Windows 7 Re-installing windows 7 from OEM CD gets a 0x8007003 error

[Stalchild]

Ok, so i've had my current PC for about a year, and everything has gone smoothly until last night when I started to get some data error when unzipping compressed files. I googled the issue, and learned that this problem can be remedied by running a disk check for errors. So I tried, hit a snag, tried to run it from Command prompt by booting up my windows 7 OEM installation CD, that didn't work either. Then I realized that my entire system had become unstable somehow just from attempted (and failed) disk checks. I ended up getting to run, and watched windows restore orphaned files for about 30 minutes. It would do this EVERY time I booted up.

So I put my windows 7 installation CD back in, booted up the CD, and attempted a clean wipe, and reinstall of windows 7 64 bit.

I deleted both partitions on my HD, was left with one with 1 TB of space give or take, hit install. Windows made a separate partition for system files. and the installation began.

step one (copying windows files) took about 2 seconds (which is where I believe the problem lies) about 20% into expanding the files I get this error : Windows cannot install required files. The file does not exist. Make sure all files required for installation are available, and restart the installation. Error code: 0x8007003

I have done this exact same thing a few months prior to this with the exact same CD, and it installed perfectly.

My motherboard is a Biostar TA870u3+
CPU AMD Phenom II 965 black
GPU GTX 550 TI overclocked very slightly prior to the incident.
12 GB of RAM (don't know the type)
WIndows 7 x64 Home premium

Bought the computer pre-fab from microtel (no information can be gathered ANYWHERE, not even their own website) through Amazon (it was a really good deal) The win 7 installation CD arrived with the system. OEM, if it matters.

I consider myself slightly above the average grandma with PCs, though I would not call myself highly confident. I've pretty much learned everything by breaking PCs, and having to fix it myself. This is first time I have hit a stump that I can't overcome by myself (aka Google) and I would really like to avoid taking to an overpriced PC repair shop.

Any help would be very appreciated.

Also, hi everybody, this is my first post on these forums.

 

[Saltgrass]

I suppose I will start with the unzipping files comment. The first thing I thought of was a possibility of a virus, the second thing was a failing hard drive. I suppose if there is a system problem, it might also be related to the memory.

You say you then wiped the hard drive, but it sounds like you just removed the partitions. If you did not clean the drive with the Diskpart Clean command, I suggest you do that. It can be accessed by using Shift+F10 on the first page of the install to open a command window.

I will assume you know how to use Diskpart, but if not please ask.

An error code 3 is "The system cannot find the path specified."

I have never installed an OEM version, so if there was something specific to that type of install, I would not be aware of such a situation.

I have seen a situation where the loading files went very fast... but I can't remember the circumstances.

 

[Stalchild]

I suppose I will start with the unzipping files comment. The first thing I thought of was a possibility of a virus, the second thing was a failing hard drive. I suppose if there is a system problem, it might also be related to the memory.

You say you then wiped the hard drive, but it sounds like you just removed the partitions. If you did not clean the drive with the Diskpart Clean command, I suggest you do that. It can be accessed by using Shift+F10 on the first page of the install to open a command window.

I will assume you know how to use Diskpart, but if not please ask.

An error code 3 is "The system cannot find the path specified."

I have never installed an OEM version, so if there was something specific to that type of install, I would not be aware of such a situation.

I have seen a situation where the loading files went very fast... but I can't remember the circumstances.

Please explain the diskpart command to me, also, occasionally when choosing a disk to install on, none are present and I cannot choose a disk without restarting my computer. when restarting the disk with BOTH partitions are present again. I believe my HDD is failing. I find sometimes that just turning the computer off, going to work and coming back presents me with radical changes in circumstances. like an exectuable that CTDs when started may begin working with a restart, sometimes the opposite happens. NO changes will be made to ANY files, and just restarting the computer can sometimes render some applications unusable.

This pretty much only happens with videogames, but it's still a problem, and I still think that it may indicate a problem with my HDD but idk..

 

[Stalchild]

Ok, I googled it.

I entered the Command DISKPART.

I then entered "List Disk"

it lists 4 disks numbered 1 through 4, all disks have 0KB in "size" and "free"

I used the command Select disk and then Clean on all 4 disks, all 4 where reported to be empty and thus had nothing to clean.

I just tried to reinstall again, got to 30%, it took about 2 hours, and then error code 3 again.

Do you think my HDD is failing? Or my Disk drive?

 

[Saltgrass]

If you actually have 4 hard drives, I would remove them all except the one I wanted to install with. See if it is recognized correctly, if not, try another.

There might be a situation that the SATA controller is having a problem. But all you can do is to try to troubleshoot the problem. Start with cheapest and easiest thing to get to...

I have never seen a drive show as yours seem to be showing, so something a little out of the ordinary seems to be going on.

Maybe try one of the drives in another computer.

 

[Joe S]

Also you can check the drive maker's site and see if they have a utility that you can test the drive with. They maybe proprietary and only work with their drives. I think some you can run from a disk to test.
Joe

 

[Stalchild]

If you actually have 4 hard drives, I would remove them all except the one I wanted to install with. See if it is recognized correctly, if not, try another.

There might be a situation that the SATA controller is having a problem. But all you can do is to try to troubleshoot the problem. Start with cheapest and easiest thing to get to...

I have never seen a drive show as yours seem to be showing, so something a little out of the ordinary seems to be going on.

Maybe try one of the drives in another computer.

