Windows 7 Win 7 Pro 64 installation hell - pls help!!

[gxb101]

Hi, I am hoping someone will be kind enough to point me in the right direction with a nightmare of an install I am going through. Here are the details:

Fresh install of Win 7 Pro 64 goes smoothly. I go ahead and update my motherboard and video drivers (LAN, USB 3.0, etc) with latest versions. I then go and run Windows Updates, again with no issues. I begin to install software. The computer is restarted as needed and all seems ok. At some point, I shut down for the night. Next time the computer starts I get the "Windows is loading files..." or something to that extent with a progress bar and then it tells me that I can either repair windows or start windows normally. Restarting windows gets me back to the same place and repairing doesn't work at all.

I have tried installing the mobo drivers, then software, one by one with a restore point after each, then Win7 updates. After the updates come in, something becomes disrupted and the computer no longer wants to boot properly. Going back to an earlier restore point does not work either. Again, the odd thing is that the problem occurs AFTER a prolonged shut down of the computer.

Anyone have any suggestions with this? It's literally causing me to pull my hair out in frustration.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Saltgrass]

You did not give any system specs, so I will ask, how old is the system, including hard drive? How are you installing and where did the install media come from.

I once had a brand new hard drive, and could install Windows normally, or so it seemed. A subsequent boot refused to load Windows. It was a bad, brand new drive.

Next time you install, try telling it to not download any Windows Updates and run it for a while to see what happens.

Installing your drivers by either downloading from the manufacturer or driver CD is probably OK.

 

[gxb101]

The system is brand new. Below are the relevant details:

1) AMD FX-8120 Zambezi 3.1GHz Socket AM3+ 125W Eight-Core
2) Asus Sabertooth 990FX mobo
3) CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB RAM
4) OCZ Vertex 4 SSD 128gb Hard Drive
5) EVGA GeForce GTX 550 Ti Video Card

Tonight, I did another clean install. This time all I did was install mobo drivers and all suggested Win7 updates. Same problem again: upon booting, i get the "windows is loading files..." message and it asks me to repair or start windows normally. This tells me that it's not another software package disrupting Win7.

If it is a specific Windows update causing this problem, how in the world can you single it out? I am assuming I'd have to install them one by one????

 

[Saltgrass]

I believe I will still have to suggest replacement of the hard drive...It is just a guess, but one that comes from the same type of experience.

I will assume your power supply is large enough for your system?

 

[gxb101]

Thanks. I will contact OCZ to see what they have to say. I am also leaning toward this direction as the issues always seem to occur After the computer has been shut down for some time and the drive has to begin functioning from a cold boot. Yesterday, I tried just installing Windows 7 with no updates at all and the same thing happened...

My Power Supply, FYI, is an Antec NEO ECO 620W. I believe that should be enough to power everything. Agree?

Thanks for the help

 

[Saltgrass]

I suppose you could also try changing the SATA controller to IDE to see if it helps. That would not be a solution, but an indication.

But if Windows has some normal problem, it does not revert to a "Loading Files" scenario. It will ask you if you want to do that first. Do you have any other drives involved, like usb flash or external drives?

You power supply is large enough, as long as it has the current required to run the video. But even that would not seem to cause the problems you are seeing.

Edit: Do you have any other drives involved, like a USB flash or an External hard drive? Is the Install DVD still in the DVD player?

 

[gxb101]

Hi, no other drives connected (either internal or external). The win7 dvd is not in the DVD-Rom player - it's removed once the first boot comes up ok.

 

[Saltgrass]

If you are using an SSD, I would try a normal hard drive for testing. I have been using a Crucial SSD 128 GB drive since the first of the year with no problems, but sometimes, things just don't work correctly.

There are things mentioned about SSD drives, like alignment. If you felt like playing, you might download and burn a Home version of Partition Wizard to look at the drive to see if you can tell anything. I just selected my first partition on the drive and clicked Align.. The message came back saying it does not need to be aligned. I suppose you could see if yours does the same thing. If your system isn't working correctly anyway, it won't hurt to try. It also has a home version mini-tool you can download and install on your Windows 7 install to check for the same thing.

But we need to start eliminating possible problems. You could try removing half of your memory. There have been situations where more than 8 GB would cause errors. The CPU is probably not something you want to change, but if it comes to that, you could try the least cost version that would work on your board.

But I still have to stick with a hard drive problem. Other devices show other types of errors.