Windows 7 x64 Installation Loop on New Computer

[blackops]

I have Windows 7 x64 Enterprise installed on a slightly older mother board (Asus MB 775 Intel with 2 GB of RAM) and has worked well for a couple of years or so. I am passing this MB/CPU/RAM combo to my son's computer and have purchased an upgraded MB/CPU/RAM.

I've purchased an ASRock H61/U3S3 MB, 2x2GB RAM, Intel i7 2600. In swapping out the MB, I just attempted to plug my hard drive into this MB without doing any installation/upgrade. Unfortunately, when I plugged in the hard drive and turned it on, the computer froze on startup and more specifically, on loading the file CLASSPNP.SYS.

So I figured I would have to do a fresh install of Windows. I have an identical hard drive for mirroring and deleted the partition, created new one, formatted, then attempted the reinstall. I began the installation, it copied over all of the files, installed, restarted, then when it was starting it restarted (apparently prematurely). When it restarts after locking up, I receive the error:

"The computer restarted unexpectedly or encounter an expected error. Windows installation cannot proceed. To install Windows, click 'OK' to restart the computer, and then restart the installation." and so the loop goes on.

I've clicked OK many times, but without restarting the installation this error comes up each time. During the final stages of completing the installation of Windows, the computer appears to randomly restart. I'm pretty much stuck and will contact the store that sold me the MB as a last resort.

Any help with this installation process would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your assistance.

Things I have tried:
Unplugging the NIC card so upgrades don't happen.
Removing each stick of RAM individually.

 

[seavixen32]

Welcome to Windows Seven Forums.

Check this tutorial out: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/139576-startup-repair-infinite-loop-recovery.html

 

[blackops]

My installation of Windows doesn't appear to be complete, but I will follow the directions in these instructions and update my progress. Thank you.

 

[seavixen32]

OK, please let us know how you get on.

 

[blackops]

I ended up on Step 17 II. The registry hive files are all 0 bytes. Any suggestions? The harddrive is also D: instead of C:

 

[seavixen32]

Interesting.

1. You do need to carry out the startup repair at least three times with a reboot after each one.

2. I was going to ask you to post a screenshot of your expanded disk management layout as that will help us to solve your problem, but of course you can't because you can't boot your compter.

3. What I will say is that Windows looks for the C drive during installation, but if your D drive is active instead of your C drive, it will try to install on the D drive.

4. Have you tried booting into safe mode?

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/9733-screenshots-files-upload-post-seven-forums.html

I'm logging off now as it is getting very late in the UK, but with a bit of luck someone else will contribute to the thread.

 

[blackops]

I have tried booting in safe mode and it gets to classpnp.sys and stops loading. When attempting to repair windows it fails and tells me to restart.

 

[gregrocker]

Try setting the HD to boot first in BIOS setup, then trigger the DVD drive to boot using one-time BIOS boot menu key given on first screen.

If this fails, wipe the HD of possible corruption in boot sector: SSD - HDD Optimize for Windows Reinstallation

Next try resetting the CMOS: Clear CMOS - 3 Ways to Clear the CMOS - Reset BIOS to optimal defaults

While in BIOS setup set SATA controller to AHCI mode to try install.

Unplug all other HD's except one target HD for install, and all peripherals.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/663-backup-complete-computer-create-image-backup.html