Solved Windows 7 install problem catch 22

[Britton30]

Have you let the install go to Updating Registry, then Preparing Desktop?

 

[essenbe]

Disconnect all hard drives except the one you want to install windows to. Boot from the DVD, at the first screen do not select your language. hold down shift and press F10, you will get a command prompt. Type diskpart and press enter, the computer will respond in a few seconds, diskpart. type list disk and press enter, when it responds you should have only 1 disk listed #0, type select disk 0 (# 0) an press enter, the cmd prompt will say disk 0 is the selected disk, type clean all, press enter. It will completely wipe everything off the disk and will take several hours. It will look like it is doing nothing but it is. when completed it will tell you.
When it is complete, you will have a perfectly clean disk. type exit and press enter, it will take you to the command prompt you started at. Type exit and press enter (again) and you will be back at the select your language screen. Proceed the install as normal.

 

[superkev1503]

Have you let the install go to Updating Registry, then Preparing Desktop?

Yes, it does all that and then it fails. I think has gone Updating Registry then Starting Services, and that's when I get the blank screen. It's obviously a GPU driver issue as I was able to disable the GPU earlier today in safe mode, it's when I tried to install the ATI drivers that things went wonky again.

 

[Britton30]

The error message telling you the install can't be completed, led me to think you or something interupted the procees somewhere along the line.

 

[superkev1503]

The error message telling you the install can't be completed, led me to think you or something interupted the procees somewhere along the line.

Well, it says that it can't do it in safe mode, not that it can't do it. The install worked at least once as I was able to get safe mode with a cmd prompt, disable my GPU and boot normally. It was when I tried to install the GPU drivers and be able to have some graphics acceleration that it went south again on me.

 

[DocBrown]

Well, I agree with all the previous advice given so far.

But, are you connected to the internet via a hard-wire ethernet cable ?
That will get the latest updates & drivers needed for the install which should take care of the GPU (video driver).
Also when you get a blank screen & flashing curser, WAIT awhile, don't rush it, it may just be doing things in the background.

I have done some installs (w/USB flash) in 18 minutes and some with DVD's that took 2 hours while it was thinking

 

[superkev1503]

Well, I agree with all the previous advice given so far.

But, are you connected to the internet via a hard-wire ethernet cable ?
That will get the latest updates & drivers needed for the install which should take care of the GPU (video driver).
Also when you get a blank screen & flashing curser, WAIT awhile, don't rush it, it may just be doing things in the background.

I have done some installs (w/USB flash) in 18 minutes and some with DVD's that took 2 hours while it was thinking

Unfortunately I am not hard wired, the way my townhouse is configured and due to owner rules the modem and Wifi modem had to be downstairs.

I am downloading the current ISO now but will have to burn it on my Linux box as I do not have another windows machine other than the one we are discussing ATM.

 

[superkev1503]

I suppose I could take the tower downstairs and plug in some Cat5 if that would solve my issue though

 

[essenbe]

Following the directions in post #22 will give you the best medium to install on. It will insure there is nothing else on the hard drive to mess up the install.

 

[superkev1503]

Following the directions in post #22 will give you the best medium to install on. It will insure there is nothing else on the hard drive to mess up the install.

That is in progress now. How long, would you guess, it will take to finish?

 

[essenbe]

just a guess, 3 hours, for a 320GB drive. Just a guess, maybe sooner.

 

[superkev1503]

just a guess, 3 hours, for a 320GB drive. Just a guess, maybe sooner.

It just finished, took about 1.5 hours actually. Now, should I go ahead and try the install or wait until tomorrow when I can go down and hard wire it in to my modem? What would you recommend?

 

[DocBrown]

Wifi is ok,

But I preferred to be Wired

 

[superkev1503]

Yeah, it's getting late here and if being wired in will make the OS go get what I need automatically I will just wait until tomorrow and set up downstairs to do it. Seems like with all the frustrations and headaches this has been so far, if I can get it done and it will get the drivers I need that would be the way to go.

Thank you to everyone for all the help so far, I hope I will have good news tomorrow and can mark this as solved.

 

[essenbe]

Being wired will help if Windows has a driver for your ethernet, in case it dosen't, have it and all your motherboard drivers downloaded on a USB flash drive or CD.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Being wired will help if Windows has a driver for your ethernet, in case it dosen't, have it and all your motherboard drivers downloaded on a USB flash drive or CD.

Hum go with essenbe Kev and maybe I am barking up the wrong tree but haveyou checked out the PSU volts yet??

Plus while you are at it you may as well get the GPU driver/s onto thatstick as well in fact whole sheebang might be good.

http://support.amd.com/US/Pages/AMDSupportHub.aspx

GIGABYTE - Motherboard - Socket AM3 - GA-MA770T-UD3P (rev. 1.4)

Try reseating everything including the RAM, leads, GPU, and if this does get going mate I would be doing a memtest too Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/105647-ram-test-memtest86.html

 

[Indianatone]

I don't know if I am going to help much here but there are a couple of things that spring to mind. In the bios make sure you have GFX card selected. (Sometimes PCI or PCI express 1 or 2 etc is selectable even on a systems with no internal graphics). I can confirm Windows 7 does have a driver for that card on the DVD as I have just installed Windows 7 on a machine with a HD 4250 internal graphics. That is not the latest driver though.
JSI Tip 9233. SafeMSI.exe freeware starts Windows Installer in Safe Mode. | Windows content from Windows IT Pro

AMD Driver Autodetect

These tools may help you out. The first one is invaluable. This runs the windows installer in safe mode. This may in itself fix the issue. I use this often when Nvidia drivers do crazy things.The second tool will find the latest version of AMD drivers for your card on the Windows OS you are using. Hope this is some use.

 

[Solarstarshines]

Have you let the install go to Updating Registry, then Preparing Desktop?

Yes, it does all that and then it fails. I think has gone Updating Registry then Starting Services, and that's when I get the blank screen. It's obviously a GPU driver issue as I was able to disable the GPU earlier today in safe mode, it's when I tried to install the ATI drivers that things went wonky again.

What driver were you working with ?

I would go ahead and install windows like you were but with out GPU drivers

Also the 4870 is a legacy card if you happen to use the current AMD driver that could be the issue it Isn't supported 13.4 is the last one to function with HD4000's and HD5000's cards now if you want a newer driver they have a beta driver that will help Legacy cards like yours 13.6 they give stability even though it's a Legacy card

 

[gregrocker]

So during reinstall disable any driver that may be loading and failing in Device Manager - Access During Windows 7 Installation so it defaults to Standard VGA (which always works). Then start normally, go online to get the driver Solar says.

A problem may be that you stayed in Safe Mode once you disabled failing driver instead of letting it boot to desktop with Standard VGA to work on installing the correct driver.

 

[essenbe]

I believe he was going to install this morning sometime. We haven't heard from him today, that I know of. I think he had something on that drive that messed up his installs (like Grub maybe). If he did, it's gone now, he ran clean all on it. So, he should have a good base for a clean install.