Can't setup windows

markwilliams82 · 18 Jun 2012 at 22:19

Just bought a dell xps 17 laptop and a crucial m4 128gb ssd drive from the members market

I've installed the drive and removed the second drive from the laptop so the ssd is the only hdd installed. I start windows 7 setup and can get as far as expanding files....then it freezes at 0% and won't move even though the DVD drive is working away

Any ideas how I'm supposed to install windows?

jeff6475 · 18 Jun 2012 at 22:29

stays on 0% for ages then starts slowly then powers thru the install

markwilliams82 · 18 Jun 2012 at 22:31

I get a message about files being corrupt and not able to copy after a while but I've used the DVD before so know its good

jeff6475 · 18 Jun 2012 at 22:35

dunno then m8 soz never had that problem

nutsnut · 18 Jun 2012 at 22:58

can you make an image of the disc to a USB stick and install from that?

mp260767 · 18 Jun 2012 at 22:59

have you tried running memtest over the system ?

any reason you couldnt try a reinstall on your original hard drive ?

markwilliams82 · 18 Jun 2012 at 23:01

How do you burn an image to a USB stick? I could try it if I could

I did reinstall windows on the laptops original drive when i first got it so I know it should work

nutsnut · 19 Jun 2012 at 07:45

http://emea.microsoftstore.com/UK/en-GB/Service-Centre/Windows-7-USB-DVD-Download-Tool

Reza86 · 19 Jun 2012 at 08:14

Got it set to AHCI mode in the BIOS?

markwilliams82 · 19 Jun 2012 at 08:19

Yeah the BIOS is set to AHCI.

The M4 was used so its been formatted and set as active with a drive letter in System Management of a Windows 7 install

When I run the Windows 7 install I'll either get an error message saying the CD/DVD drivers can't be loaded or I'll go through that with no issues and it'll hang at 0% when expanding files

MuttsNutts · 19 Jun 2012 at 11:40

I guess your Win 7 DVD is pre SP1? get a Windows 7 with SP1 intergrated then try again

the cause is usually due to:

Advanced Format disks have a physical sector size of 4 kilobytes and a logical emulated sector size of 512 bytes. "Advanced Format" is a new technology being adopted by PC manufacturers to increase media format efficiency which will lead to larger capacity hard drives. If you are replacing a hard drive in an older PC, you may be more likely to encounter this issue

SP1 intergrated Windows 7 supports "Advanced Format disks"

good luck

markwilliams82 · 19 Jun 2012 at 22:23

I checked and the DVD I have is integrated with sp1

I managed to get around the frozen install by installing win7 with the drive set up as ata in the bios, will I notice a decrease in performance? Can I switch to ahci afterwards?

markwilliams82 · 19 Jun 2012 at 23:07

Take it back, got to 98% and froze

nutsnut · 20 Jun 2012 at 08:17

markwilliams82 said:
I checked and the DVD I have is integrated with sp1

I managed to get around the frozen install by installing win7 with the drive set up as ata in the bios, will I notice a decrease in performance? Can I switch to ahci afterwards?

Not without a reinstall i believe.

mp260767 · 20 Jun 2012 at 11:24

there is a way you can set it to achi, its needs drivers installed.

check the hard drive forum as i think the links/details of what to do are in there.

Blackjack Davy · 20 Jun 2012 at 13:00

markwilliams82 said:
Can I switch to ahci afterwards?

Yes, it's a simple registry hack with Win 7.

mp260767 said:
there is a way you can set it to achi, its needs drivers installed.

check the hard drive forum as i think the links/details of what to do are in there.

Win 7 installs drivers automatically, only XP needs a separate driver install.