Notebook dead after installing Windows 7

[John Holscher]

I have an Acer Aspire 1410 Notebook which came with Vista Home Premium.
I just ran the Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade (custom Installation).
I was able to run the install, check for and download updates and activate 7. The last thing I did was to change the "update windows" option to notify me when downloads are available but let me choose when to download and install.
After doing all of this I restarted the system and windows wouldn't start, I followed the recomendation to run Startup repair which when finished reported that the volume was corrupt, not sure of the exact wording. I tried to restart, and was prompted to run the Startup repair again which I did. The window opened and showed that it was checking for problems, the next time I looked at the screen it was blank (not blue screen) with ony the mouse pointer visible. I could move the pointer but there was no other activity.
I tried to turn off and restart the computer using the power button but could not get anything happening.
Any ideas on how I can get this machine up and running again?

 

[MacGyvr]

If you can't turn it off, pull the battery and the power cord.

 

[richc46]

I have an Acer Aspire 1410 Notebook which came with Vista Home Premium.
I just ran the Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade (custom Installation).
I was able to run the install, check for and download updates and activate 7. The last thing I did was to change the "update windows" option to notify me when downloads are available but let me choose when to download and install.
After doing all of this I restarted the system and windows wouldn't start, I followed the recomendation to run Startup repair which when finished reported that the volume was corrupt, not sure of the exact wording. I tried to restart, and was prompted to run the Startup repair again which I did. The window opened and showed that it was checking for problems, the next time I looked at the screen it was blank (not blue screen) with ony the mouse pointer visible. I could move the pointer but there was no other activity.
I tried to turn off and restart the computer using the power button but could not get anything happening.
Any ideas on how I can get this machine up and running again?

As above pull the power. If it works fine, if not:

First if you boot up, does it begin the boot process. If yes, good you can get into safe mode. At the start of boot up quickly and repeatedly push f8. If it suceeds, you are running the bare minimum, necessary to operate the computer. Hopefully you will be able to install in safe mode. If not, try to do a system image, or even a system restore, both will work, if the install process got that far. If you find that you are back with vista, try system restore from when times were good.

Plan B. If you could boot up, read your manual, there are a combination of keys, f keys, if you press (as you did with safe mode). Like magic your computer is back the way it was the day you brought it home.

Let us know.

 

[John Holscher]

When I push the power button the screen goes blank and I assume it is "off" If I press the power button after shutting off I get the same blank screen with cursor back again but no OS.
My problem is that I can't get Windows(7) to start.

 

[gregrocker]

Do a hard shut down by holding power button in until all power is off.

Now place your Win7 DVD in the drive and restart computer, hit any key to boot DVD, select Repair My Computer on second screen, click through to Recovery Tools and run Startup Repair 3 separate times.

All former boot recovery commands are automated in Win7 startup repair, but it assumes the last fix given will work unti you come back for more. It already offered Startup Repair twice, which was probably not enough times to get it started.

The exception is if there is repeatedly no installation found to repair. Then attempt to Run startup repair 3 times anyway, but you may need then to run bootrec and bootsect commands normally automated in Win7 Startup Repair to jog it to show an installation, which it then should proceed to repair.

 

[John Holscher]

Do a hard shut down by holding power button in until all power is off.

Now place your Win7 DVD in the drive and restart computer, hit any key to boot DVD, select Repair My Computer on second screen, click through to Recovery Tools and run Startup Repair 3 separate times.

All former boot recovery commands are automated in Win7 startup repair, but it assumes the last fix given will work unti you come back for more. It already offered Startup Repair twice, which was probably not enough times to get it started.

The exception is if there is repeatedly no installation found to repair. Then attempt to Run startup repair 3 times anyway, but you may need then to run bootrec and bootsect commands normally automated in Win7 Startup Repair to jog it to show an installation, which it then should proceed to repair.

Thanks gregrocker!

I tried running startup repair 3 times but was still unable to boot from the
instalation on my hard drive.
I decided to follow Acer tech support advise-reinstall (custom). During
the process it ran chkdsk and deleted, sorted and restored many files after
which the instalation completed and windows booted.
At one point either at the very end of the instalation I saw two error
messages. One reffered to Internet Explorer, the other to Windows Media
Player. The message said that there was some problem and that these two
programs would not function. Exact wording I don't recall.
How can I revive IE?

I just received an answer from Acer. Their fix is to do another clean install
of 7.
In their list of instructions they say to
" disconnect all USB devices except the keyboard and mouse. This
includes USB devices such as a printer, scanner, removable storage, or
camera. Note: The computer must be configured to boot to the CD/DVD
drive."

