Windows 7 Strike Three, Back to the Bench

[markjuggles]

I have attempted to install the Windows 7 Beta on three systems:

1. Dell Dimenison 4400, 1.6 GHz, 80 GB disk, 1GB RAM (runs XP Pro perfectly)
2. Virtual PC 6 with 1 GB RAM hosted by a 2 GHz XP Pro system (physical and virtual DVDs)
3. HP Pavilion 510n with 1/2 GB RAM, 40 GB disk, 1.2 GHz (runs XP Pro perfectly)

All were clean installs.

For #3, I know the minimum RAM is 1 GB, but you would think that I would get a reasonable error message right? Nope: "image file [install.wim] does not exist".

In all cases, the initial steps were successful.

Most of the failures were an inability to extract something resulting a hex number. The most common was 0x80070570.

I also tried slow formatting the partitions that Win7 created and restarting the install.

My image came straight from Microsoft and validates ok. See this post:

http://windows7forums.com/windows-7-installation-upgrade/1074-windows-7-md5sum.html

It was burned on name brand and store brand DVD and DVD-RW media with Nero 7, Nero 7 as-slow-as-possible, and ImgBurn as-slow-as-possible.

Linux isn't this much trouble even with new hardware.

I guess I'll warm the bench and wait for the next beta....

Is there a poll for successes and failures?

Mark

 

[Kyle]

You can't burn a Windows ISO on a DVD-RW disk, because it doesn't properly finalize the disk.
Aslo, did you slow burn the disk? (4x or lower)

 

[kevin from Chi-town]

similiar probs

No matter how i burned the iso, it wouldn't work on boot. So Ithrew xp 64 on, and then installed over it. this brought problems later due to a RAM issue, but it installed over xp fine. You will find difficulties when you try to go backward from 7 back to xp.

 

[markjuggles]

Burning at 1x doesn't work

My attempt at mounting the ISO under Virtual PC would have eliminated the burning issue, but, I did re-burn a DVD-R at 1x using ImgBurn and had the same trouble with the Pavilion.

The Dell got re-installed with XP so its not available anymore.

Ubuntu has a feature to check the integrity of the disk (sigh).

Thanks for the suggestion though.

 

[haxcid]

Your machines, however meeting the min requirements, barely meet them. I suggest trying a brand new, as in made in the last 2 years, dvd drive and see if the issue persists.

older dvd drives have huge issues reading newer burned cd/dvd's

 

[markjuggles]

Ok

1. If Windows-7 doesn't install on machines with the minimum requirements, shouldn't the minimum requirements should be revised?
2. I never heard of older dvd drives having huge issues reading newer burned cd/dvd's. This doesn't seem to affect XP or Ubuntu but may be true of Vista and Windows-7. Is that a feature?
3. The possible DVD issue doesn't explain the trouble people are having with virtual machines using mounted ISO files.
4. My newer machines are doing real work which leaves the older machines for experimentation. Think of it as a stress test. It would be crazy to whine about performance when running on a dog -- but it should run. If it works, I will consider putting it on one of my primary machines but that will be a new headache because it will likely overwrite my MBR.
5. My experience was that Vista didn't work with the hardware it shipped with. Therefore Windows-7 has something to prove.
6. But hey, I can always give feedback to M$ with the feedback application that comes with the OS that I can't install.

 

[Matt]

I have no real idea why this could be. I don't think it's because it's an older PC, I installed the 6801 beta on a PC with a 2.4GHz Celeron D with 512MB of RAM, and while it was slow, it worked fine.

Only thing I can think of is try redownloading it, and using VirtualBox.

 

[markjuggles]

Good ideas. I have done almost what you suggest by verifying the MD5SUM of my download and attempting to install with Virtual PC. My experience with VirtualBox hasn't been so good under Windows but it will run Vista under Linux. Maybe it's worth a shot.

 

[kevin from Chi-town]

Try

swapping your RAM for a different manufacturer. I was getting BSODs until I removed an AMP brand 512 stick Once removed, it loaded fine, and as of yesterday, I stuck it back in and so fare so good.

 

[haxcid]

1. If Windows-7 doesn't install on machines with the minimum requirements, shouldn't the minimum requirements should be revised?
2. I never heard of older dvd drives having huge issues reading newer burned cd/dvd's. This doesn't seem to affect XP or Ubuntu but may be true of Vista and Windows-7. Is that a feature?
3. The possible DVD issue doesn't explain the trouble people are having with virtual machines using mounted ISO files.
4. My newer machines are doing real work which leaves the older machines for experimentation. Think of it as a stress test. It would be crazy to whine about performance when running on a dog -- but it should run. If it works, I will consider putting it on one of my primary machines but that will be a new headache because it will likely overwrite my MBR.
5. My experience was that Vista didn't work with the hardware it shipped with. Therefore Windows-7 has something to prove.
6. But hey, I can always give feedback to M$ with the feedback application that comes with the OS that I can't install.

