Windows 7 Windows 7 installation error on WD 750GB hard drive

oceanboy

Well-Known Member
Hello!

This one should twist your head a bit if you’re anything like me!

I have a Pavilion M6 1045DX laptop and the HD crashed. It was 750GB so off to eBay I went to buy another one. I decided to buy a NEW SEALED HD so I bought a blue label WD brand new. (March 2014) Just for grins I wiped and verified the drive and it passed. I temporarily installed a 40GB hard drive to build the machine while I was waiting for the new drive figuring I would just clone it when it arrived. When I went to clone the test drive to the new drive I received an error about block sizes. I use the Apricorn DriveWire and have seen this on a rare occasion. I thought maybe a different cloning software would help but to no avail. Same error. Rather than fight with it I decide to put the new 750 drive in the laptop and build it all over again. This is when I received this error.

“Windows setup could not configure Windows to run on this computer’s hardware”

So, I grabbed another blue label 160GB WD drive and it installed Win 7 fine on the laptop. I then took the 750GB drive and installed in on an old IBM T61 and it too installed fine. I also installed the new 750GB drive on a Dell inspirion N5040 laptop with complete success. Things that make you say...hmmmmmm?

Anyone have any ideas why the new 750GB WD drive gives me this error on "only" the HPPavilion M6?

Thank you in advance for any suggestions!!

BTW...this laptop doesn’t have RAID and was NOT Built for windows 8. It came with Windows 7. And yes I’ve reset the bios back to factor standards!

Ps, I’ve been at this for days!!! ):
 
The scenario you describe does sound a little strange. The fact that particular drive will not seem to work on the HP appears to mean the system can not handle it. My first thought would be a bios update. If there is one, try that to see if it helps.

Where exactly in the install process does this message pop up? Can you boot the Install DVD and get all the way to the Select Install location options? Are you using a Windows 7 SP1 DVD or a basic one?

Do you see the drive listed in the bios? Is this the only drive on the system when you attempt the install?
 
Seems like a rather new laptop, does it have warranty? If yes, why not march to HP with it?

I do agree with Saltgrass about the BIOS, it would sound like the most probable cause. But that could also depend on a faulty CMOS battery... or a flaw in the motherboard, somewhere along the circuits... but updating BIOS and re-parting HDD from zero doesn't sound silly at all.

If it's new with warranty, and something in mobo and / or BIOS has failed, the sure way is to take it to HP. Otherwise you'll have problems with it for the rest of your life. I had a failing mobo once, got Windows 7 installed after a dozen tries, it worked fine... until it failed permanently.

Problems with computers usually appear quite soon; if they work 2 years, they probably may work 20 years. This could be the case?
 
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