Hi,
I need to perform a repair install, your tutorial is excellent, but my DVD drive isn't working (part of the reason why I need to perform one!), so I need to extract the files to a folder to run it.
I can't do this on my normal hard drive, can I? Do I need to mount it as a virtual drive?
Hello Abyrne,
Would using a installation USB instead work for you?
Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool
I don't know, my device manager is blank and I don't think my laptop reads anything, DVDs, USBs, phones etc. I can try I guess, not sure I have a big enough USB lying around!
What is the best way to use the ISO if I can't use a USB or DVD?
No, just tried it and it won't read a blank USB, let alone anything else
No problem. You could use step 4 in the tutorial with the ISO file and the free program 7-Zip to do the repair install. :)
Hi again, I got the repair install going, but it has been on point 9 (Installation is restarting...) for an hour now, is this normal?
It's not uncommon for it to take awhile at that point. As long as there is hard drive activity, I'd let it set while doing something else, and check up on it later.
Been over three hours now, nothing has changed onscreen, little circle still rotating and hard drive light flickering but i have a bad feeling about it...gonna leave it overnight and see what happens
Yeah, that's a bit too long. Since it does still have HDD activity, letting it sit overnight would be a good idea in an attempt to avoid a clean install. Fingers crossed that it'll eventually finish for you.
Hmm just noticed this one mate and just maybe the drive is faulty / past it' use by date besides it is an odd size in GB's. If the budget stretches then a nice SSD would be good and again not that expensive and the SSHD spinners even cheaper.
The optical if it isn't working then have you checked it by sliding it out and then firmly putting it back in again and if so then it might be worth replacing it as they are not expensive now.
See this it is so easy http://www.insidemylaptop.com/how-to-disassemble-acer-aspire-5742-series-laptop/ It also show how to remove most other stuff too:)
I don't think there's anything physically wrong with my CD drive, I think my registry is corrupt, hence the attempted repair install. Device Manager is blank, won't read USB, CDs, phones etc. Tried all 'Device Manager is blank' solutions but none work.
I'm wondering if the method of extracting the ISO is part of the problem, I have the ISO file on my desktop, what is the best thing to do with it (in layman's terms, I'm fairly computer-dumb!)?
I tried to partition my HD, and extracted the ISO to that, and started setup.exe from that volume, and that is the one that was hanging. After restarting the partition has disappeared. SHould I try that method again?
Or can I use something like Virtual Clone Drive or Daemon Tools to mount the ISO? But will that automatically start the setup?
Any help is appreciated! I'm sure my computer isn't too screwed for this to work, I think I just need the right method!
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