Windows 7 Install Problems

one more thing, i have read through some posts on this forum including a long one from v-dash that was pretty helpful. But now that i've gone astray somehow, i don't know what to do. I don't even really understand some of what is said on this forum, but I'm trying to read it anyway. What would happen if i did a c drive reformat, then tried installing again? Is that a reasonable approach? I don't have any data or programs i'm trying to save, it's all backed up.

The way you tell the story, it appears a custom install and format the drive first might help. If you do not want the System Reserve partition, you need to format before you install which you can do before you start the install by using another utility, or during the install if you want to use Diskpart and Shift+F10

During the install, use the disk options buttons to create and format partitions to create or delete partitions. I have never had one of those hidden recovery partitions, so I do not know exactly how it behaves, but maybe it did leave a footprint on your system.

To read the dump file, you may have to copy it to the desktop or somewhere else so you can check it.

i was able to view the dump files, the seem to be just a lot of characters, no actual words. I don't know if this is typical. Current situation is that I can now boot up relatively easy, cannot shut down (have to turn the machine off) but cannot get the wireless to connect, cannot get the network to add. I just tried to format the C drive from Windows and of course I cannot (duh). Grrrrrr... Will try it via the DVD option later..

There are many tutorials about how to install Win 7. Since you seem to be having problems created by a previous install, I would download and burn the bootable version of Partition Wizard to look at your hard drive. You can then delete and recreate partitions, and format if you desire.

Hopefully your Install DVD is good....

Before you do anything else, you might open an administrative command prompt (Start Menu, All Programs, Accessories, right click on Command Prompt and select "Run as Admin") Type the following and hit enter after:

SFC /scannow

When it finishes, it may indicate some problems were found and were or were not corrected, but maybe it will help understand your current situation. If you can't run it, just go ahead and do the clean install.

thanks! Did the SFC/scannow and I do not have any integrity violations. Will try that other thing later, appreciate the suggestions. !!!

Oh, and by the way I have read all the install guides -- MS provided us with a detailed one with our complimentary copy. My rule of thumb is that an OS should not take any more technical saavy than what I have. I use myself as a benchmark after having worked in HR at MS for awhile and seeing that my understanding of these things is above average for a non-techie...

I've had similar probs on HP machines just going from Vista home premium to ultimate i found out from an HP tech that it's to do with the type of SLIC in the BIOS that all HP machines have. apparently some are locked to an specific version of the OS installed at time of purchase and cause no end of errors like BSODs at boot time