7800 PC's on my network at this moment, 16000 registered users, 12K active users, hardware ranging from K6/2 333mhz w 64mg ram upto C2D running 4gig ram. It is an OS free issue. Sometimes Newly burned CD/DVD wont read in older drives. Thats why people recommend burning at slow speeds because sometimes it helps. It absolutely effects XP, its a hardware issue...

As for your statement on number 4... boot xp cd, command console, run fixmbr...

Do you actually work with computers or is this your home stuff? Create an image of your xp install... acronis or ghost will both do it. Back up your system to an external. If you really want to do destructive testing. Install it on a range of machines... I've got it running on Athlon 1ghz with 1 gig PC133 ram and a 7200rpm drive all the way up to a C2d Wolfdale with 8gig ram etc... Im running them stand alone and in a domain, etc... Testing with various software which is a major concern for us, in education you have a ton of old software. I can reimage my machines in a instant to fix issues or retask the machines for what ever use I need.

The virtual machine issue is a known issue... Hence Windows 7 Beta

Every machine I have that shipped with vista, ran vista fine then ran it better with sp1. I have instances where it actually runs better than XP on the same hardware. I have a CAD lab where Vista boots and logs in almost a minute faster than XP. The default profiles on both machine are about 400meg, thanks to autodesk, but vista smokes XP on those machines.

 

[markjuggles]

I'm a developer with about a dozen machines. I have designed hardware and/or software for DOS, WinNT, Win95, Unixware, Linux, and Solaris. Most of my patents are in the field of signal processing.

Some of the more challenging OS installs have been Solaris and Debian Linux so I'm not entirely a Windows basher.

Running 'fixmbr' would fix my MBR like the vet fixed my dog (yipe!).

You have me trumped with 7800 -- how many are running Win7?

I have checked the M$ "Welcome to the Windows 7 Beta Customer Preview Program" page several times and it doesn't mention a problem with Virtual PC.

It's nice that an early beta of Win7 is being offered and I am trying to cooperate by describing what I have done and what the results have been. It would be nice if there was a daily update of an hardware compatibility list (HCL) and a poll of success vs. failure.

Is there another site with current information?

Anyway, I got what I paid for.

 

[mutant_builder]

had troubel also but it runs now

Interesting.

I figured I would run it on the same system I beta tested Vista on, which to me was a good idea.

With that in mind, the system I am running 7 on is:

Mutant Rig
M-Athlon XP 1900
1024 pc266
L7VMM3 mobo
WD Caviar 80 gig
Sony DRU-800A DL DVD/RW (4 year old drive)
Gigabyte nVidia geforce 5200

Anyway, I went through the whole nero buring iso problem, which was a pain, but I did not want to buy a copy of magic iso again.

I did use iso burn, on 1X speed for the last dvd, basic 8X office max media. Due to my kludge bios, or something, I could not get 7 to boot from the dvd. I can get vista to boot from the same drive.

Anyway, I did a clean install of XP Pro on the 80 gig drive, then installed Vista Ultimate over it, then installed 7 over that. My reasoning is, it is a beta, and this is the real world where not every person has the financial ability to drop down the coin on a new system, also, there are some die hard athlon xp users who refuse to migrate to newer platforms, personally I don't understand it, yet it is there.

I have this system as my testbed for my beta work I do for another software company, and I run it ragged with that software, albiet that is running on a seagate 160gig drive, and this platform is setup as a dual boot. Also that developer won't let me test their products on 7 yet.

So far the only real glitch I had, besides the outside the box thinking to install 7, was drivers for the geforce fx5200. Just worked around that by using the Vista driver from nVidia and the system runs smooth. So far much better that Vista release 1 beta (as I recall.)

Actually I also am under the impression that this software should run flawlessly on the minimum requirements as stated. I am thinking if backing my clock speed down to see what it runs like at bare.

I did read somewhere on Microsoft that you should be able to run 7 with 512mb ram, although not all the features will respond.

So don't give up yet, the beta is very smooth, so far.

one other thing, besides making sure you have your glasses on prior to posting - it makes it easier to see spelling errors. (my bad)

Have you tried using something like 7zip or similar to open the iso image, then just copy it to a folder on a hard drive, and load the os from there?

That also works, and can save you the bother of dealing with a dvd drive that won't read your disk.