This is a system I built less than a year ago which was running Win 7 until I tried a system restore and everything went to hell.
So far I have formatted the drive (several times) as I have all my data backed up on a separate drive, optimized the BIOS, run memory checks through the OEM Win 7 disk, and countless variations of safe mode, BIOS setting checks, and drive deleting/formatting.
What happens is, the install runs normally all the way up to the point where it does the last restart before it should load the “system setup is preparing your system for the first use” or something similar. I tried popping the CMOS battery out, and eventually got an error saying the copy of Windows is not genuine (not true).
I can get the “system setup is preparing your system for the first use” to show, but only in Safe Mode with Networking, and even then an error pops up that says that setup can’t be completed in safe mode.
So far the only things I’ve been able to get to ultimately are a) a blank screen that eventually times out and shuts down the system, b) a “this copy of Windows is not genuine” error in the lower right hand corner, no start menu, no command prompt, nothing. If I reboot into safe mode, I can get the “system setup is preparing your system for the first use” pop up, but then it needs a restart, which ends up in scenario A again.
I tried to flash the BIOS (again this system is all less than a year old) but both USB flash drive and USB portable drive would not recognize in BIOS.
Could my HDD be bad? It’s a WD Caviar Blue 300G. I’m all out of ideas, and practically ready to cry.
It probably doesn’t make any difference, but I know that an incorrect date can make windows update behave in a bizarre manner, so maybe it has a similar effect when installing.
You may have an issue with your hard drive or cd drive. The install may be finding bad data and flagging that as “bad windows disk”.
I’d try installing something else temporarily. That would test whether you have bad hardware. A linux install doesn’t take long. Download red hat or some other free linux. See if it installs and boots/runs. If it does then at least you’ve eliminated bad hardware as a problem. Delete the linux partition and you can focus on windows again.
Also, I should add that you can install linux from a cd that you burn. If that fails. Try Install from a external hard drive. That will help determine if it’s the cd drive.
I’m thinking that drivers are part of the issue, due to the fact that a normal reboot gives me a blank screen, but a safe mode reboot gives me the "setup " screen that needs me to reboot.
Is this consistent with the crippling normally done with an unactivated copy of Windows? I know that XP would at least let you into Safe Mode with Command Prompt only, but I know nothing about what Windows 7 does.
The fact that you can get in in Safe Mode indicates that there is a problem with one of the drivers, likely the HDD driver. Try setting the SATA mode to Compatible or IDE in the BIOS. Another possibility is that there is some device reordering going on. Try disconnecting any IDE devices, like your DVD drive.
Those would be really helpful I’m sure, but I can’t even get a command prompt. I can’t interface with anything other than the BIOS and the menu that lets you select the type of safe mode.
SATA mode is set to IDE by default in my BIOS. My DVD drive is SATA too. I’m leaning toward a driver issue too, but I can’t see where the drivers I need would be, other than the Windows disk and MOBO disk, both of which I’ve tried.
Well, I fixed it. I feel really stupid now. :smack:
I was so focused on a device or driver conflict internally, that I literally did not think outside of the box. I went to check that the network cable was plugged in, and noticed that the HDMI cable was still hooked up. I unplugged that, and setup came right up.