Cannot Complete Windows 7 Install

Ivan Drago · 12 Feb 2010 at 19:33

I'm doing a clean install booting from the Windows disc - installation goes fine until the final stage where it says 'completing install' or something and then the PC reboots itself and I get an error message saying Windows was not fully installed (can't remember the exact error message!).

This is a clean install and I format the hard drive before the install - what is causing these problems?

marmalade · 12 Feb 2010 at 19:48

Try formatting during the installation process. Don't forget to remove the disk during the progress.

icedbullet · 12 Feb 2010 at 19:54

There may be something wrong with your windows 7 cd. Is it scratched or did you make a dvd from an iso image (from digital river as I did for example)

I had some issues installing from a cd I made myself from a digital river iso download. Once I reburnt the dvd it worked fine after.

Ivan Drago · 12 Feb 2010 at 19:55

Remove disk? I see there is an option to 'delete' (as well as format) the HD just before the install - is that what you mean?

Ivan Drago · 12 Feb 2010 at 19:57

icedbullet said:
There may be something wrong with your windows 7 cd.

I really don't think so. I have been using it for installs over the past week and it worked fine. It's an official Windows disc.

Ivan Drago · 13 Feb 2010 at 17:30

Any ideas? I'm desperate now.

When it reboots, it wants to install 'services' (as part of the installation process) but always fails.

I can't understand why this is a problem on a clean hard drive.

Ivan Drago · 13 Feb 2010 at 17:37

Forgot to mention my screen is messed up - colours/resolution etc and there are weird bracket symbols on the boot screens.

This must be software related because I got rid of the same problem last week by a clean install but my hard drive shouldn't have any software settings?

manic111 · 13 Feb 2010 at 17:39

I had the same problem; it turned out to be my wireless card - try taking it out if you have one.

Diggsy · 13 Feb 2010 at 17:42

Make sure you take your CPU back to stock too, an unstable overclock could also cause issues.

theheyes · 13 Feb 2010 at 18:06

Diggsy said:
Make sure you take your CPU back to stock too, an unstable overclock could also cause issues.

Good advice. Doing an install on an overclocked system is asking for trouble.

icedbullet · 13 Feb 2010 at 18:10

Ivan Drago said:
Any ideas? I'm desperate now.

When it reboots, it wants to install 'services' (as part of the installation process) but always fails.

I can't understand why this is a problem on a clean hard drive.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong as this is a wild guess, but when you install Win 7 I think there is an option where you can select whether you want to install updates as you install win 7. These services you describe may be those updates (when I was installing win 7 it did say services im sure). You may want to try selecting NO to installing updates during the install, then installing the updates after. This would also correlate with what manic111 is saying about his wireless card?

If this doesn't work try posting you're problem here http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/category/windows7

Good luck

Ivan Drago · 13 Feb 2010 at 18:33

manic111 said:
I had the same problem; it turned out to be my wireless card - try taking it out if you have one.

I think mine is built into the motherboard or I don't have one.

Diggsy said:
Make sure you take your CPU back to stock too, an unstable overclock could also cause issues.

Already done.

icedbullet said:
Someone correct me if I'm wrong as this is a wild guess, but when you install Win 7 I think there is an option where you can select whether you want to install updates as you install win 7.

I don't get that option because I'm installing through the boot CD - not going through Windows (I can't even get Windows started to log in).

I will try seeing if I can install XP first and then try to upgrade - that's my only hope at the moment.

Could it be related to my BIOS settings? I have put them all as default.

Eddie · 13 Feb 2010 at 18:36

I always disconnect from the network prior to installing Win7 to stop the system from trying to automatically update anything.

The last failed install I had was due to the floppy drive being active in the BIOS when the system didn't have one installed. Dunno if that's relevant to this situation though.

Edit: check to make sure you don't have something enabled in the BIOS which shouldn't be

marmalade · 13 Feb 2010 at 20:01

cable?

JimboJet · 13 Feb 2010 at 20:02

Just spent 2 days trying to resolve this sort of problem. I think I found the the solution...

Setup: Win 7 64bit OEM clean install on New Samsung 1TB F3 hd. Created the 100mb system partition (Win 7 does this automatically) Then a further 100gb (102400mb) Partition for the OS and essential programs (AV etc)

Problem: Installation "freezes"

Solution: I performed a lot of steps to get it to install, but the final step was unplugging all USB devices (including mouse, use the TAB key or Alt+Keyboard shortcut for menu choices). All that is except the USB stick that I used to install.

Link to how to make bootable USB stick: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2432-usb-windows-7-installation-key-drive-create.html

Had a final freeze after the installation update steps when the PC restarted automatically and it went back into the USB stick install process. I simply jumped into the BIOS and set the pc to boot to HDD instead of the USB stick and lo and behold the installation continued as it should have!

I did have a further hang actually, just after I was asked to enter my product key. A simple restart solved it and I was eventually installed - What a hassle to do a clean install!

Ivan Drago · 16 Feb 2010 at 13:32

I have tried all of the suggestions but I still can't get into Windows.

The installation setup is crashing at the 'starting windows' screen. Why would it be crashing there?

Why is my display all messed up on the boot screens (colours, resolution and even scrambled text when I tried to install XP) when I have formatted the hard drive? Where is it getting these setings from?

It sounds like a hardware issue but this has been rectified by a previous clean install before.

I really am at a dead end.

Ysmalari · 16 Feb 2010 at 14:58

I had the same problem aswell, it turned out to be the Jmicron hard-drive controller on my motherboard and it required me to update the bios to solve the problem. This did unfortunately mean that I had to reinstall XP first so that I could download the new motherboard bios!!

If you have a second computer available (which I guess you do since you're posting here), do a quick check to see if your current bios is up to date...

SiriusB · 16 Feb 2010 at 15:20

RAM could also be an issue. If it is misbehaving it could be corrupting files as they are being installed. The set up screens being a bit weird could also point to graphics.

Unfortunately this is one of those times where you have to go through everything one by one. If this were me I would do something like the following:

Update motherboard BIOS - attempt installation.
Run the machine with just one stick of RAM - attempt installation, trying each stick of RAM on its own.
If the motherboard has on-board graphics, remove any PCI-E graphics card and attempt installation.
Try another HDD.

JimboJet · 16 Feb 2010 at 17:27

Also try putting your CPU back to stock timings. I've read that OC'd systems and new installs don't always mix that well.

manic111 · 16 Feb 2010 at 21:15

Test the RAM, as has already been said.

Aside from that, try disabling any networking stuff and removing anything which is plugged in via USB. Also, try starting in safe mode. If that works, it's likely to be something to do with networking.