Solved Installing Windows 7 Ultimate on New System; Complicated Driver Issue

[Chaoswizkid]

Hello everyone.

I recently built a brand new computer (Core i5, GIGABYTE mobo, 8gb ram, 500GB hd) and I've been trying to install a copy of Windows 7 Ultimate onto it.

The first issue I ran into is that I didn't check to see if the new motherboard had an IDE ribbon cable port for my DVD and CD-ROM drives in my old computer that I planned to port over. The new motherboard does not, so I attempted to run the computer using my old hd and planning to install the new drivers over it. This was met by having the computer get to the startup logo animation, continue for about 0.5 seconds, and then immediately restart. Once it had restarted, it gave me the option of Startup Repair or Start Windows Normally. After I had messed with it a bit, I looked for a reason why this could be happening. The biggest response I saw for other people was that there was a conflict between the drivers and that a clean install would be the best option. Since I don't have a DVD or CD-ROM drive (yet), I had to find a solution for that problem.

The solution I found was a tutorial by a Microsoft employee on how to create a USB Boot Drive. I correctly followed the instructions and attempted to install Windows 7 Ultimate on the new machine. The installation setup was very fast on the new system, but when it got to the first actual step of installation (after selecting language and pressing "Install Now"), an error message stated that there were drivers for my DVD and/or CD-ROM drives that were not found. I found this very odd, considering I don't have a DVD or CD-ROM drive currently. After some research, I found that the problem could be some actual driver issue, a problem with the .iso used to create the usb boot drive, or a problem with the motherboard.

I used my current (old) computer to port all of the driver data from the DVD given by the mobo manufacturer to another USB drive. I tried installing it again, but I couldn't figure out where the drivers I needed were, so I decided it was unlikely and skipped it. The next possibility was an issue with the .iso. To determine this, I hooked up my new hd with my old computer and ran the USB Boot Drive. My old computer installed Windows 7 Ultimate with no problems. Not only was the problem not the .iso, but I had managed to install Windows 7 Ultimate on the new hd anyway.

However, when I mounted the new hard drive, I got the same issue I got when using my old hd: The startup gets to the Windows 7 introduction animation for a second or so and then disappears, resulting in a restart.

Trying to install Windows 7 again results in the device driver error.

I looked around on these forums and found out about the AHIC (or something) vs. IDE problem and changed my BIOS accordingly. I also changed the CMOS to the "fail-safe" setting. I tried running it again to no avail.

I'm not really sure what to do from here. From my understanding, the error could be because I installed Windows 7 on the old computer which may cause conflicts with the new computer, that the key issue had to deal with legitimate missing drivers I couldn't find, or it could be that the mobo itself is damaged (which I'd really rather not be the issue).

Anyone have any ideas?

Any help is greatly appreciated in advance.

 

[theog]

Why are you installing 32 bit with 8gb of ram?

Take a look at these posts:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...stallation-errors-troubleshoot-step-step.html
http://www.sevenforums.com/installa...on-installation-problems-their-solutions.html
http://www.sevenforums.com/installation-setup/28129-questions-use-help-installation-issues.html
http://www.sevenforums.com/installa...ck-reference-list-installing-windows-7-a.html

 

[sygnus21]

I have to agree, installing a 32-bit OS with 8gig of RAM is throwing away 4 of it - You'll never be able to use it.

Outside of that, I suggest you take your time and make sure all your components are compatible with your new hardware and software. And definitely follow the links theog gave.

You might also find this helpful - http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2432-usb-windows-7-installation-key-drive-create.html

 

[johnhoh]

Can you boot to safe mode on the new machine? Hopefully you can, and can then install from the motherboard CD because if not, this could be tricky. You might need to copy your motherboard cd to a flash drive first if the new machine can't yet use the dvd/cd drive. But if you cannot boot to safe mode, read on.

You have a unique problem which only happens when you move a bootable hard drive from one system to another, and windows is not able to see (and therefore) correct all the driver differences between the new motherboard and the old motherboard. A clean install is the best fix, but maybe you would rather not. In that case, before moving your hard drive from the old machine to the new machine, you need to uninstall the offending driver. The problem is, you don't know which driver is the problem.

So one idea would be to put the hard drive in the old machine, uninstall some drivers, then put the hard drive in the new machine and go from there. So on the old machine go to control panel > system > device manager, then expand everything by hitting the "+" signs, and look for differences between your old machine and new machine, You will want to right-click > uninstall items within storage controllers, system devices, usb devices, anything that looks unique to your old machine, then shut down and move the hard drive to the new machine. While on the old machine, you may need to go to start > admin tools > services and disable plug and play and also UPnP Device host, in order to keep windows from automatically re-installing device drivers as soon as you uninstall them.

