can't do clean install from Vista 32 to Windows 7 64

Guys if I may chime in here,

I have ran into this same sort of thing more than once installing XP and may apply here, you may have a stick of flaky ram I have had this happen and as a diagnostic step removed the ram and tried one stick at a time and then have the installer complete no problem.

I know what your thinking why was it working before and why did the in place upgrade work well that's a good question it must be the way the installer accesses ram during the install process but I have had it happen to me on a working machine so just food for thought maybe run memtest just to see as long as I have been working on computers I have seen a lot of weird stuff.

computersplus said:

Guys if I may chime in here,

I have ran into this same sort of thing more than once installing XP and may apply here, you may have a stick of flaky ram I have had this happen and as a diagnostic step removed the ram and tried one stick at a time and then have the installer complete no problem.

I know what your thinking why was it working before and why did the in place upgrade work well that's a good question it must be the way the installer accesses ram during the install process but I have had it happen to me on a working machine so just food for thought maybe run memtest just to see as long as I have been working on computers I have seen a lot of weird stuff.

Thanks very much for the suggestion. Unfortunately though, the first thing I tried before finding these forums was Googling the problems I'm having & several times the suggestion of RAM came up. I tried it but sadly it didn't help. Thanks anyway though.

Check your computer or mobo maker's Downloads Support page for your model to see if there is a newer BIOS version. Install it from your current 32 bit OS.

If not, try clearing the CMOS: Clear CMOS - 3 Ways to Clear the CMOS - Reset BIOS

Looking at specs, are you planning to double RAM? If not, then I'd stick with 32 bit because 64 bit is only helpful with more than 4gb RAM.

Something else you can try is a Bart PE disc or Hirens boot cd and wipe the drive clean with that and try again Vista and Windows 7 appear to me to only do a quick format sometimes you need a full low level format if the drive has a funky sector or something.

computersplus said:

Something else you can try is a Bart PE disc or Hirens boot cd and wipe the drive clean with that and try again Vista and Windows 7 appear to me to only do a quick format sometimes you need a full low level format if the drive has a funky sector or something.

How about this - is it as thorough as Bart/Hirens/DBAN?

Boot DVD>Repair console>Recovery tools, open Command Line, type:

DISKPART
LIST DISK
SELECT DISK # (for Windows 7 disk)
clean all (for zeroing HD)
create partition primary
select partition 1
assign letter=c:
active
format
exit

gregrocker said:

Check your computer or mobo maker's Downloads Support page for your model to see if there is a newer BIOS version. Install it from your current 32 bit OS.

If not, try clearing the CMOS: Clear CMOS - 3 Ways to Clear the CMOS - Reset BIOS

Looking at specs, are you planning to double RAM? If not, then I'd stick with 32 bit because 64 bit is only helpful with more than 4gb RAM.

Thanks Greg. Yes, the main reason I want 64 bit is because I intend increasing my RAM to 4gb.

I'll try the other suggestions in the morning (as it's after 1:00am here now) & see if it helps. I appreciate everyones help.

That should force low level format yes but the nice thing about the other boot disk is it will give you a windows like environment in which to wipe and partition the drive the main thing is getting it to do the low level format you can let the install disc create the new partitions and remember when the install disk prompts you about the fact that it may create additional partitions click ok.

computersplus said:

That should force low level format yes but the nice thing about the other boot disk is it will give you a windows like environment in which to wipe and partition the drive the main thing is getting it to do the low level format you can let the install disc create the new partitions and remember when the install disk prompts you about the fact that it may create additional partitions click ok.

Thanks. Is it the DISKPART "clean all" or "format" command which achieves this?

Another poster said "clean all" (zeroing) is unnecessary, to just use "clean" to save time.

I notice in DISKPART commands there is a "format quick". I guess that's the one used by the installer by default? So maybe the "format" command is all that's needed?

Right that's what I am suggesting a low level full format no quick format, when installing XP it gives the option to do a quick format or full format but like I said in Vista and 7 all it does is what appears to be a default quick format which may be leading to a lot of issues I am starting to think.

I'm still having trouble finding the settings in BIOS but I have another question.

Remembering that I'm currently running Windows 7 32 bit after doing an in place upgrade from Vista 32 bit - to attempt another clean install to Windows 7 64 bit will I first have to reinstall Vista? Or is it possible to do a clean install to 64 bit by rebooting from my current 32 bit version of 7? I ask because this is one option I haven't yet tried. I'm thinking it's not possible but someone may tell me otherwise.