Solved Installing windows 7 home premium on blank HD, missing drivers.

[Nazarath]

Hey guys, my hardrive burnt up so I went to a computer repair shop to see if He could check it out, when we were 100% it was done for he had a blank laptop hard drive he could sell me with a burnt windows 7 disk or charge 75$ extra to install it for me. I of course took the blank HD with the installation disk and went home and started it, but when I started the installation I got to the part where it requires drivers but it didn't find any on the disk.

My question is, since I'm going to have to get drivers, can I use a flashdrive to install the drivers? And if so, do I have to format the flashdrive or anything so it will read the drivers?

 

[Nazarath]

Yes you can use your flash drive for provide drivers to the windows 7 setup. It does not need to format but you have to locate the driver files to Windows setup.
See more details about

Is there any chance that you know specifically which drivers I need to download, just so that I can get the hard drive going and be able to get online so that I can auto update the rest of the drivers?

The laptop itself is a...
Hp Pavilion g7 Notebook
Product number A7A44UA#ABA

I downloaded the graphics and audio drivers, along with the wifi one, but are there any that it absolutely has to have in order to work? I've read elsewhere about a chipset driver, but I cannot find it on the HP website.

Once I get it started i'll be using public wifi to get the rest of the drivers as well via auto update im assuming, or I can just download the rest as i see fit.

 

[Nazarath]

Just got back home and popped in the flash drive with the drivers I downloaded from hp-Hewlett, and the laptop cant find them, it shows all the folders from my other things but not them, anyone know as to why?

 

[derekimo]

As long as you have your wifi driver, you can get the rest later if needed.

Regarding the installer asking for drivers, I would start over with,

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219487-clean-reinstall-factory-oem-windows-7-a.html

Using a fresh download of the install media in step one.

 

[Nazarath]

As long as you have your wifi driver, you can get the rest later if needed.

Regarding the installer asking for drivers, I would start over with,

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219487-clean-reinstall-factory-oem-windows-7-a.html

Using a fresh download of the install media in step one.

Any idea why all of the drivers I downloaded aren't showing up on the "select the driver to be installed" part of the installation? All I have is a burned windows 7 installation disk, and this flashdrive with what I thought were the correct drivers. The rest I'm having to do at the public library, so burning a disk is out of the question. Although everyone told me having this USB would be enough.

After downloading them, I didn't click on them, do I have to install them or something first onto the flash drive in order for the computer to find and read them? Because there's a option to "hide drivers that are not compatible with hardware on this computer" and even when I click to see all drivers, even non compatible ones, nothing shows up.

 

[derekimo]

Since it doesn't tell you what drivers it wants, it's hard to advise further, to be honest you shouldn't need to.

The reason I suggested a fresh download was to be sure you had an up to date installer, free of possible corruption.

Try working through these steps,

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/324687-windows-7-installation-failure-overcome.html

 

[Nazarath]

Wel I tested the hardrive in the BIOS and got Quick (303) 1 which when I googled it, is apparently saying the hardrive is no good, I put the CD into the desktop on my other 2 hardrives that need a OS as well and get the same "No device drivers were found. make sure that the installation media contains the correct drivers, and then click OK." Message, not sure what to do with that link you sent me with just the installation disk and flash drive though. Probably just going to try and find a desktop on craigslist or something for its Hardrive with a OS already on it since I cant get my desktop or laptop to read the drivers on the last 2 flashdrives I've used.

 

[gregrocker]

I would not give up on that PC. If the HD is connected correctly and is not being detected in BIOS setup or by a good Win7 installer, then take it back and have the store replace their bad merchandise. They can't rip you off like that and get away with it as it's theft.

The error message you're getting means the installation media is also bad, so the store needs to either make good their bad merchandise and installation media or refund your money.

If you have a flash stick you can download the latest official installer for your licensed version by clicking here Win7 Home Premium x64 SP1 English Official ISO download to write it to a 4gb flash stick using the tool provided in Windows 7 USB-DVD Download Tool . Format the stick first by plugging it in to rightclick on it at Start>Computer to Format. Once it's written, you can again download your wireless driver to it from the HP Support Downloads webpage for your model PC. If there is more than one Wireless LAN driver download them all to the stick.

Now boot the stick using the HP F9 key, follow the illustrated steps in Clean Install Windows 7.

Once its installed if it's not ready to connect to network, install the wireless LAN driver to connect, enable Automatically deliver drivers via Windows Update (Step 3) then Check for Updates, install all Important and Optional Windows Updates, with reboots, until there are no more offered when you go back to Check for Updates.

Any drivers then still missing in Device Manager can be found on the Support Downloads webpage for your model. We can help you find any that are elusive.

If you stick with the tips, tools and methods in Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 you'll get and keep a perfect install.

 

[Nazarath]

Alrighty, I found a "HP pavilion all in one" computer for 100$ on craigslist, thing runs great so hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to format my flashdrive now since I couldn't at the library, thanks for all the help guys!

 

[derekimo]

So what are you doing with the laptop?

 

[Nazarath]

So what are you doing with the laptop?