Not sure if the above will help, but suffice it to say that you have a driver on the old machine that is being carried over to the new machine and windows does not realize that it won't work on the new machine. Once you are able to run your new machine's motherboard CD while the hard drive is in the new machine, you should be good to go. The challenge is getting to that point.

edit: do the above in safe mode. Otherwise your machine will freeze in the process. Even in safe mode you may freeze. In that case I would try to at least uninstall the storage controller and if it freezes after uninstalling, go ahead and switch the drive to the new machine then.

also if you could post your old motherboard model, your new motherboard model, and your hard drive model, that will help

 

[gregrocker]

Trying to start another Win7 HD in new hardware and getting a stall at boot animation is resolved by using SysPrep to move HD to another computer on the old hardware first, or booting Paragon Adaptive Restore CD on the new hardware, pointing at Win7 partition.

Your install error is likely the write since you have confidence in the ISO - it's almost never drivers with Win7 which is driver-complete. Use this tool with WIn7 in the dropdown menu to write ISO to stick: Universal USB Installer

If that fails, wipe the HD first to clear the boot sector: SSD - HDD Optimize for Windows Reinstallation

If that fails, download another ISO.

 

[Chaoswizkid]

Why are you installing 32 bit with 8gb of ram?

Take a look at these posts:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...stallation-errors-troubleshoot-step-step.html
http://www.sevenforums.com/installa...on-installation-problems-their-solutions.html
http://www.sevenforums.com/installation-setup/28129-questions-use-help-installation-issues.html
http://www.sevenforums.com/installa...ck-reference-list-installing-windows-7-a.html

I was previously under the assumption that processors were distinctly 32bit or 64bit, and that the OS was restricted to that. However, upon further research, I see that this is less of the case now than it was 5 years ago when I built my current computer.

I've looked through those links before writing this thread, and the solutions did not help. The only solution I haven't tried is "removing all but 2 gigs of RAM". However, since I now plan on trying to install x64, hopefully that won't be an issue.

Can you boot to safe mode on the new machine? Hopefully you can, and can then install from the motherboard CD because if not, this could be tricky. You might need to copy your motherboard cd to a flash drive first if the new machine can't yet use the dvd/cd drive. But if you cannot boot to safe mode, read on.

I cannot boot to safe mode. Safe mode actually never gets to the Windows 7 animation before it restarts (probably because, I think, Safe Mode just skips that).

A possible solution I could do is to hook up the new HD to the old computer, insert the mobo CD, and try installing that. However, I'm not sure if that would cause issues considering the mobo for the old computer is quite different and I don't want there to be any conflicts. I'd like some advice on this before I attempt this solution if installing Windows x64 doesn't work.

You have a unique problem which only happens when you move a bootable hard drive from one system to another, and windows is not able to see (and therefore) correct all the driver differences between the new motherboard and the old motherboard. A clean install is the best fix, but maybe you would rather not. In that case, before moving your hard drive from the old machine to the new machine, you need to uninstall the offending driver. The problem is, you don't know which driver is the problem.

Except I'm pretty sure this isn't the problem. I have a completely new HD, has absolutely nothing installed on it except for Windows 7 Ultimate x32 that I was able to install through the old computer. I first tried to use the old HD in the new system to boot up Windows, which didn't work, and I did my research and found it was likely driver issue between the systems (like you're saying). So then I tried the USB installation for the brand new HD, which did not work when the HD was in the new system, but did work when it was in the old system.

The new HD has no drivers on it at all, unless installing Windows 7 x32 on the old system somehow forced it to have drivers unique to the old system but not the new system.

also if you could post your old motherboard model, your new motherboard model, and your hard drive model, that will help

I don't think the old motherboard should matter unless in the case directly above when installing Windows 7 somehow forced unique drivers. That and I'd have to do some digging to find the model # and brand.

Here is the link to the Tiger Direct page where I bought my motherboard and processor bundle: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1355286&CatId=6982http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1355286&CatId=6982

The new hard drive: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7281716&sku=TSD-500AAKX

Trying to start another Win7 HD in new hardware and getting a stall at boot animation is resolved by using SysPrep to move HD to another computer on the old hardware first, or booting Paragon Adaptive Restore CD on the new hardware, pointing at Win7 partition.

Your install error is likely the write since you have confidence in the ISO - it's almost never drivers with Win7 which is driver-complete. Use this tool with WIn7 in the dropdown menu to write ISO to stick: Universal USB Installer

If that fails, wipe the HD first to clear the boot sector: SSD - HDD Optimize for Windows Reinstallation

If that fails, download another ISO.

Again, I'm not porting an old HD from an old system to a new system (or it shouldn't seem like that, unless, again, Windows 7 installation forces unique drivers between systems). I had tried both an old HD and a new HD, could not install Windows 7 Ultimate through the new system, successfully installed on the old system to the new HD. Both the old HD and new HD cannot successfully boot Windows 7 Ultimate on the new computer past the Windows 7 intro animation, as in they reach the exact same spot before the system restarts.

When I stated that I was confident in the .iso, I meant that I was confident in the entire USB installer, since it successfully installed Windows 7 onto the new HD through the old system using the USB. I tried this after it had failed to install on the new system to the new HD due to the driver error, so the problem isn't that it has since stopped working.

The new HD, when I attempted to install Windows 7 on it, had absolutely nothing on it. It was delivered completely wiped, brand new.


