Help!Can't install WIN7

[dirtyharry2030]

Hello,

I have been trying to install Windows 7 Home Premium for most of the weekend.

Every time it gets to the 'completing installation' stage, it crashes. I have stripped the machine of the sound card, extra hard drives and disconnected all USB devices, except keyboard and mouse (I even tried it with them disconnected at the completing installation phase, as I read that it may have been a usb driver issue). I have tried using the SATA driver from my motherboard manufacturer's CD, but no luck. I have also read that it may work by switching from AHCI to ATA in the BIOS, but I can't find a setting that relates to that anywhere in the BIOS. No mention of AHCI anywhere in the BIOS!

I am really stuck now. This is the same problem that stopped me being able to use Vista and forced me to stick with XP. Now it looks like I have wasted my money.

Can anyone help with this? Is anyone else experiencing the same? I really don't want to go back to using Win XP.

I appreciate any help. Thanks for your time.

The specs are:
Motherboard: ECS NF650iSLIT-A
CPU: Q6600 2.4 Ghz
Ram: 4 GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2 PC6400 (reduced to 2gb for install)
Graphics: BFG 8800 GTS 640 MB
Storage: 320 GB Maxtor, 180 GB Samsung (only samsung connected for install)

Intended OS: Windows 7 Home Premium

 

[Adrian]

Welcome to windows 7.
Please fill out your system specifications at the bottom left of your screen.
State the nature of your issue after you specify the type of install you are attempting, what type of media you are using to install.
Please note at the top of the forum there are many sticky's that will prepare you for am easy install.

Regards,
Adrian

 

[Adrian]

Hello,

from my motherboard manufacturer's CD, but no luck. I have also read that it may work by switching from AHCI to ATA in the BIOS, but I can't find a setting that relates to that anywhere in the BIOS. No mention of AHCI anywhere in the BIOS!

Access bios and under storage configuration switch from AHCI to IDE.

 

[dirtyharry2030]

OK, so I have disabled the USB controller, onboard network adaptor, sound. I have removed my video card (8800gts) and will be try again with a ps2 keyboard and mouse.

At this stage, I have no way of loading any sata drivers and there is no mention of AHCI in the bios, which is in the motherboard (ECS NF650iSLIT-A) manufacturer's latest version.

If this doesn't work, I will be all out of things to try.

 

[dirtyharry2030]

Access bios and under storage configuration switch from AHCI to IDE.

There is no storage confiuration in the BIOS. Thee is also no option that mentions AHCI.

 

[gregrocker]

If your Win7 is retail you have MS tech support which is excellent. If it is an Upgrade from your manufacturer they will support it. Someone owes you support when you buy the disk and they will have the fix to walk your through.

I recommend this because a single copy of XP Home retail got me an education in reinstalling, troubleshooting dozens of issues, optimizing, debugging, and more over ten years time, making it worth much more than the price of the OS.

 

[dirtyharry2030]

My Windows 7 is retail, so I may try them if all else fails. BTW, does anyone know of any consequences of installing it on another machine before transferring the hard disk to your machine? I was thinking of trying the install on a barebones work computer that I have access to and then reconnecting the hard disk in my home machine and trying to boot from there. This would all be before I activated it of course.

Only thing is, I am not sure of what may happen as a result.

 

[Tews]

It wont work, as the OS uses the configuration of the first computer to produce a PID that identifies certain components of the computer.. when you transfer the drive back, you will likely have to reactivate it with MS if it even works at all...

 

[gregrocker]

My Windows 7 is retail, so I may try them if all else fails. BTW, does anyone know of any consequences of installing it on another machine before transferring the hard disk to your machine? I was thinking of trying the install on a barebones work computer that I have access to and then reconnecting the hard disk in my home machine and trying to boot from there. This would all be before I activated it of course.

Only thing is, I am not sure of what may happen as a result.

I have done this a few times when I couldn't get an older computer to boot from installer.

What happens is when you plug the HDD in the target machine, it will quickly run through a cascade of driver changeouts, pausing several times to ask for a restart. It is quite fascinating to watch. It only get's bollixed in XP. Worth a try, just for the show.

Afterward run a chkdsk on the drive to work out any files system errors. A surface scan using a disk management software is also a good reassurance. Nothing usually is wrong.

Tews is right that if it were activated first it would be a problem, so don't activate until it is set up and running in the target machine.

 

[Adrian]

Harry, you say you disconnected 1 of the drives?

The specs are:
Motherboard: ECS NF650iSLIT-A
CPU: Q6600 2.4 Ghz
Ram: 4 GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2 PC6400 (reduced to 2gb for install)
Graphics: BFG 8800 GTS 640 MB
Storage: 320 GB Maxtor, 180 GB Samsung (only samsung connected for install)
Which 1 was the boot drive?

 

[dirtyharry2030]

@gregrocker: Thanks for the heads up. I will try it as a last-ditch desperation effort.

@adrian: Yes, as part of the process of eliminating troublesome hardware, I disconnected the second Maxtor sata drive, so now I only have one Samsunx sata drive connected. I thought I may as well remove it for now, since I am not using it during the install. All power and sata cables have been removed to and from that drive too.

I now have a ECS NF650iSLIT-A motherboard, Q6600 2.4 Ghz cpu, 1gb XMS2 ram, 1x180gb Samsung sata hd installed. On-board USB, sound and network adaptor are all disabled. All settings are running on default in BIOS.

I am going to try again tonight after work, with a ps2 keyboard, mouse and a vga display cable.

I have eliminated all add-ons cards and anything not needed for the install (as far as I can determine). The only thing that is not possible is loading a SATA driver, because I have no floppy drive and USVB is disabled. When I tried the last install, which was also without the sata driver, it got further than before; it actually changed resolutions before crashing. Therefore, I decided to remove the Nvidia 8800 gts video card.

Can't wait for tonight.

 

[dirtyharry2030]

Another setback. My motherboard does not have an intergrated video chip or a blue VGA out port. Stuck!

I now have to go for the last resort of installing the hard disk in a barebones work computer and trying to install Win**** 7 there, then if that works, reinstalling the hard disk back to my computer.

What a pain. I feel sorry for user who don't have the technical knowledge or drive to go through this crap.

 

[dirtyharry2030]

I finally got it installed last night!
I couldn't find anything that said native mode in the bios, so I set the sata controller to 'sata 1' mode, left 1gb ram in. USB controller, on board lan and sound were disabled too.

At the setup section, I deleted all partitions first, created a new one, allowing the setup to create a 100mb partition for system files.

I then loaded the sata driver from the motherboard cd, and this time it actually took a minute too load the driver to the hard disk (maybe the 100mb system files partition?)

Then I popped the install disc back in and let it run. I came back an hour later and it was waiting for me to input my details.

After that, I installed the rest of the hardware and reset the bios to default to cancel all the changes I made, including sata 1 mode, which would have stopped the machine from posting, after a complete power down.

It's been a total pain in the ass, nightmare of an install, but it's done at last and all seems to bee good so far.

Thanks for everyone's help.

 

[Adrian]

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