Power Outage During Win 7 Upgrade

[ericr]

Hi everyone, I was installing the Win 7 Home Premium 32 Bit upgrade today when the power went out during the expanding files stage of the installation. Turning the computer on now, it recognised the install was not complete, but threw up an error message saying the rollback could not be completed. I tried rebooting and it now comes up with command prompt in front of the Win 7 installation background (not sure if the background is the standard Win 7 desktop, or still the background for the install program).

I searched these forums and it mentioned starting in safe mode etc, but my current problem, which happens on occasion (pre trying the upgrade) is that I can't use the keyboard after the BIOS screen is gone. This means I can't choose to boot from CD, since it needs me to push any key to get going, and I can't choose between the Win 7 and Win 7 Rollback options when booting the OS. I've tried using a PS/2 connection on the keyboard, but I get nothing.

I would appreciate someone either explaining to me how I can run a repair through command prompt, or knows of a fix for getting my keyboard to work. I'm a complete novice at CMD, so any explanation would have to be pretty thorough.

Appreciate you guys taking the time to help me out.

Eric.

 

[gregrocker]

try running D:setup with DVD in drive (replace D: with your DVD drive)

If this won't complete, try running

DISKPART
LIST DISK
DETAIL VOLUME

Post back what it reports

 

[ericr]

I was about to write and say that neither option was working, but it just took its sweet time getting the setrup screen up. Thanks a bunch for your help.

Once the install is done I'll let you know if there's any more trouble.

 

[gregrocker]

I would format the HD with Drive Tools on the Where Do You Want to Install? screen.

But don't interrupt it if it's too late.

 

[ericr]

Ok, it wants me to remove the disk and restart, which will just keep me going round in circles. Now I take it if I do a clean (custom) install, the programs that are installed on my storage hard drives will still need to be re-installed? I'm mainly worried about Steam games, since I haven't had the chance to back them up.

I haven't tried custom install yet, since I want to clarify this point first, but will post if there's more issues.

Thanks again for the help Greg

 

[ericr]

I can't do a custom install either, and now it looks as though it's corrupted Windows (which I thought it would have done from the start). Seeing as I can't control anything to boot from CD or run a repair, I'm a bit stuck. Any ideas on getting the keyboard to work?

edit: I should clarify that I can use the keyboard to navigate the BIOS, I just can't use it after that. I was able to use it again once the Windows Install and CMD ran again, but now that's not working.

 

[gregrocker]

As long as you don't format the storage drives, then your data will be there when Win7 starts up.

When you run Setup from CMD, it should give you the choice of Upgrade or Custom. What happens when you choose Custom? It should give you Drive Tools to format your Vista drive, then install.

It's doubtful you can save your in-place upgrade at this point, or any data on the Vista partition. But your data partitions should be safe if you don't touch them during install.

Try resetting the CMOS in BIOS: http://pcsupport.about.com/od/fixtheproblem/tp/clearcmos.htm

You may also need a BIOS Update from your computer or mobo maker's Support Downloads page.

 

[ericr]

I can't actually get to that stage anymore, but when I tried the custom install I chose to install on drive C: and I'm under the impression it was going to do the same as the upgrade (may be wrong, may also have caused more trouble :S). I did see the format options there, and should have gone with that in hindsight. I'm not overly fussed about having to format, it's just that now I can't even get control over the thing to get it done.

 

[gregrocker]

Try resetting the CMOS in BIOS: Clear CMOS - 3 Ways to Clear the CMOS - Reset BIOS

You may need a BIOS update from your computer or mobo maker's website.

Do the DISKPART commands given earlier work? If so, run this to format the drive to force install (post back if you want to exclude any data partitions):
DISKPART
LIST DISK
SELECT DISK # (for Windows 7 disk)
clean (WARNING: This will wipe the HD)
create partition primary
select partition 1
assign letter=c:
active
format
exit

Now restart Computer and DVD should autostart.

 

[ericr]

Currently a Windows Failed to Start error is coming up, with the file \$WINDOWS.~BT\Windows\system32\winload.exe being missing or corrupt as the reason. It's telling me to insert the windows install disc and run a repair, but when I try that, I run into the problem of not being able to 'press any key' as such, since my keyboard doesn't respond when I try to get it to boot from disc.

Sorry if my explanations aren't making any sense...

 

[gregrocker]

Sounds like it is trying to repair either Vista or Win7. Does it say which? Try running Win7 Repair, or If you have a Vista DVD and can get it to boot (or run Setup from the CMD) then you can try Repair My Computer on the second screen. See if it finds an installation to repair, then accept the repair, plus repeatedly click through to Startup Repair to run at least 3 times with reboots.

Your best course of action here is to try to get your Win7 DVD to boot by resetting CMOS or updating BIOS, to get the DVD drive to boot first and keyboard to respond. You can also trigger the DVD to boot by tapping the key given for Boot Menu on BIOS boot screen.

If this fails, then you need to run the Diskpart commands given to wipe the HD to force the DVD to autostart, or if unable to run the commands, boot free Partition Wizard bootable CD (it should autostart) to delete the HD, create New partition, then format NTFS primary. This will also force the DVD to autostart.

 

[ericr]

Thanks for your help Greg. I think the computer believes Windows 7 is the only OS installed, since that's what comes up when it was trying to boot between the OS and the rollback. I'll try and get this sorted tonight.

edit: It turns out I had the halt keyboard on error setting enabled in the BIOS, which was giving me grief. It couldn't manage a system restore, so I'm currently formatting the hard drive with the diskpart commands you gave me. Thanks again.