Since this machine has no optical drive I 'm using an Asus SDRW-08D1S
-U USB drive to load Windows.
Could this be part of the problem?
Any thoughts?
Thanks

 

[gregrocker]

How were you able to boot into the WIn7 repair console to run Startup Repair 3 times if you have no DVD drive and are only running files from an external HD? Have you gotten it to boot?

If not, then you need to write the ISO to formatted flash stick using UltraISO trial version Bootable tab, so that you have a bootable installer and repair tool. Now boot into Recovery console and run Startup Repair 3 times.

A problem might be the Acer EISA and/or recov partitions, which may hold the system active boot-critical files that could block Win7 repair from getting it started back up. These also throw up all kinds of interference with clean reinstalls, and are completely wasted prime HD space since neither work after a clean install.

Using the bootable USB installer, enter Repair console and click through to Command line and type:

DISKPART
LIST DISK
SELECT DISK 0 (if that is your HD)
LIST PARTITION
SELECT PARTITION # (for EISA partition which should be small first partition)
DELETE PARTITION OVERRIDE
SELECT DISK 0
clean (wipes the entire HD)
exit

Now boot back into the DVD and select Custom install>Drive Options to create and format your partitions. Because there is no extant partitioning the installer will give you a 100mb System reserved partition containing the Win7 boot and (more importantly) the repair console which will be made available by tapping F8 key during bootup - something especially important if you have no repair CD or DVD.

 

[John Holscher]

How were you able to boot into the WIn7 repair console to run Startup Repair 3 times if you have no DVD drive and are only running files from an external HD? Have you gotten it to boot?

Hi Greg
Sorry I didn't give you a clearer explanation, I am not that well versed in the inner workings of these machines. The Asus SDRW-08D1S-U is an external USB DVD drive which I was able to run the repair and reinstal from.
Yes I was able to get it to boot as I said in my last post "the installation completed and windows booted.
At one point either at the very end of the installation I saw two error
messages. One reffered to Internet Explorer, the other to Windows Media
Player. The message said that there was some problem and that these two
programs would not function. Exact wording I don't recall.
How can I revive IE?"

So, should I run the Startup repair tool 3 times and/or wipe the HD and do a clean install as you explained?

In the setup utility the boot order is
1. USB CDROM: ASUS...
2. IDE0: HITACHI....
3. IDE1:
4. Network boot
5. USB HDD:
6. USB FDD:

Am I correct in assuming that IDE0 is the hard disk and IDE1 is the EISA partition you refer to?

Thanks for all your help!

 

[John Holscher]

I was just poking around the forum site and found this tutorial http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html

Would this be an option to consider? Better or not as good as what gregrocker described?

 

[theog]

Hi

Can you reinstall Vista?

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/31402-clean-install-upgrade-windows-7-version.html?ltr=C

 

[gregrocker]

Try booting the Win7 installer, select Custom install, then Drive options to delete all partitions, create New as you wish, then format before installing Win7 to the first partition.

If a partition fails to delete then it is the EISA partition which requires the DISKPART command to DELETE PARTITION OVERRIDE given in my post above. Just do the DISKPART steps to LIST disks and then partitions to determine which number partiition it is for deletion override. Then you can boot back into installer to create your partitions and format before install.

First, check in BIOS setup what your SATA controller is set to: AHCI is preferred.

 

[John Holscher]

Try booting the Win7 installer, select Custom install, then Drive options to delete all partitions, create New as you wish, then format before installing Win7 to the first partition.

First, check in BIOS setup what your SATA controller is set to: AHCI is preferred.

Checked the SATA controller, it was set to AHCI. Deleted the two existing partitions and let setup create Volume C and 100 MB reserved for system, somehow I skipped the formatting. Proceeded with installation, updated drivers, checked for and installed updates and everything seems to be working just fine.

Do you think that skipping the format step is an issue?

Thnaks for all your help!!!

John

 

[theog]

Try booting the Win7 installer, select Custom install, then Drive options to delete all partitions, create New as you wish, then format before installing Win7 to the first partition.

First, check in BIOS setup what your SATA controller is set to: AHCI is preferred.

Checked the SATA controller, it was set to AHCI. Deleted the two existing partitions and let setup create Volume C and 100 MB reserved for system, somehow I skipped the formatting. Proceeded with installation, updated drivers, checked for and installed updates and everything seems to be working just fine.

Do you think that skipping the format step is an issue?

Thnaks for all your help!!!

John

Hi

NO, you may find a folder called Windows.old,this will have all your old DATA.

 

[gregrocker]

It should have auto-formatted during the Copying Files phase, I believe.

If you have the windows.old folder in the root (C?) drive then after after retrieving files you can delete it with Disk Cleanup.

Check your Device Manager for any missing drivers which can be found by browsing in windows.old to windows/system32/drivers before you delete it.