OMG just jacked up Win 7 install, constant loop, what to do?

[irishmike]

When you finish your install, download DISM++. It uses a different search engine that M$ update and provides you with choices of what KBs to install. It doesn't go through the shenanigans of installing a superseded update or require multiple reboots and days to install updates as M$ update does. Start it before you hit the hay and in the morning, your computer is updated with all the current updates, minus the ones you choose to not install. Kudos to SIW2 for the tip!

Dism++ | New Windows Utility

Nic

Ok just finished S.M.A.R.T. test.....Test status "PASS"


Short Drive Self test got to 50% and stated "FAIL"




Also I have bugged you guys SO MUCH I am sorry but got any drive recommendations?


I need 9mm SATA Ia assume. 250 GB or more, does not have to be new but would love to spend sub $20

 

[irishmike]

Your installation media is corrupt.
Obtain a new Windows ISO at TechBench by WZT all editions (pro, home premium, etc. ) can be made available from any windows 7 iso - either by removing the ei.cfg file from the sources folder, or by using eicfg_removal_utility.zip
You want Windows 7 Ultimate x32 (only one that will download) then run the eicfg utility to access all the other versions.
You have to burn the ISO to DVD or USB you can't copy and paste.
DVD ImgBurn
USB Rufus 3.2 or Rufus 3.2 Portable
Nic

Also did this as instructed just to see what happens, have the ISO disk but 5 consecutive times now I restart and boot from CD and it goes right into XP, not booting from disk

 

[Paul Black]

Hi irishmike,

I restart and boot from CD and it goes right into XP, not booting from disk

It sounds like the ISO didn't burn correctly to the disk!

I hope this helps!

 

[irishmike]

Hi irishmike,


It sounds like the ISO didn't burn correctly to the disk!

I hope this helps!

Thanks I'll burn another later after I drop the kids off

I double clicked it in the drive, it fired up to the install screen but not sure if I should install "over" XP

 

[Paul Black]

Hi irishmike,

Not sure if I should install "over" XP.

Yes you should, unless you intend to dual-boot!

I hope this helps!

 

[Snick]

No need to apologize, we're here to help those whom are less tech savvy. I am very patient and more than willing to explain or provide links to answer questions.

Being that you could run the DVD from within windows that tells us that the ISO burn was successful. It sounds like you did not select the CD/DVD drive in Boot Menu to boot from that. Simply placing the CD/DVD in the drive and starting the computer won't start the CD/DVD.

You have two choices Boot Menu and Boot Options. On my HP desktop the Boot Menu is F8, yours according to Booting to the Boot Menu and BIOS - WISC KB is F12, if you have UEFI, you will be looking in the Legacy portion that are the below choices.

When you press the power button immediately begin pressing the F12 key, the screen should that appears should have SATA1, SATA2, SATA3 etc. as headings and indented are the choices. There should be a CD/DVD drive choice.

Nic

 

[irishmike]

No need to apologize, we're here to help those whom are less tech savvy. I am very patient and more than willing to explain or provide links to answer questions.

Being that you could run the DVD from within windows that tells us that the ISO burn was successful. It sounds like you did not select the CD/DVD drive in Boot Options to boot from that. Simply placing the CD/DVD in the drive and starting the computer won't start the CD/DVD.

You have two choices Boot Menu and Boot Options. On my HP desktop the Boot Menus is F8, yours according to Booting to the Boot Menu and BIOS - WISC KB is F12, if you have UEFI, you will be looking in the Legacy portion that are the below choices.

Nic

Cool thanks

I'm 100% in booting from CD, it's just not found it so after the hell I went through with Win 7 booting in thing the HDD is fried. Cannot get to bios, Phoenix password. I tried a couple backdoors, it locked me out once

 

[Snick]

Patience irishmike,

You don't need to get into the BIOS that is for changing the boot order and to set it to that.
You want to access Boot Menu, not Boot Options in BIOS.

The Boot Menu will provide you with boot choices, for that time only, there should be no password for that, at least, that I'm aware of currently.

As I stated I believe your boot Menu F key is F12, it may be different so process of elimination works. Each manufacturer selects what F keys will do what so there is no standard set of key does what.

This is a boot menu example, as you can see it has an entry with DVD, yours will be somewhat similar. If your boot menu has UEFI and Legacy you will want the choice under Legacy. Your Win7 DVD will not boot choosing it under UEFI secure boot.



Nic

 

[irishmike]

Patience irishmike,

You don't need to get into the BIOS that is for changing the boot order and to set it to that.
You want to access Boot Menu, not Boot Options in BIOS.

The Boot Menu will provide you with boot choices, for that time only, there should be no password for that, at least, that I'm aware of currently.

As I stated I believe your boot Menu F key is F12, it may be different so process of elimination works. Each manufacturer selects what F keys will do what so there is no standard set of key does what.

This is a boot menu example, as you can see it has an entry with DVD, yours will be somewhat similar. If your boot menu has UEFI and Legacy you will want the choice under Legacy. Your Win7 DVD will not boot choosing it under UEFI secure boot.

View attachment 405353

Nic

OK then I've been doing it right I guess

Here are the 2 screen I get, but it launches into XP and never boots from disk

 

[irishmike]

Decided to run diagnostics and got this error

 

[Snick]

Your second image you posed pretty much backs up what you've already checked with SeaTools and the program you ran in a previous post, I don't remember the name exactly, but that's irrelevant.
Error code: 2000-046, the drive has a hardware problem.

Your first image you posted is the proper screen Boot Menu, and choice obviously is CD/DVD/CD-RW Drive.

