Installation Problems

[jackdelamare]

Anyway, jackdelamare, you could try Windows Recovery Environment (boot from DVD). It lets you do a Startup Repair. If that doesn't work out then you could try FixBoot or FixMbr in the command console.

Yeah I'll try repairing again. Wow this sucks.

 

[darkassain]

Well I got the new disk and have tried to install Windows 7. Got to the copying files, and then went to restart as normal, but didn't boot. I tried again, with formatting where it installed to and then trying again and it did the same thing. I gave it a rest and then just booted into the hard drive... it said "Starting Windows" and had the copyright Microsoft at the bottom... then just came up with that "Windows Bootloader Error" and told me to repair.

Any ideas, this is pretty much what happened last time, minus the smily face icon things. This really is bugging me. I have no time now but tomorrow i'll "repair" using the install disk and then try, but is there anything else I could be doing wrong?

the mbr and boot fixes should work
if it does not work...

completely delete everything.....
including partitions....
i mean everything
unplug anything not needed for the install...
then redo the install...

if you get a good install the replug back everything...

 

[jackdelamare]

Do you think I should download a whole new build? I've tried many times with 6801 and it just hasn't worked. It installs now, but just asks me to repair once I boot it. Sorry to ask, but could anybody PM me a you know what?

 

[johngalt]

Jack - as I said 3 weeks ago and dark just said one post up - have you tried wiping the entire drive, removing all partitions, and then installing?

You don't need any other tool or OS to do this - this can be accomplished *right when you are installing* - make sure you select Custom, not Upgrade, and then when it presents you with a list of drives, click on Drive Options to the right - from there you can remove partitions, format drives, create partitions, etc....

 

[jackdelamare]

Jack - as I said 3 weeks ago and dark just said one post up - have you tried wiping the entire drive, removing all partitions, and then installing?

You don't need any other tool or OS to do this - this can be accomplished *right when you are installing* - make sure you select Custom, not Upgrade, and then when it presents you with a list of drives, click on Drive Options to the right - from there you can remove partitions, format drives, create partitions, etc....

I did this, formatted both the drives and tried again. So I should delete the small one which is around 200MB?

 

[darkassain]

I did this, formatted both the drives and tried again. So I should delete the small one which is around 200MB?

its up to you
i can confirm that it is the startup repair partition....
i had the same question...
there is a way to delete it on installtion time though....

when you choose to partition in the instalation it will say it will create two partitions....
click ok....

after that click on advanced options...
delete the big partition and and extend the 200 mb to cover the whole disk...

i did it and im fine...lol

although i dont recomend it (MS put it there for a reason)

in case you cant boot into safe mode (i love it...lol)
saves lot of time...lol

Jack - as I said 3 weeks ago and dark just said one post up - have you tried wiping the entire drive, removing all partitions, and then installing?

You don't need any other tool or OS to do this - this can be accomplished *right when you are installing* - make sure you select Custom, not Upgrade, and then when it presents you with a list of drives, click on Drive Options to the right - from there you can remove partitions, format drives, create partitions, etc....

yeah i thought he didnt see it
yes as i have posted above you can can see how....

 

[johngalt]

Umm, if you manually create a partition instead of choosing one large partition it does not create the 200....

Only if you create one large drive (and usually unpartitioned space) will is create the 200 MB and the rest.

At least, that is what my testing thus far has revealed.

 

[jackdelamare]

Well I'll try reparing and deleted the 200 partition before installing and it should be created again. Then i'll go from there.
Thanks for the help so far.

 

[darkassain]

Umm, if you manually create a partition instead of choosing one large partition it does not create the 200....

Only if you create one large drive (and usually unpartitioned space) will is create the 200 MB and the rest.

At least, that is what my testing thus far has revealed.

ahh right his is already partion forgot that one...lol

but there is a good reason to have it and not delete it (as long its not mounted/seen....lol)

i love that they thought outside the main Windows OS...

Well I'll try reparing and deleted the 200 partition before installing and it should be created again. Then i'll go from there.
Thanks for the help so far.

alright good luck..

 

[jackdelamare]

Ok, I tried installing it tonight, but had more issues. First off, I had download a newer build, build 6956, but when it started to load the setup I noticed it said it was build 6801. Dissapointing, but I continued. So, I deleted the small 200MB partition, formatted the big one and then installed.

Did the installation, and I got the picture where it says "starting windows" without any scroll bar, in the following guide, then it came up with the boot error.
Windows 7 Installation Guide / Tutorial - PART 2 ( Installation) - Windows 7

So I re-booted from the CD and I clicked repair and it did not find anything, only mentioned to unplug everything, but the thing is, I did this. I unplugged all my USB devices and such, and it still failed. I also got a little electric shock from pulling one out... after that I turned the PC off before taking out any more... LOL. And I can still feel something weird in my arm, but anyway.

