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new laptop - first time use stalls
I have recently purchased a new HP Probook 6540b laptop. It came out of a sealed HP box so is brand new. It is a model WH432PA#ABG with an Intel i7 620M cpu and 4GB RAM.
It came with Windows 7 Professional pre-installed.
However, it fails to complete its "first use" phase.
On boot it displays "Setup is preparing your computer for first use" on a black background. It then proceeds to a "Set Up Windows" window on a blue background (looks like normal wallpaper background). The window includes the text "Windows 7 Professional", "My language is English" and a "Next" button.
At this point it stalls. The Next button does not work. I don't believe it is completely hung as I can move the mouse and the disk light flashes about once per second. However, it just sits there for at least 2 and a half hours. (I have also left it overnight on a couple of occasions but the power saving options do kick in and shut it down. The 2.5 hours requires me to sit there and keep moving the mouse.) Ctrl-Alt-Del does not work at this point and the only way out is to remove the power and battery.
I would appreciate some guidance on how to overcome this problem. Note that this is not directly an installation issue. The OS is pre-installed (along with HP goodies).
The only thing I did after opening the box was to charge the battery and set the time zone and date.
Since then I have tried disabling various devices and reinstalling the OS from a DVD. Everything stalls at the same point. I have also successfully upgraded the BIOS from F.04 to F.09 (the latest). The release notes suggested that this version now supported the cpu so it seemed like a worthwhile thing to do and it appears to have been successful (though was not easy on a non-functional computer -- but that is another story).
I've read several guides on this site and elsewhere and none seem relevant. The store from which I purchased has not responded.
I'm stumped. Hoping someone here has seen this before and knows what the problem is and how to resolve it.
Thanks