What I'm currently going to try to do is attempt an install of x64 and see if that succeeds. If that does not succeed, I'm going to try and remove 4gigs of ram and see if that works.

I appreciate all of the help thus far, and hopefully some of my responses have cleared up any confusion on what I have done so far.

 

[johnhoh]

A possible solution I could do is to hook up the new HD to the old computer, insert the mobo CD, and try installing that. However, I'm not sure if that would cause issues considering the mobo for the old computer is quite different and I don't want there to be any conflicts.

Windows will not install the new motherboard drivers when using the old mobo, so this is not something to try.

The new HD has no drivers on it at all, unless installing Windows 7 x32 on the old system somehow forced it to have drivers unique to the old system but not the new system.

Yes, that is what is happening. I would reformat that new drive since it does not have anything on it that you want to keep. If you install windows 7 on the new system on a completely blank, freshly formatted hard drive, you will probably succeed. If not, try another iso.

 

[gregrocker]

Again: If you move the HD to another machine to do the install, before moving it back to the target machine you must SysPrep to move HD to another computer. Only rarely will it start otherwise.

If the old hardware is not available then use Paragon Adaptive Restore CD.

This is not conjecture, we help Users do this here regularly.

In the case of your installation failure, it would need to be tried with all but 2gb of RAM removed if it occurs again. Then we can work through the other steps.

 

[Chaoswizkid]

Yes, that is what is happening. I would reformat that new drive since it does not have anything on it that you want to keep. If you install windows 7 on the new system on a completely blank, freshly formatted hard drive, you will probably succeed. If not, try another iso.

Ah, alright then.

Again: If you move the HD to another machine to do the install, before moving it back to the target machine you must SysPrep to move HD to another computer. Only rarely will it start otherwise.

If the old hardware is not available then use Paragon Adaptive Restore CD.

This is not conjecture, we help Users do this here regularly.

In the case of your installation failure, it would need to be tried with all but 2gb of RAM removed if it occurs again. Then we can work through the other steps.

Sorry, I wasn't trying to say that it was conjecture, I thought I was causing some misunderstanding.

Windows 7 x64 would not install onto the new computer. It would still not install with only 4gb ram. My old computer cannot handle an x64 installation. I do not think the processor is capable. Therefore, an install onto it and then a scrub is not possible.

I cannot reduce the system RAM of the new computer to 2. I do not have 2gb sticks of the necessary memory type.

I have a dvd drive now. I do not know what files I need to show the installer to proceed, if that is even the problem.

 

[gregrocker]

You need a Win7 installation DVD or ISO image file to burn to DVD using ImgBurn at 4x speed.

Then boot the DVD to install following these illustrated steps: Clean Install Windows 7

If there are further problems please express them in simple declarative sentences rather than ramblings because it's nearly impossible to parse your original post.

 

[Chaoswizkid]

Burned the iso to a DVD, 6x speed (4x was not an available write speed for my drive). Had 4gb ram in the system. Successful install.

I appreciate the help, and I apologize that the solution was a well-documented one, though I didn't have a DVD drive until now.

 

[gregrocker]

Nice to know and thanks for reporting back. Good work.

 

[johnhoh]

was the earlier installation of win7 x32 still on that hard drive, or did you reformat first?

 

[Chaoswizkid]

It did have x32 on it. I erased the drive during the x64 installation, booting for the burnt DVD. I deleted everything on the drive. I didn't select "format" because the option was grayed out at that time.

Everything's working fine so far, the 8gigs show up fine, everything has top or near top marks on the Windows Experience rater except for an average score from my harddrive.

 

[johnhoh]

I erased the drive during the x64 installation

There you go - that was the key.

 

[Chaoswizkid]

It shouldn't have been an issue initially for the USB installer, since the drive was empty when I attempted it. The new system just didn't like the USB installer. It did work perfectly on the old system.

After I installed x32 through the old system to the new hd, I didn't attempt prepping the new hd for moving, since I wanted x64 instead to handle the extra RAM. I didn't want to settle for x32. I couldn't get to the menu to delete it with the USB due to the driver error right before that step. However, the DVD came up with no issues.

 

[gregrocker]

Use the Universal USB Installer to write ISO to flash stick with Win7 in dropdown menu. It never fails.

You can also do a lot with free Partition Wizard bootable CD: deleting partitions, resizing all directions, jumping partitions over each other to Move, converting Primary/Logical, Rebuild MBR, etc. It is the best tool we have here.

 

[Chaoswizkid]

Thanks for the information. To be honest, I did not use the USB installer because the USB did work through the old system and the technique I used was through a tutorial given by a Microsoft employee using DiskPart. I will try testing it just to give feedback on whether or not it may have worked.

I didn't delete the data off of the new hd through the old system because the process was very finnicky (moving and plugging in parts, that is) and I had gotten the dvd drive. Also, the drive was empty before and the USB didn't work.

If you would like more information, I'd be willing to give you more. I just don't want to take up your time with a resolved issue by continuing to post here.

 

[gregrocker]

My comments were also for others who will find this thread via Google.

You can mark the thread Solved at top.