So yeah, still cannot install it. It sucks because I bought a new 320GB hard drive just for doing this . I've had bad luck, so I'm thinking virtual PC?

 

[hethoofd]

Ok, I tried installing it tonight, but had more issues. First off, I had download a newer build, build 6956, but when it started to load the setup I noticed it said it was build 6801. Dissapointing, but I continued. So, I deleted the small 200MB partition, formatted the big one and then installed.

Did the installation, and I got the picture where it says "starting windows" without any scroll bar, in the following guide, then it came up with the boot error.
Windows 7 Installation Guide / Tutorial - PART 2 ( Installation) - Windows 7

So I re-booted from the CD and I clicked repair and it did not find anything, only mentioned to unplug everything, but the thing is, I did this. I unplugged all my USB devices and such, and it still failed. I also got a little electric shock from pulling one out... after that I turned the PC off before taking out any more... LOL. And I can still feel something weird in my arm, but anyway.

So yeah, still cannot install it. It sucks because I bought a new 320GB hard drive just for doing this . I've had bad luck, so I'm thinking virtual PC?

It's true that the installation says Build 6801. It will install Build 6956 though, so don't worry about that one! Build 6956 doesn't have a progressbar boot screen, it has the new boot screen. So, don't worry about that one either

What I'd like to know is what boot error you're receiving.

 

[jackdelamare]

NAT I believe it said this time, but not sure on that one. I couldn't be bothered with it, so just shut down, swapped hard drives and booted into my trusty Vista. This sucks though, anybody else encountered this? I have always thought it might be that I don't live in the US and I'm putting UK on setup? No?

 

[darkassain]

always try the defaults jack and see if it works
i doubt that the changing the US to UK changes anything.....
do you have your bios up to date???
other than that you have to redownload from a different place....

 

[DiamondNRG]

Umm, if you manually create a partition instead of choosing one large partition it does not create the 200....

Only if you create one large drive (and usually unpartitioned space) will is create the 200 MB and the rest.

At least, that is what my testing thus far has revealed.

What is the reason that it does not create it if you manually make a partition for win7?

 

[darkassain]

i believe it may be scripted meaning that if the user is smart enough to know about how use partitions it may be overridden....
remember this is automatic and it wont let you install on a unpartitioned space without making that partition (the 200mb one) but if you do it manually (as john suggested it will revert to the standard way of creating partitions)

this makes the installation believe you do not want to have another partition and that you know what you are doing...

but then this is just a theory....

 

[johngalt]

More than a theory - I installed 7 times (with 6801) and every time I had a single partition on the disc, I did not receive the boot partition. Furthermore, if I tried to install on a different disc, and it found a boot partition *anywhere* it did not create the 200MB partition.

So, I wiped that dis and let W7 make a 500 GB partition to install to - then reduced it as small as it could go (by half approximately).

 

[DiamondNRG]

More than a theory - I installed 7 times (with 6801) and every time I had a single partition on the disc, I did not receive the boot partition. Furthermore, if I tried to install on a different disc, and it found a boot partition *anywhere* it did not create the 200MB partition.

So, I wiped that dis and let W7 make a 500 GB partition to install to - then reduced it as small as it could go (by half approximately).

Nice, I will keep that in mind when I do my next install. Although I don't mind the extra protection idea, its annoying to always see it. Maybe I will just hide the drive letter from Explorer... hmm... yeah

 

[jackdelamare]

Well, it's been failing for me. I've just starting installing it in VirtualBox and it's going quick... much quicker than when I tried on a new hard drive. Very weird. But it's installing to a virtual 20GB disk, so I'll let you know how it goes.

EDIT: Installed, works perfectly... and it's very, very nice! Only trouble is, I need an activation code. I'm unsure if you guys just let it run out in 30 days without entering it, but I need to activate it to be able to use the Aero theme, it's stuck at basic now. Same thing happened with Vista... although I simply just activated Vista with my code.

 

[johngalt]

Again, no activation codes available for either 6936 or 6956 - 6936 was a development release to driver developers, and 6956 was stolen from a conference in China.

6801 will activate with old Vista Beta / RC keys.

 

[jackdelamare]

Again, no activation codes available for either 6936 or 6956 - 6936 was a development release to driver developers, and 6956 was stolen from a conference in China.

6801 will activate with old Vista Beta / RC keys.

Damn ok. Well I'm going to wait for the official beta in January and hopefully be able to install that on my new 320GB that the pre-betas have failed to install on.

Does anybody know why this would be? It's really random.