Windows 7 restarts PC before Installation...

[Zikon]

I've searched all over the net for a problem like mine and although they seem similar, they always involve freezing/crashing, I don't get that. My problem is when I use my Windows 7 disc to install on a formatted HDD, I can get to the blue wallpaper screen with a mouse cursor just after the "starting windows" screen, but then after only a few seconds or up to 30 seconds (it's always random), my PC just instantly restarts itself. I've already successfully installed Windows 7 on this PC before, it messed up somehow and the user opted to re-install Windows 7 over this installation, but yet again it has failed so he came to me to wipe it and clean install.

Now I'm pretty sure the PC itself is fine because I've interchanged the graphics card, RAM, HDD's, DVD drive and un-plugged all unnecessary parts e.g. USB, wireless PCI card and even flashed the motherboard BIOS. Just to test the drive and PC in general, I installed XP SP3 just to see if everything was fine and it was. I then tried the Windows 7 disc again with XP installed on the HDD and it booted up fine. I don't see though why I have to have an installation of Windows already on the HDD when I installed it before fine on a formatted HDD. Also, with the Windows 7 disc there is only the option for a quick format, I only like doing full formats as I've had bad experience in the past with quick formats. The PC itself is fairly powerful and it had no problems running Windows 7 Ultimate before.

 

[Tews]

Common Installation Problems and Their Solutions

 

[Zikon]

Common Installation Problems and Their Solutions

If you're referring to this:

Problem: Setup forces computer to reboot, and never finishes installation​

What to try:
Sometimes setup fails when recovery partitions are still present. For example, Acer and HP both put a special recovery partition on their systems, that cannot be easily deleted.

To delete the partition using Diskpart:
Open a copy of Diskpart following the instructions given earlier.
Enter list disk
Enter select disk n
Enter list partition
Enter select partition n
Enter delete partition override

Now try reinstalling Windows.

I don't see how that applies to me because the HDD is already full formatted and besides, I can't even get into the installation, it restarts the PC before it gets to that.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Hello Zikon, welcome to Seven Forums!



Contrary to popular belief, formatting does not remove any data at all, it just checks for sector errors and marks the space to be over-written as needed, all the data is still there including all the code from previous/failed installation attempts.

After you have made backups of everything you care to save and you want to do a real wipe "secure erase" to the Hard Disk Drive (HDD) have a look at this tutorial at the link below, it over-writes everything, all the old Windows code including the old Windows drivers, everything all data, giving you the best possible space to install Windows 7 to; it goes hand-in-hand with a clean install.

SSD / HDD : Optimize for Windows Reinstallation

How to Do a Clean Installation with Windows 7

Do a Clean Install with a Upgrade Windows 7 Version

 

[Zikon]

Thank you for the suggestions and I have tried the above, writing zero's to the disc in diskpart.

I'm still getting the same problem though, it's still making my PC restart just after the "Windows starting" screen.

Also, I burned a repair disc and tried that but it does the same thing as the install disc (I connected the HDD to my PC in order to run diskpart on it).

I'm really stumped here...

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Maybe the Windows 7 install disk has developed an issue and is one you burned yourself it may be a bad burn and needs to be done again, if so this would be the next thing to try if you still have the ISO file.


Use the free ISO burner at the link below to burn another at a speed of now more than 4x and select to let the program to verify the disk before it finishes.

ImgBurn Free ISO Burner

 

[Zikon]

I have another burn that also does the same thing. I know the discs already work anyway because they work on my PC.

It seems the only way I can get it to continue without restarting is if there is already a Windows installation on a HDD.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

How many GBs of RAM is in the machine.




Find the manufacturer of the Hard Disk Drive (HDD) at the link below and run tests to rule that out.

Hard Drive Diagnostics Tools and Utilities

 

[Zikon]

The machine has 3GB of RAM, I've tried running the disc with just 2 or 1 sticks in to no avail. The HDD is a Seagate and has been fully diagnosed as fine, one of the first things I did actually to see if anything was wrong with the drive and not the Windows 7 installation on it before.

 

[gregrocker]

Try running chkdsk /f from the DVD command line.

Try applying a Win7 image to the HD to see if it will start up, or move HD to another machine to do install. It will often start up when returned to problem machine, changing out all drivers while requesting several restarts. If not try booting into Safe Mode to switch out chipset and display drivers to start.

Otherwise it sounds like a hardware issue.

 

[Zikon]

Try running chkdsk /f from the DVD command line.

Try applying a Win7 image to the HD to see if it will start up, or move HD to another machine to do install. It will often start up when returned to problem machine, changing out all drivers while requesting several restarts. If not try booting into Safe Mode to switch out chipset and display drivers to start.

Otherwise it sounds like a hardware issue.

I put the HDD in my machine and installed Windows 7 fine and it booted up fine and ran as normal. Put the HDD back in the other PC, usual screen comes up saying it failed to boot because of a recent hardware change which was expected.

Here goes:

• Tried to run Windows as normal, restarts PC after "Starting Windows" screen disappears.
• Tried hitting the F8 key to run it in safe mode, won't boot into safe mode, same as above happens.
• Try to run the repair, unpacks the Windows files as if running the installation disc, same as above happens.
• Try to run the installation disc itself, same as above happens.

I've tested everything on this PC with my own parts that work (which I used to install Windows 7 no problem on my PC), this PC also uses the same motherboard as my own (cause I built both PC's).

The only thing I haven't tested (can't really as I don't have any thermal paste etc. atm) is the CPU. The CPU in this PC is a Phenom quad core. It has run Windows 7 before for a few months fine, and Windows Vista before that for over a year, so I don't know what's suddenly happened to make it install and run Windows XP fine (and probably Vista too), but not Windows 7...

I'm completely stumped here, about to give up on Win 7 altogether and just put XP on it.

 

[gregrocker]

If you still have the test install you made on other computer, put it back in that machine and in Device Manager uninstall all of the major drivers (SATA controller, CPU, display driver, SM Bus controller, Sound, ethernet, wireless, etc) without restarting. Power down machine and place HD back in problem machine to see if it will start and install the correct drivers for that hardware.

The reason it won't start is due to a conflict of drivers. The program that prepares a HD for this very thing is Paragon Adaptive Restore which removes all drivers. When applying an image to new hardware, Acronis 10+ can do this by also removing all drivers. That's all you've gotta do.

 

[Zikon]

If you still have the test install you made on other computer, put it back in that machine and in Device Manager uninstall all of the major drivers (SATA controller, CPU, display driver, SM Bus controller, Sound, ethernet, wireless, etc) without restarting. Power down machine and place HD back in problem machine to see if it will start and install the correct drivers for that hardware.

The reason it won't start is due to a conflict of drivers. The program that prepares a HD for this very thing is Paragon Adaptive Restore which removes all drivers. When applying an image to new hardware, Acronis 10+ can do this by also removing all drivers. That's all you've gotta do.

Okay I'll give this a whirl tomorrow when I got more time and let you know what happens, thanks for the support!

Update: Nope, no good still, just keeps on doing the same thing. Thanks for all the help and suggestions guys, but I'm just going to put XP on there.