sure if it was 32 bit or not. I also have an install cd for Vista business 32bit sp1, I tried to install that yesterday, but got the same error-frozen keyboard /mouse. I then took outt he usb keyboard mouse and put in a ps2 mouse & keyboard. Instead of freezes, I got bsod's.

Ive been using DVI, I will try using VGA when I next give it a go.
Thanks guys!
-c

Ok, im tried with the VGA.
First off I plugged it into the vga connection at the back of the computer, turned the pc on and got this:
''
unsupported video configuration detected
action is required
this computer has an add-in graphics card, but the monitor is plugged into the intregrated video connector.
to attach the monitor cable to the add-in graphics card:
1.shut down the computer.
2.plug the cable into the add-in graphics card connector.
3.turn on the computer
f1 continue, f2 setup utility
''

So then I turned it off, plugged in the vga end to a vga > dmi attachment thing, and put it in the dmi slot.
Turned it back on, didnt get that screen (above) and booted from cd. It hung on 'windows is starting.' turned off and on again.
got to screen where it says, select language / keyboard layout, then got a bsod.(didnt write its error code down)

I then put the vga cable back in the vga slot (without that dmi/converter attachment) and turned on
(from now on whenever I start up /auto reboot, I get that screen that was mentioned earlier and press f1 to skip)

I then booted from the cd, and thing were running smoothly. I thought that my problem was over!
Then, as soon as I typed in the product key, the screen freezes with a several vertical bars, with many horizontal bars within the vertical ones.

I removed the graphics card and connected using the VGA.
It was going fine untill it froze (with a several vertical bars, with many horizontal bars within the vertical ones) again.
This time at the Completing Installation stage.