Solved Installation stuck at "Windows is loading files..."

[higgins]

Hi all!

Wanted to do a nice clean installation on a HP Compaq dc7800 Convertible Minitower. Using known good Windows 7 volume USB which I have used a dozen+ times with no issues.

I get stuck at "Windows is loading files..." as I don't think that screen is ever supposed to be there over an hour or so.

Linux mint live USB boots just fine.

Using Windows 7 OEM usb (not legal on that rig, but I was testing), I got past the loading screen and reached "Windows 7 cannot be installed to this disk. This computer's hardware may not support booting to this disk." error instead.

I toyed around with ram sticks. They're installed as they should be. Then tried each of them in the correct initial slot to see if one of them might be bad. Then installed two additional sticks to see if it had enough memory to load the OS. Same result.

I've reset the bios. The SATA settings are on IDE, not RAID. The original OS that I'm trying to replace also boots just fine.

Just running out of ideas here.

 

[higgins]

Bump.

 

[higgins]

Known good Windows 8 fails at logo, too.

 

[Nipax]

I've reset the bios. The SATA settings are on IDE, not RAID.

To run a single drive configuration on HP Compaq dc7800 in AHCI mode: Change SATA Emulation from IDE to RAID.

SOURCE: dc7800 convertible mini-tower & SSD?? - HP Support Forum - 1934725

AHCI is a subset of RAID. Usually the BIOS will have three different settings: IDE, AHCI, and RAID. However, for the HP dc7800 you enable AHCI for a single drive but using RAID. See bottom of page 4 on the PDF: https://h20565.www2.hp.com/portal/site/hpsc/template.BINARYPORTLET/public/kb/docDisplay/resource.process/?spf_p.tpst=kbDocDisplay_ws_BI&spf_p.rid_kbDocDisplay=docDisplayResURL&javax.portlet.begCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&spf_p.rst_kbDocDisplay=wsrp-resourceState%3DdocId%253Demr_na-c01184572%257CdocLocale%253Den_US&javax.portlet.endCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken

 

[higgins]

Sorry. That wasn't it. Hangs up just the same.

 

[higgins]

I just used it successfully on two installations on different machines. Not corrupted.

 

[Andyrids]

I just used it successfully on two installations on different machines. Not corrupted.

I have had a few similar problems lately with different laptops and found the only way was to low level format the HDD not just a quick format but fill the thing with either 0's or 1's I am not sure if Partition Wizard will do this but I know Aomei their partition software can do it if you select "wipe" from the menu, it will take a long time though 500GB about 3-5 hours...

 

[AddRAM]

PW will fill a drive with 0`s and not take long at all.

Bootable Partition Manger | MiniTool Partition Wizard Bootable Edition

 

[higgins]

I've tried four different hard drives in this rig now, including a brand new one. Same issue each time.

 

[higgins]

Installed linux. Problem solved.

 

[Juan M]

I have just solved upgrading the Bios, there is a 2015 Bios on Hp's drivers website...

 

[higgins]

Thanks for taking the time to come and document this! I see you signed up for just that purpose.

 

[AddRAM]

Nice

 

[BobSerbia]

Reinstalling Windows on brand new SATA HDD on my DC7800 SFF was a nightmare in 2020. I admit I don't have much experience but I did clean install of Windows 7 on few machines. All the posts were too old and this was real enthusiasm leading me

I had "Windows is loading files" stuck in most of the cases during last 5 days. One time I succeeded to pass that, but got new error in final stage of installing it.

Solved last night:

Original BIOS v.1.04 has only IDE and RAID SATA Emulation (BIOS/Storage). On one of forums I found information that I need to update BIOS on newer version. So I did. I did it through app HPQ Flash (BIOS ROM Update from HP support site for this model of DC7800). I run it on my old Windows (old HDD) which was still alive (even with 0% health). Now I have BIOS v1.35 and I have option AHCI SATA Emulation (BIOS/Storage)

I installed first Windows 10 64 bit with no problems. After some other issue with old WiFi stick I decided to install Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit and didn't regret. Today I enjoy.