Last time I checked, I have only one HDD, and one cd/dvd drive. I have no mass storage devices connected to the computer. Why would it list 4 drives?

It may be worth noting that sometimes there are no drives found.
At the bottom of the "where do you want to install windows" window there is a message preceded by a yellow exclamation point; (the one that device manager presents when a driver is missing) "No drivers were found. Click Load Driver to provide a mass storage driver for installation"

I choose load browser.
I choose browse


I am presented with

Computer
+CD Drive (E GSP 1GSP1RMCHPXFREO_EN_DVD
+Removable Disk (F
+Removable Disk (G
+Removable Disk (H
+Removable Disk (I
+Boot (x

Choosing any of these instantly results in a window "No signed device drivers were found. Make sure that the installation media contains the correct drivers, and then click OK.

At this point nothing can be done to remedy the situation, but restarting the PC apparently "fixes" this. Upon restart I can choose one of two partitions (one labeled primary, the other system) to install windows to. when I choose primary, I get to about 30% again, and the installation fails once more, same as before. Then when trying to try again, the drives are missing again, and I must restart.


If anybody could tell me that it's just my HDD failing with confidence, I could buy an identical replacement and just "plug and play" no?

 

[whs]

The result of a List Disk should look something like this:

DISKPART> list disk
Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
-------- ------------- ------- ------- --- ---
Disk 0 Online 465 GB 0 B
Disk 1 Online 59 GB 128 MB
Disk 2 Online 55 GB 0 B
Disk 3 No Media 0 B 0 B
Disk 4 No Media 0 B 0 B
Disk 5 No Media 0 B 0 B
Disk 6 No Media 0 B 0 B

I have 3 physical disks. If there is 0 bytes free, that means one ore more partitions are already filling the disk. The 128MB free on disk1 I created for alignment purposes - this is an SSD.

To id a disk, it is best to go by the Size. I suspect that you did not format your disk correctly. I suggest these commands:

Diskpart
List disk
Select disk n (where n is the number thatwas given for your Disk in List disk)
Clean
Create partition primary
Format fs=ntfs quick
Active
Exit

Then install into that partition.

 

[Saltgrass]

I was looking at your Motherboard manual, and if I am looking in the correct place, I do not see anything concerning AHCI or RAID for your SATA controller. It is basically an auto detect system... maybe that has set your drive to a CDROM status... I do not run AMD motherboards, so these settings may be normal.

Make sure and check the connections to the drive, look for loose connections, or bent pins. Try changing the SATA ports and make sure you are using it in a SATA II port, and not the SATA III ports, since they may need an additional driver.

Perhaps set you bios to its default values and then change what you need back to the settings you want.

I would probably get a new hard drive for testing, of course since I have several just sitting around, that is no problem for me.

But it still sounds like some trouble shooting and possibly equipment replacement might be required.

 

[Stalchild]

The result of a List Disk should look something like this:



I have 3 physical disks. If there is 0 bytes free, that means one ore more partitions are already filling the disk. The 128MB free on disk1 I created for alignment purposes - this is an SSD.

To id a disk, it is best to go by the Size. I suspect that you did not format your disk correctly. I suggest these commands:

Diskpart
List disk
Select disk n (where n is the number thatwas given for your Disk in List disk)
Clean
Create partition primary
Format fs=ntfs quick
Active
Exit

Then install into that partition.

When choosing clean, on any of the 4 disks listed when I use the command "list disk" I receive the error "virtual disk service error: There is no media in the device.

If I ignore this, and use the command "create partition primary" i recieve the error
"No usable free extent could be found. It may be that there is insufficient free space to create a partition at the specified size and offset. Specify different size and offset values or don't specify either to create the maximum sized partition. It may be that the disk is partitioned using the MBR disk.
Partitioning format and the disk containts either 4 primary partitions, (no more partitions may be created), or 3 primary partitions and one extended partition, (only logical drives may be created)

I've reformatted my HDD before, and re-installed windows 7 with the exact same circumstances with no problem at all. I haven't even physically moved my computer anywhere. I've never entered BIOS to change any settings, other than to make sure that the boot priority had my CD drive as first.

Hmm...

 

[Stalchild]

All connections are firmly in place. I just attempted this re install on Monday, so It was "fine" before that, I don't know why any hardware would be loose.
I believe I am going to buy a replacement HDD, though I really don't want to.

 

[Stalchild]

OK, sorry for so many posts. As I said before, using the command list disk lists 4 disks numbered 1-4 with no media on any of them, they are all offline. However, like I said before, if I try and install windows FIRST, it fails, and then when a second attempt is made I am told no drives where found (like they disappeared during installation) I've been using disk list the whole time when I'm in that second state. So I restarted, and tried again, and this time there are 5 drives numbered 0-4. I did as WHS suggested I do, and all commands succeeded. I chose that drive (the only one available) to install on, and it failed before it even got to 1% on expanding windows files again.

What the hell is making that drive blink out during installation? I can refresh the window asking me what drive to install on all day, and it's still there, but when I begin installation, it just disappears, both in disk part : disklist and in the window asking where to install windows to.

 

[Stalchild]

So i cleaned my windows 7 install CD, reset my Bios to default values, checked the cables going into the HD, and it worked. I feel like a complete moron. PC just restarted, and windows is "completing installation..." I have high hopes.

 

[whs]

Can you post a picture of your Disk Management and tell us which is which.