HELP! Should I just give up and format??

jc10376

January 23, 2011 11:29:37 PM

Hi all! Hope someone can help me out. I got a pc with XP installed in it. I tried to install Win7 on it by inserting the dvd and restarting the computer. Chose the option to boot from disk, then it looked like the Windows installer was loading the files (never got to the colorful screen that I think has language and currency options) but the computer stopped.

I restarted the computer, and then it happened again and again and then the first error message appeared: "BOOTMGR corrupt". That's when I knew something was really bad. That error only came up that one time, and since then I have tried to boot from the win7 dvd but I have not been successful.

Since then I have kept the dvd inside the dvd drive, then restarted, pressed F8, chose to boot from DVD drive, then the very last line in the screen says "Boot from CD :" (doesn't say to press any key) and then it just remains that way for about 4 minutes.

After that the "disk read error - Press ctrl + alt + del to restart" message is shown and it starts all over again.

What do you suggest I do?? I really just want to install win7 on it. Should I just take out the hd, install it in my other computer, format it and put back in the old computer? Will that help?? I don't have any useful information I plan to keep from that hd anyway? Or is this idea I have galactically stupid?

Thanks! Please help!! :ouch:

PS: I've researched on google without luck, but I am an avid reader of this forum (specially the vid card section

) and I know you guys can give me some awesome ideas.

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davcon

January 23, 2011 11:40:49 PM

You have to format the HD first before you install Win7 on an XP system.

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Herr_Koos

Windows 7 Expert

January 24, 2011 5:43:20 AM

What you tried should have worked. I have a suspicion you got impatient too soon and your restart interrupted the installation process.

Just as a side note, where did you get this Win 7 DVD?

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vvhocare5

January 24, 2011 4:26:54 PM

Its so hard to interpret what you are experiencing with what I have seen. What you did should have worked, but didnt. I have seen some installs fail similar to what you describe. There is some hardware its having issues with - either the BIOS is too old (did you update first), or you need to change the drive type (AHCI or RAID if they exist, SATA, then IDE); or there is something in yor system W7 is not liking..

You do need to format an XP drive with Win 7 prior to using it

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jc10376

January 24, 2011 5:59:29 PM

@vvhocare5: How do I update the BIOS?

Thank you all for your replies. I went on to install the hard drive in my other computer, formatted it, and then i put it back in the old computer. The hard drive already had two partitions, and I formatted both.

Now I started the win7 installation and stumbled upon a different issue. In the screen where you choose which HD to install the OS in (since it has a partition, it shows 2 hard drives), on the bottom it says:

"Windows cannot be installed to disk 0 partition 1"

And when I select the second partition it also displays the same error message.

If click on the error message it says: "Windows cannot be installed in this disk. It is possible that this disk will present errors in the future. If there is another disk available, install windows in that location."

The window also has a "delete" option, in case that helps.

What do you guys think I should do now?? Thanks!

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jc10376

January 24, 2011 6:18:15 PM

WEIRD... I just came back to it half an hour later, clicked on refresh again (as I had before, which hadn't change anything) and now I can continue the installation!

Thanks guys!

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