Solved Cannot install Windows 7 to new HDD

[alan1000]

Hi everybody - this is probably not strictly speaking a Windows problem, but maybe somebody here has encountered it before and knows the answer! I'm having a problem with a Satellite P750 which I purchased as fully working though without a hard drive. I've fitted a new Western Digital HDD but I cannot find a way to boot from Windows 7 installation media.

The problem: When powered on, the Toshiba splash screen appears and seems to work though the POST okay, but it is followed by a blank black screen with just a blinking cursor in the top left corner. There are no error messages, no boot messages. The DVD drive can be heard winding over, if there is a disc in it, but the computer makes no attempt to boot from any device.

F2 BIOS settings and F12 Boot Order both come up normally on the appropriate key press.

On selecting either USB Boot or DVD Boot from the F12 menu, neither works, and the screen reverts to black.

Changing boot order settings in BIOS has no effect.

All boot devices including USB flash drives are fully recognised by their proper names, both in the BIOS and in the F12 boot order.

Boot speed is set to "Normal" (as opposed to "Fast") and "Legacy USB Emulation" is enabled.

There is no BIOS option to switch between UEFI and CSM boot modes, nor is there any option to turn off "Secure Boot". Neither of these gets any mention at all in the BIOS.

The BIOS is AMI v2.10. The USB flash drive was set up using the MS Windows 7 USB/DVD creation tool, and Windows 7 Home Premium ISO, both downloaded from the Microsoft website. The DVD I used is genuine Microsoft.

The computer itself is in brand-new condition and seems to be in perfect working order. I don't really know what to try next. Any suggestions?

 

[Ranger4]

It's possible both your install media are faulty. This Forum Tutorial might help you make sure your USB media is bootable. Another possibility is that the DVD drive is not working properly.

Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool

 

[alan1000]

Thanks for your reply, Ranger4. The media are okay - I've checked them out on other machines (I have access to several). I've also tried using a freshly-burned DVD copy of the Windows 7 ISO download (which I assume would be up-to-date with all the latest patches?). I haven't yet swapped out the DVD player to see whether that makes a difference. Hope to do that tomorrow. I begin to suspect, though, that there may be a motherboard problem... but if so, why does the POST not show something??? I've never seen anything quite like this before... One other option which just occurs to me, is to see whether it will boot from a third-party disc, eg Hiren's Boot CD, or perhaps a Linux disc. Anyway, if I crack it, I'll let you know!

 

[Megahertz07]

On BIOS, does it detect the HDD and the OOD drive? Is SATA enabled?

 

[alan1000]

Yes, the drives are detected and properly identified - for example, the USB flash drive is correctly listed as a Sandisk. Sata is enabled. Out of desperation I've also tried IDE compatibility mode, but that makes no difference, as you'd expect.


It's possible to buy a new Windows restore partition from Toshiba, at a cost of around US$50; I consider that a reasonable price, and I might try it if it's the last option left, but there's no guarantee it would solve the problem, of course.

 

[Ranger4]

I'd say megahertz is asking whether the BIOS is detecting the new Western Digital hard drive that you have installed. Does the BIOS actually show it being detected, if not recheck the data & power connections both at the HDD end & the motherboard end.

 

[alan1000]

Sorry, yes indeed, it is correctly recognised as a WD hard drive and listed by its model number.

 

[alan1000]

...however, I have just learned that there is almost certainly a Lenovo Windows 10 restore partition on this disc. I'm not sure if that could be a problem, but I will remove it, repartition and reformat it, then try again.

 

[Megahertz07]

You don't need to take out the HDD and format. Windows installation will do it.
Satellite P750 is a Sandy Bridge (2nd gen) so it shouldn't be any problem installing win 7.
On BIOS, set the 1st boot order to the HDD. Disable the 2nd and 3rd.
Start and press F12 (boot menu) and select your win 7 installation disk.

Go to install - advanced - delete all partitions - create new
Choose the big NTFS partition to install.

 

[alan1000]

Thanks for that, Megahertz07. It seems that LAN PXE boot is the only one which can be disabled in this BIOS version. The HDD, USB and DVD options can only be moved up or down. Highlight any one of them and press Enter does not bring up any sub-menus, but LAN boot can be disabled from within the Advanced settings menu, which is adjacent to the Boot menu. Considering this is not that old a computer, I am surprised (and frustrated) that the BIOS options seem to be so limited. It doesn't seem like a UEFI setup at all, more like an old-fashioned kind of BIOS. Incidentally, the email notification of your post is slightly different to the website version; it has a question about installation media. The media I've been trying to use are a Sandisk USB2 8GB flash drive (fairly new), a genuine Windows 7 Home Premium DVD in good condition, and a burned DVD using the ISO version downloaded from Microsoft. The DVD drive has been temporarily swapped out with a known good one, to no avail. The media have all been tested on other machines and appear to be in good working order.

 

[alan1000]

Last fling: I read that in some BIOS's, advanced options can be unlocked by setting a supervisor password. I tried that. Needless to say, it didn't make any difference!



I've been checking out Toshiba's diagnose-and-repair fees online, and they are actually not that bad. I may just take the machine to them. To get a working computer, I'll end up paying twice as much as I thought I would, but I hate to write off a beautiful machine just because of some potentially trivial fault. Fight against consumerism!


Thanks for all your inputs, chaps, I really appreciate your effort, and you have stimulated my imagination to try a few things that I wouldn't have thought of by myself; long may you prosper.

 

[Megahertz07]

Alan, as you have a Win 7 installation iso file, try to make a Win 7 installation USB flash disk.
To do it, you can't just copy the iso files to the flash disk.
Use the M$ tool https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=56485
Or Rufus Rufus - Create bootable USB drives the easy way

 

[alan1000]

Solved by a local genius of a repair man who works out of his garage.


(1) Remove the power lead and the battery.
(2) Remove and reseat the hard drive and the RAM.
(3) Reconnect the power lead, leaving the battery on one side for the moment.
(4) The computer will now boot from installation media. Instal Windows.
(5) When installation is complete, replace the battery.


It may sound like a voodoo solution, but apparently it works every time. Anyway, thanks to everyone who contributed suggestions, I appreciate your efforts!