I'm going to use this computer to download windows 7 via flash drive and get it going again hopefully, if nothing works with hardrive im going to bring back and request a different one, or see if he can actually put a OS on it himself.

 

[Nazarath]

Also I plugged in my flash drive that I downloaded those drivers onto into this new computer, and those drivers are all openable programs that look like they'll install onto this computer if I open them. My question is, If they're openable programs like that, do I need to open them and install them onto the flash drive somehow, or are they meant to be like that, and should be recognized during the installation of windows 7? Because it wont let me past that point without the essential drivers i'm guessing.

Edit :: Guess i'll just have to wait for flash drive to work and hope you guys were correct about it just being a badly burned disk.

 

[gregrocker]

I explained earlier what to do with drivers, after you format and write the Win7 installation ISO to flash stick with the special tool provided for that.

You only need the wireless driver. This is not XP. This is a driver-complete OS for the most part. You only need to import other drivers if they are still missing in Device Manager after all rounds of Important and Optional Windows Updates are installed.

 

[Nazarath]

Well, I downloaded the windows 7 x64 bit .iso in your link which took 23 hours total I think (Yay public wifi) and followed the instructions and downloaded 7 .zip along with virtual clone drive so that I could mount it. Everything went fine until I mounted it and needed to transfer the files from the area onto the flash drive, now i'm getting a "Invalid MS-DOS function." which proceeds to say "Bootsect.exe.mui Type: MUI File Size 15.5KB" and I have the option to Try again, Skip and Cancel. If I skip it says the same for the other files as well. And Try again, just infinite loops me into keep pressing it. Did the .iso file get corrupted when downloading it?

 

[gregrocker]

Who said anything about mounting the ISO?

You need media for possible repairs or rescue: Windows 7 USB-DVD Download Tool

Boot the media to Clean Install Windows 7.

Make sure you've made the preparations and stick with the tips, tools and methods in Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 if you want to get and keep a perfect install.

 

[Nazarath]

Who said anything about mounting the ISO?

You need media for possible repairs or rescue: Windows 7 USB-DVD Download Tool

Boot the media to Clean Install Windows 7.

Make sure you've made the preparations and stick with the tips, tools and methods in Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 if you want to get and keep a perfect install.

Alright, I deleted the mounting program, i'm not sure where I read to use it but after I got these errors I tried it.

Heres what I get when I use "Windows 7 USB DVD Download Tool". I'll open it and select the "X17-58997.iso"
file and it'll give me a response saying "The selected file is not a valid ISO file. Please select a valid ISO file and try again."

When I try using Rufus 1.4.7.455 for UEFI, which i'm stuck with since I can't switch to legacy in BIOS on this laptop I followed the instructions to the tee in his tutorial, but when i clicked "Start" it would give me "Error: ISO image extraction failure."

And here is the log from it.

-----------------------------------------------------

WIM extraction method(s) supported: 7z, wimgapi.dll

Format operation started
Requesting disk access...
Caution: Opened drive \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE1 for write access
Will use 'G:' as volume mountpoint
I/O boundary checks disabled
Analyzing existing boot records...
Drive has a Zeroed Master Boot Record
Drive has an unknown partition boot record
Deleting partitions...
Closing existing volume...
Clearing MBR/PBR/GPT structures...
Erasing 128 sectors
Partitioning (GPT)...
Waiting for logical drive to reappear...
Formatting (FAT32)...
Using cluster size: 8192 bytes
Quick format was selected
Creating file system: Task 1/5 completed
Creating file system: Task 2/5 completed
Creating file system: Task 3/5 completed
Creating file system: Task 4/5 completed
Creating file system: Task 5/5 completed
Format completed.
Found volume GUID \\?\Volume{53f621ec-d905-11e3-849a-c80aa9382087}\
Successfully remounted Volume{53f621ec-d905-11e3-849a-c80aa9382087}\ on G:\
Copying ISO files...
Extracting files...
Disc image is an UDF image
Extracting: G:\autorun.inf (122 bytes)
Extracting: G:\boot\bcd (256 KB)
Extracting: G:\boot\boot.sdi (3 MB)
Extracting: G:\boot\bootfix.bin (1 KB)
Extracting: G:\boot\bootsect.exe (110 KB)
Extracting: G:\boot\en-us\bootsect.exe.mui (15.5 KB)
Error reading UDF file \boot\en-us\bootsect.exe.mui

Found USB device 'SanDisk Cruzer USB Device' (0781:5530)
1 device found
Disk type: Removable, Sector Size: 512 bytes
Cylinders: 1948, TracksPerCylinder: 255, SectorsPerTrack: 63
Partition type: GPT, NB Partitions: 1
Disk GUID: {99C76FAE-F9B9-4404-AD58-00E7AAFDEE90}
Max parts: 128, Start Offset: 17408, Usable = 16026400768 bytes
Partition 1:
Type: {EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7}
Name: 'Microsoft Basic Data'
ID: {8B942F53-146A-4E67-8BCF-995AE3A12820}
Size: 14.9 GB (16025369600 bytes)
Start Sector: 2048, Attributes: 0x0000000000000000

 

[gregrocker]

Did the ISO file complete download? It should be 3.1 gb. If not then download it again. You may need to use a Download manager like Down Them All in Firefox to avoid losing the whole thing if it interrupts for any reason.

