Windows 7 Blinking Prompt after Install

[CrimsonMajor]

Hey guys,

Just want to say this is a great site for issues and help with seven, visited a few times but this is my first post.

I was installing 7 on a friends laptop last night, everything was going fine, however after the installation has finished, upon turning on the laptop, windows does not boot. In the top left of the screen is a blinking command prompt like icon. Cannot type/ do anything from this point.

If the 7 disk is in the option to boot from disk comes up, but this leads straight to install windows. There is a repair option, and it will allow me to scan for start up errors, but none are found. It also says windows 7 is definatly installed on the C partion.

Any advice guys, im tearing my hair out!!

Many thanks in advance,

Matt

 

[Saltgrass]

There have been several instances where being connected to a TV instead of a normal monitor made a difference. Does the laptop have any connectiion like that or can you change the output to another screen. Maybe try an external monitor.

 

[CrimsonMajor]

Hi Saltgrass, I tried it on an external monitor, still nothing.

The screen does display the initial acer bios bootscreen, but where the windows loader should start there is only a blinking prompt in the top left of the screen.

 

[Saltgrass]

I would suggest you first download a version of a third party partitioning software so you can look at the drive from outside Windows. Gparted is one and Partition Wizard is another. Download the bootable version so you can burn and then boot to it. If nothing else, make sure either a 100 mb System Restore partition (if you have one) is active, and if not, the Win 7 partition. I am assuming you are not dual booting. Gparted can take a picture of the Disk setup, but Partition Wizard does not have that capability. A digital camera will work, though.....

I suppose there is a chance if you have a special Manufacturers partition, that it might have been used for the system partition. If so, look for a file called bootmgr. That is the partition where the Win 7 boot files are. If it is active, leave it alone for a while.

There have been instances where a manufacturer's installed Recovery Partition has messed with the Win 7 install. Removing that would be up to you since I cannot say for sure it would be necessary.

If you can't get anything else to work, boot back to the repair area and select Command Prompt. Type the following two commands and hit enter after each and wait for a comfirmation from each one before proceeding:

bootrec /fixmbr
bootrec /fixboot

I use these when an XP install messes with the boot. Then reboot and keep your fingers crossed ...

It just seems, since it stops where is does, that it is not finding the Win 7 install.....