Solved Windows Will Not Boot After Hardware Installation. HELP!

[spazzyfry123]

I just recently installed a new motherboard, graphics card, 4gb RAM, and a 500w power supply unit. Upon installation, I can now no longer boot into Windows. I am pushed into a "Windows Error Recovery" where I can choose from two options: "Launch Startup Repair" or "Start Windows Normally"; both of which end up with me having to restart the computer and eventually get back to this screen. Before getting to this screen, I do see a message for a brief second that reads, "AMD Data Change.......Update New Data to DMI!"

Here are my computer specs as of right now (items in bold are new as of today and are the cause of the problem as far as I can tell):

Compaq CQ5700F
AMD Athlon II 170u Processor
Windows 7 32bit
4gb RAM (DDR3)
Gigabyte 78LMT-S2P Motherboard
EVGA 01G-P3-1556-KR GeForce GTX 550 Ti Graphics Card
500W Power Supply

I tried a system restore from about a week ago with zero results. I REALLY do not want to have to do a complete restore back to factory specs (I do have the disc and all to do this, however) as I don't have another hard-drive to back all of my files onto. I cannot afford to lose what's on there.

Can anyone help me? This has been a week-long fiasco with Micro Center giving me the wrong hardware and a lot of running around to clean up their mess since they are unwilling. Now this happens and all they can tell me is to make another 40 mile drive for them to "see what they can do" and charge me loads of money to do it. I'm over wasting my time, gas, and patience with these fools.

Thanks!
-Tyler

 

[essenbe]

You'll probably have to do a clean install. You have changed boards, and the new board will not run on the old board's drivers. Just hook your hard drive up as an external on another machine and copy your info, or try to copy/paste from the recovery console. You will need someplace to store the info, like an external hard drive. Then format your hard drive and do a clean install. Download the drivers from Gigabyte's website and EVGA's/Nvidia site.

 

[wanchoo]

Welcome to the Seven Forums, Tyler.

In case you restore the factory settings, what is already there should get saved in the WindowsOld folder. In that case your data would remain safe.

Let some more knowledgeable person confirm this as I am not 100% sure in the case of factory settings.

 

[spazzyfry123]

Thanka for the response. I have another external hard drive; however, it came out of a MacBook Pro that I no longer use. How can I format this for use with Windows? The only other computer I have access to is running x64 and I am running x32.

-Tyler

 

[essenbe]

Hook it up to your computer. When you start windows you may get a message that a hard drive needs to be initialized, if you do select OK and go through the process of formatting it NTFS as a primary partition. If you don't get the notification automatically, right click computer, select manage, provide administrator permission, in the left column select Disk management. On the bottom portion of the screen you should see a drive with no letter, right click it and select format. format it NTFS as a primary partition and give it a drive letter. You should be able to use it after that. Just make sure it is not you OS drive or another drive in your computer already.

 

[spazzyfry123]

I could not find "format", but I did use "new volume" which formatted it to NTFS and gave it a drive name/letter. Same thing or did I mess up?

** I did this on my laptop running x64 seeing that my x32 desktop will not boot.

 

[essenbe]

If it did it as a primary partition, you did good.

EDIT: Also, when you hook it up to your desktop you may have to go back to disk management and assign it a drive leter there, or Windows may assign it one. If you do have to, go back to disk management as mentioned above, righ click it and select change drive letter or path, the next screen select add, then assign it the letter windows suggests, or click the box and select any letter you like from the dropdown list.

 

[spazzyfry123]

Huzzah; finally something is going right.

Copying/pasting is done in the Windows repair gig that I mentioned in my original post, correct?

 

[spazzyfry123]

I just cannot find anything that looks like the link you provided for the copy/paste.

 

[essenbe]

When you select load drivers, it will show you the hard drive. Salect your drive with the data on it. Most of it should be in C:/users. Select the data you want to copy, right click it after it is highlighted, go back to computer and select the drive you want to paste it to, right click on a blank place on the drive and select paste. See if that will work for you.

 

[spazzyfry123]

I can't say that I'm the most computer-literate person out there, so I apologize for the ignorance. Quick recap of where I'm at right now:
My original hdd that I am trying to get information off of before I do a clean reinstall of Windows 7 is still in the computer. I have an external hdd that I have reformatted for the copy/paste.

Now, where do I go to load the drivers? I went into the "Launch Startup Repair" and do not see anything of use since "System Restore" has done nothing for me. Do I need to go into the BIOS by pressing "del" immediately after it starts up?

 

[essenbe]

Use the installation DVD. The link will give you pictures and step by step instructions. Just find your current hard drive, highlight and copy the info, then go to your new drive from the Mac and paste it. Once that is done, cancel out of everything. Then you can do the clean install I linked to above. That also has instructions step by step. You will get your drivers from Gigabyte's web site under downloads when you find your specific board. The Video drivers can be foung on the manufacturers web site.

 

[essenbe]

This is the link to Gigabytes web site. Click downloads and select your OS and download the drivers. You can download them from your laprop and put them on a USB drive or a CD. just make sure that is your board. You will then have them ready to install after you do the install.

 

[spazzyfry123]

Ahhhhhh.... It's all making sense now. One thing that I just now noticed while I wait for it to paste over... "Files of type" says "Setup Information". Should I have chosen all file types or something similar?

EDIT: Nevermind; it just finished I I realize that there are no other options ha! There was about 70gb worth of information that needed to be copied over to the external hard drive, yet it looks like only 3gb worth got pasted over...?

 

[essenbe]

I honestly don't know about that. Most of your personal information will be in C users/yourusername/ documents, pictures, music, videos. You can copy the individually or just copy the entire user files at one time. It may take a while for it to paste. After the install, you can go back and replace your documents, pictures etc.

 

[spazzyfry123]

Right now I'm trying to paste over things individually.... Hopefully all is well since it is taking much longer this go-round.

 

[essenbe]

Good, I hope it works out well. Don't worry about asking questions. No problem. When you do the install, follow the tutorial I linked to which will give you step by step instructions. Also, before you do the install, disconnect the cable (either power or data) to all hard drives except the one you are installing Windows to. It will prevent any problems. After the install install your drivers from gigabyte and your Graphics drivers. Then install your programs beginning with a good anti virus program asap.

 

[spazzyfry123]

Thanks a ton; you've been exponentially better help than anyone else. Any recommendations on anti-virus? I was using one from Microsoft's website before (free).

 

[spazzyfry123]

Quick question: I'm getting ready to install Windows and it asks "Where do you want to install Windows?" I have two options, my hard drive that I have on the computer (partition 2) and another area that is only 100mb in size labeled "System Reserved" (partition 1).

 

[essenbe]

Try Partition 1 first. For A/V I use Microsoft Security essentials and free Malwarebytes. But the best anti virus is to pay attention to what sites you visit and make certain you know what you are downloading and from who.