Windows 7 Trouble installing Windows 7/Vista - Diagnosis Needed

[taylort232]

I am having trouble installing Windows 7 & Vista. XP Pro works fine.

On Windows 7, it installs really slowly, and then eventually (on the last item, I believe it says configuring) it says that Windows 7 is unable to configure for your software.

Windows Vista just hangs on setup.

My setup is as follows:

Gigabyte P35 775 Mobo (just RMA'd for no post, happened when I tried to update the bios)
Intel e6300 @1.86ghz (tested, overclocked, confirmed good)
Corsair Dominator DDR2 (tested, confirmed good)
SATA HDD
BFG 8800GT OC

The video card I think may be the problem, but would that cause the system to halt on install? The stupid sticker flew off of the fan a while ago, and jammed it. By the time I realized what was going on (after several gpu overheats and crashes) the card was producing artifacts on certain videos in windows (but nothing strange in directx). I have an RMA number, and am going to send it in regardless, but I want to cofirm that this is likely the problem with these Windows installation attempts. Thanks!

 

[wookinpanub18]

BIOS Settings

I know overclocking is fun and exciting, but if the OS aint working it might be worth trying the default reccomended settings from the manufacturers. I had quite a few issues with installing Vista Ultimate x64 and Windows 7 x64. Ultimately the combination that made the grade was BIOS, not drivers. However, that doesn't exclude drivers as the problem also. I would do a BIOS upgrade to the most current for your MB and then set the settings for the individual items as listed:

HDD Format = RAID or ACHI (probably ACHI since you only have one drive)

CPU Voltage = Look up your CPU on Intel.com and find out what the maximum safe voltage is for your chip and set it at that, a lot of times BIOS doesn't know what it's supposed to be at so it puts it at the lowest setting. Mine was defaulting to 1.2v when it should have been at 1.5.

RAM Voltage = Again, look up your manufacturer's voltage reccomendations for your RAM and set it at that.

Don't mess with the clocking settings until you get it stable first. Those two things, however, could be what's limitinig your machine. I had issues with mine until these three things were properly set. I think what was happening was the 64-bit OS was really 'using' all of the functionality that the x86 ones never did so it was finding it's theorhetical 'limits' if you were (speaking in gross generalities here) and it was locking up. Once set properly (according to safe manufacturer's specs) it posted fine, rebooted and I'm typing this message from IE8 x64 on Windows 7 x64 with no problems.

I have also read some other forums that suggest (in some successful cases) that the x64 Vista drivers were working somewhat for Windows 7, it might be worth playing with in a pinch since W7 drivers are probably not going to be around much for another few months.

I hope this brings you some level of success. Keep us posted. Cheers!