Don't understand why you can't boot the DVD other than a botched burn.
Did you burn it with ImgBurn? ImgBurn is pretty much bulletproof in burning Windows ISO to disk. I've never had an issue with it.

Even with a failed HDD or for that matter, no drive installed whatsoever, you should still be able to boot from the CD/DVD drive.

I'm assuming you downloaded the ISO from TechBench. I would suggest burning the ISO to another DVD with ImgBurn and make sure the verify option is checked. Yea, DVDs can be defective right out of the box but I doubt that is the issue. As I stated previously, it informs you if you have any configurations incorrect, which you shouldn't if you didn't mess with any settings, and ask you if you would like to (whatever the issue is ImgBurn stated) make a change.

If you have an empty USB flash drive (larger than 4GB) laying around you could burn the ISO to it with Rufus. Never had an issue with Rufus either. Accordingly, when you access the boot menu you would choose the USB as the boot device.

Nic

 

[Snick]

You'll be looking for a new drive, unfortunately.

If you plan on keeping the computer I'd invest in a Solid State Drive (SSD), boot times, access times and performance in general, much faster.
Googling your system specifications, it appears to have a 250GB SATA drive, correct?
I have Samsung 850 Pro 256GB (over $120) and 1TB Hitachi as my data storage drive in my HP desktop.
I have a Crucial MX500 250GB SATA 2.5-inch 7mm Internal SSD ($59.99) in my Compaq laptop.
If I purchased them now, I would opt for at least a 512 GB drive, albeit more expensive.

Here's a link to Tom's Hardware excellent review of all computer hardware.

The Best Cheap SSDs of 2018 PC Mag take your time and read through the article.

My opinion, any major brand is acceptable, they all provide warranties and you won't notice much if any difference is speed on your machine.

 

[AddRAM]

Sounds like a bad burn to me too.

Create another install dvd or usb stick.

But in order to do that you need a good ISO file.

This link should work to download a proper ISO file of W7 Ultimate.

TechBench by WZT (v4.1.1)

And if you have no data to save on the hard drive, delete any/all partitions down to unallocated space and then just click next.

Step 6 and step 7

Clean Install Windows 7

Getting a SSD is a great suggestion

And right now a 500GB Samsung EVO is on sale for $99.99 And will drastically reduce the heat of the entire laptop.

SSD 860 EVO 2.5" SATA III 500GB Memory & Storage - MZ-76E500B/AM | Samsung US

 

[irishmike]

You'll be looking for a new drive, unfortunately.

If you plan on keeping the computer I'd invest in a Solid State Drive (SSD), boot times, access times and performance in general, much faster.
Googling your system specifications, it appears to have a 250GB SATA drive, correct?
I have Samsung 850 Pro 256GB (over $120) and 1TB Hitachi as my data storage drive in my HP desktop.
I have a Crucial MX500 250GB SATA 2.5-inch 7mm Internal SSD ($59.99) in my Compaq laptop.
If I purchased them now, I would opt for at least a 512 GB drive, albeit more expensive.

Here's a link to Tom's Hardware excellent review of all computer hardware.

The Best Cheap SSDs of 2018 PC Mag take your time and read through the article.

My opinion, any major brand is acceptable, they all provide warranties and you won't notice much if any difference is speed on your machine.

TY




I ran the Rufus program, created an image of Win 7 on my USB, everything worked great but but for 1 hour 30 minutes the scree shows "Windows 7 is finalizing you settings"


I know this is way to long for this step so I am just going to halt everything and do some hard drive shopping




What to do about this stuck step in the install process? Just shut it down?

 

[Snick]

Great added recommendations/suggestions AddRAM

Yea, since your drive is shot, shut it down with power button! If you have sensitive info on it you might want to wipe it!
How to Wipe a Hard Drive

Wishing you the BEST OF LUCK!

Nic

 

[irishmike]

Great added recommendations/suggestions AddRAM

Yea, since your drive is shot, shut it down with power button! If you have sensitive info on it you might want to wipe it!
How to Wipe a Hard Drive

Wishing you the BEST OF LUCK!

Nic

Got my 500 GB HDD today. Said it had Win 10 on it, which I do not want.


here is the screen I see when doing a clean Win 7 install, should I delete all of them and have only partition before install?

 

[Megahertz07]

Go to advanced - delete ALL partitions - create new.
It will create two partitions:
- MS reserved - 120M - RAW (unformated)
- Big NTFS
Choose to install on the big NTFS

Clean Install Windows 7

You should have bought a small SSD (128G) for Windows and Programs and a HDD for data.
To install a second drive on a laptop, replace the ODD (CD/DVD) buy a caddy.
VANTEC MRK-HC127A-BK SSD/HDD Aluminum Caddy for 12.7mm ODD Laptop Drive Bay - Newegg.com

You have no idea what a SSD can do for an old laptop.

 

[AddRAM]

Where did you get a hard drive or ssd that said it already had W10 on it ?

What exactly did you buy/get ?

 

[Paul Black]

Hi irishmike,

Got my 500 GB HDD today. Said it had Win 10 on it, which I do not want.

Is it a new HDD?
If it is second hand, then format it and install Windows 7!
If so, HDD's don't come pre-installed with Windows, whatever version. Normally the manufacturer only puts on a free trial of something or thier own utilities suite or something like that!

I hope this helps!

 

[AddRAM]

Yes you should delete ALL the partitions, all you want to see is unallocated space, then click next. Ignore the red square in this picture, just click next.

I already posted the link to clean install W7 in reply #33