Solved Disk Installation Conundrum.

[ProfessorNob]

Hi guys, I'm new to the forums, and I have something QUITE strange that is happening to me.
I've built a pc for my friend, and I'm TRYING to install Win7 Ultimate x64.
Specs:
i7-3930k @(Currently Stock)
Radeon 5450
16 GB Corsair Vengeance
WD Blue 500GB
Asrock Extreme6 X79

I looked on the forums, and PROPERLY BURNED an installation DVD, and loaded it up on the custom pc. I set the SATA drives to AHCI, left only 1 stick of 4GB RAM in, and fired the thing up. When asked to choose between the 500gb HDD and the ODD, i chose the ODD. However, I was shown a black screen, with a blinking cursor in the top left of the screen. Huh.
I tried the DVD on my laptop, and for whatever reason, the installation screen appeared, and the disk booted.
I had a extremely old disk with Windows 7 Beta on it, and tried to load it up on the custom PC. For whatever reason, the files loaded, and the "click to install screen" appeared! That beta disk, btw, also works on my laptop. Now, when I move the installation files with one of the guides on the forums onto a USB drive. That booted on the custom pc, but I received the "missing dvd/cd driver" prompt. I got out my driver disk, and LITERALLY TRIED EVERY SINGLE DRIVER that was disk/storage related, yet Windows still would not continue. At this point, I'm lost, please help, I'm actually about to throw my laptop.

 

[gregrocker]

The error is almost always a bad installer. Try burning the confirmed ISO to DVD or write to flash stick using the tool in Steps 1 and 2 in Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7.

Reset the BIOS to defaults. Set SATA controller to AHCI to try install. Unplug all other HD's and peripherals.

Try wiping the HD with Diskpart Clean Command.

Swap RAM sticks, check for debris in slots, test your RAM - Test with Memtest86+ for 5-6 passes or overnight, test both RAM and slots.

Based on feedback on these steps there will be others.

 

[ProfessorNob]

Wait, but the installer works on the laptop...

 

[gregrocker]

I saw that, but it could be anomalous and can't be discarded until you have the latest official ISO written to stick or burned to DVD using the MS tool. How was it done?

 

[ProfessorNob]

Stick was done using the WinToFlash utility, DVD was burned using Power2Go DVD burning utility.
EDIT: I'll let memtest run through all 16 gigs overnight. If there isn't anything wrong, I'll run a couple more passes, then try the usb disk I'm remaking right now with a freshly downloaded ISO.
EDIT2: I'm making the USB disk only, I don't have an optical drive in the custom pc. I'll be using the command-line mode, but instead of using the disk to copy the files over, I'll be mounting the ISO with Daemontools and copying it from there.

 

[gregrocker]

You don't name any tools we recommend or use here, and Daemon Tools is problematic with Win7.

Use only the ISO and tools given here for failsafe operations: Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7

 

[ProfessorNob]

That's the issue, the Windows USB downloader thing doesn't accept my ISO.
EDIT: I've retried the CMD method of making a usb install disk. When I copy the files over from the DVD, it, for whatever reason, gets stuck on "boot.wim". This IS the fresh ISO from the distribution site listed on the tutorial. Reburning the iso using ImgBurn to a DVD...
EDIT2: Oh, by the way, Memtest completed 5 runs with all 16 gigs of memory.

 

[ProfessorNob]

I've burned the Image to a DVD, but during verification, as I'd thought, install.wim does this:

W 10:28:11 Failed to Read Sectors 325248 - 325279 - Reason: L-EC Uncorrectable Error
W 10:28:21 Failed to Read Sector 325264 - Reason: L-EC Uncorrectable Error
W 10:28:21 Sector 325264 maps to File: \sources\install.wim
W 10:30:07 Retrying (1)...
This is a fresh ISO... What the heck....
EDIT: Ok, thanks for the help Greg, but I have 7 disk errors on the written DVD before 33%... (during verification) Now what?

 

[ProfessorNob]

Wait. Greg. I set the SATA to IDE mode, and It's booting! I'll update on if it's installing later...
I think I've isolated my problem: I'm reusing a DVD drive from an OEM computer, and I don't have the drivers for the CD/DVD drive of that computer. I'll go out, buy one, use the new drivers, and see what happens.

 

[gregrocker]

The DVD drivers are the same used by the HD, it's the IDE/SATA controller and that's always in the installer. So the error in every case I've seen (except maybe one) is a bad installer. You say yourself that the verification is generating DVD burning errors. Are you using the downloaded ISO and the tool to burn to DVD? Try writing to stick. Or as you suggest try changing DVD drives.

 

[ProfessorNob]

Nevermind, I fixed it. I downloaded a ISO from a different website, mounted it, and made a USB install disk. Everything went swell from there.

 

[OldMX]

Nevermind, I fixed it. I downloaded a ISO from a different website, mounted it, and made a USB install disk. Everything went swell from there.

As stated earlier..a bad install disk...

 

[gregrocker]

If there isn't anything else you can mark the thread Solved at top, and thank you for shopping at SevenForums.