If you think it downloaded and know for sure its an complete and intact ISO, you can try the Manual steps in UEFI Bootable USB Flash Drive - Create in Windows

 

[Nazarath]

Did the ISO file complete download? It should be 3.1 gb. If not then download it again. You may need to use a Download manager like Down Them All in Firefox to avoid losing the whole thing if it interrupts for any reason.

If you think it downloaded and know for sure its an complete and intact ISO, you can try the Manual steps in UEFI Bootable USB Flash Drive - Create in Windows

It said it was completed, but when I check the properties its only 2.41Gb, sadly this harbor will not let me get my own internet so i'm stuck using theirs that has a 20-50kbs download speed depending on the day lol.

Alrighty i'll try the firefox option, i'll go ahead and download firefox and retry to download. Thanks a bunch for the help and guess i'll post back in another 20+ hours when it downloads again to update on how things went.

 

[gregrocker]

Google and install DownThemAll to Firefox then select it to download the ISO.

 

[Nazarath]

Google and install DownThemAll to Firefox then select it to download the ISO.

Alright, for some reason the download speed today is alot better here and I managed to download it relatively fast, but i'm not 100% positive if its all there, heres what I got.

X17-24209.iso (Windows 7 Home Premium)
Size 3.04 GB (3,275,161,600 bytes)

But it is still doing the same exact thing, the log was a bit different now though.

WIM extraction method(s) supported: 7z, wimgapi.dll

Format operation started
Requesting disk access...
Caution: Opened drive \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE1 for write access
Will use 'F:' as volume mountpoint
I/O boundary checks disabled
Analyzing existing boot records...
Drive has a Rufus Master Boot Record
Drive has an unknown partition boot record
Deleting partitions...
Closing existing volume...
Clearing MBR/PBR/GPT structures...
Erasing 128 sectors
Partitioning (GPT)...
Waiting for logical drive to reappear...
Formatting (FAT32)...
Using cluster size: 16384 bytes
Quick format was selected
Creating file system: Task 1/5 completed
Creating file system: Task 2/5 completed
Creating file system: Task 3/5 completed
Creating file system: Task 4/5 completed
Creating file system: Task 5/5 completed
Format completed.
Found volume GUID \\?\Volume{53f62205-d905-11e3-849a-c80aa9382087}\
Successfully remounted Volume{53f62205-d905-11e3-849a-c80aa9382087}\ on F:\
Copying ISO files...
Extracting files...
Disc image is an UDF image
Extracting: F:\autorun.inf (122 bytes)
Extracting: F:\boot\bcd (256 KB)
Extracting: F:\boot\boot.sdi (3 MB)
Extracting: F:\boot\bootfix.bin (1 KB)
Extracting: F:\boot\bootsect.exe (110 KB)
Extracting: F:\boot\en-us\bootsect.exe.mui (15.5 KB)
Extracting: F:\boot\etfsboot.com (4 KB)
Extracting: F:\boot\fonts\chs_boot.ttf (3.5 MB)
Extracting: F:\boot\fonts\cht_boot.ttf (3.7 MB)
Extracting: F:\boot\fonts\jpn_boot.ttf (1.9 MB)
Extracting: F:\boot\fonts\kor_boot.ttf (2.3 MB)
Extracting: F:\boot\fonts\wgl4_boot.ttf (46.3 KB)
Extracting: F:\boot\memtest.efi (596.9 KB)
Extracting: F:\boot\memtest.exe (474.4 KB)
Extracting: F:\bootmgr (374.8 KB)
Extracting: F:\bootmgr.efi (653.9 KB)
Extracting: F:\efi\microsoft\boot\bcd (256 KB)
Error reading UDF file \efi\microsoft\boot\bcd

Found USB device 'SanDisk Cruzer USB Device' (0781:5530)
1 device found
Disk type: Removable, Sector Size: 512 bytes
Cylinders: 3892, TracksPerCylinder: 255, SectorsPerTrack: 63
Partition type: GPT, NB Partitions: 1
Disk GUID: {F250C097-88C2-4865-B936-FF66DC6D3725}
Max parts: 128, Start Offset: 17408, Usable = 32015645184 bytes
Partition 1:
Type: {EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7}
Name: 'Microsoft Basic Data'
ID: {C31A4D08-E74D-49E3-BEDE-6F1B522FDA28}
Size: 29.8 GB (32014614016 bytes)
Start Sector: 2048, Attributes: 0x0000000000000000

It looks like it actually got further this time, but does this probably mean the download still got corrupted again even with firefox and the addon? I tried a different flash drive as well just to see if that was it, but it didnt change anything either.

EDIT :: I can use the install program on my working computer, it just wont let me transfer it to a flash drive for some reason, I keep getting the MS-DOS error.