I've ruined my PC...

[Jonathan]

Okay, so I got talked into installing Windows 7 (7100), I downloaded it, mounted it as a Virtual Drive and clicked to install it over vista as a clean install on the C Drive. Everything was going okay until it restarted a went to a black screen that said Windows 7 Build 7100 in the bottom right corner. That stayed for a long time and did nothing so I turned the PC off and on using the front button. Now all it does is boot up, ask if I want to start with Repair or start normally. Either option just restarts the PC and does the same thing over and over. Is there ANYTHING I can do to fix this?

It's a 3 Ghz Pentium D with 2 gigs of RAM and I am using an AGP X1600 512 MB videocard (VGA) (I think thats the model).

 

[Fabio]

first thing is dont panic, there are ways to resolve everything, even if it means reinstalling. i assume you had everything backed up before installation.

do you get a system restore option when the repair option appears. if you do, try the restore option, as the corruption may have taken place when you hard re-booted your p.c. you may be better doing another fresh install anyway, in case files have been corrupted. can you burn the iso to disc and install from the disc?

one of the really cool things about 7 is the fast, virtually unattended, installation.

hope this helps

 

[Maka]

If it's turning on and doing something then don't worry it isn't ruined.Now if smoke was shooting out the back then i would worry.Worst case scenario you could always throw an install disc in and start over if it wont let you repair the installation.

 

[Jonathan]

I try System Restore and the PC just reboots. I do have all of my stuff backed up so that's some relief. I don't have the Windows 7 ISO anymore since I booted it from the C drive. I'm downloading it again now on my notebook. I have several memory cards and external HDDs, but no blank DVDs or thumb drives, can I boot off one of them?

Also, I don't have any Vista boot cd, I guess my PC had a partition with vista on it.

 

[Maka]

You should be able to boot from the external drive.Make sure to change the boot priority though.

 

[12eason]

Yep.

 

[Jonathan]

great! Once it's finished downloading, I'm sure I'll probably need help.
Just in case, how do I set boot priority? I THINK I know, but I might as well do it right the first time with your help!

 

[Maka]

Set boot priority in the bios

 

[12eason]

Personally, I just press F8(or w.e.) during the BIOS screen to bring up the boot menu. You only need to change the priority once, so why bother diving into the bios boot order?

 

[Jonathan]

Okay, i DON'T know how to change the boot order in the bios. I can get to the Boot Menu and choose my HDD but it doesn't do anything. I've extracted the Win7 ISO to a Partition on the external HDD and set the drive letter as S.
Any ideas?

 

[Orbital Shark]

You will need to access the main BIOS (before windows even attempts to boot). Look at the very first 'splash' screen you see, you can then press Del, F1 or F2 to enter the BIOS setup.

You will then need to navigate to the boot options which will show the current boot priority list. You can then highlight the device you want then move it up the list.

Hope this helps

 

[Jonathan]

Alright! I changed the boot priority to the external drive but nothing different happens. Does it matter that I partitioned the hard drive? Does the drive letter matter? Right now I'm just going to test happening the ISO on both partitions.

EDIT: I also have it formatted as FAT32, is this correct?

 

[12eason]

You know, I posted that Tut assuming it was correct, but it's missing the bootsect step. This is a better how-to;
How to Install Windows 7 From USB Drive without Windows 7 ISO DVD
Sorrt about that. You could probably get away with just this step;

J: (Drive letter of Windows 7 iso mounted with demon tool)
CD boot
bootsect /nt60 Y: (Y is drive latter of your USB drive )
​

 

[Maka]

I'm thinking you should extract the files from the ISO to make it work.

 

[RST101]

Alright! I changed the boot priority to the external drive but nothing different happens. Does it matter that I partitioned the hard drive? Does the drive letter matter? Right now I'm just going to test happening the ISO on both partitions.

EDIT: I also have it formatted as FAT32, is this correct?

No it needs to be ntfs.

 

[Jonathan]

I did extract it. I'll try NTFS now. Hopefully that works.