Windows 7 Won't Boot :(

Soldato
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I finally got round to installing my retail version of Win 7 64 bit on Sunday night. I got in last night, and it wouldn't boot. It gets to the "microsoft corporation" flash screen, in which the picture of the Windows logo forms from four coloured balls. It then becomes unresponsive, and the hard drive stops doing anything.

It does boot into safe mode, and passes memtest. I am running an i5 (which I've reset to stock clocks) on an MSI GD80, with an ATI 3850 (I know :p), and 4GB Gskill Ripjaw RAM.

If anyone has any ideas I'll be very grateful, if not I'll reinstall!! Thanks in advance :)

EDIT: I'm at work now so can't try any of your suggestions, but can't get online at home due to being computerless, so will try suggestions tonight and let you know what happens!

EDIT: The problem has now developed. Please read to post 12 for my latest woes. Thanks :)
 
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have you disabled system restore? if not i would restore to before this happened, there is a good chance that you installed a driver/software which has caused this issue.

to be honest if it was me and i only just did the install i would wipe it and start again, win7 installs in minuets.

could try resetting bios defaults,

or maybe try and repair the install?
 
I've tried all of the above, nothing happens - I was considering re-installing; as you say, it doesn't take long...just a bit of a pain :(
 
i would mate, i am a bit anal like that myself, but so early into a new OS i would start over, just take your time installing all your drivers and apps, reboot after each one as you don't want it happening again, my guess would say something had overwritten a key win file
 
Yep, you may well be right. The problems started after I had been playing with power settings, trying to stop my wireless card turning off when I put the computer to sleep, so this coupled with all the drivers changing may have confused it. Boo :(
 
why would you wanna do that?

Because if he has them in AHCI mode that could be a reason for the problems - the driver may not have installed correctly during the install?

It's a long-shot I know but I have read many threads/articles saying that installing Win7 in AHCI or RAID mode has caused problems. I'm not saying that everyone has problems, just that I have seen it as a recurring issue.

Switching to IDE mode is just an option which the OP could try before doing a complete reinstall. I'm not promising it'll work, it is just something to try.
 
I need some more help with this :(

I've now tried re-installing, and it freezes on "Completing Installation"; the entire PC crashes, mouse isn't recognised, and needs to be hard reset.

Based on what I've read on the net, this isn't an uncommon problem, but naturally there are tonnes of different opinions on how to fix it, from enabling PnP OS in the BIOS (which, judging from my extensive exploration, mine doesn't have), to installing with only 2GB of RAM.

I've had a tinker with the BIOS and am currently trying again, and will subsequently try removing some RAM, but following that will be at a loss.

Can anyone help further?
 
i would install on bios defaults

Tried it :(

I had a media partition on my hard drive which I've just wiped, seeing if that helps now. I've also unplugged the keyboard (reports have said that running a usb keyboard can cause it to do this; unfortunately I've only got a USB one, so I've ditched it instead!) If this try doesn't work I need to go to bed. Royal pain in the backside!
 
Just spent 20 minutes trying to work out why I couldn't boot from the CD, then realised that I had reset the BIOS to its fail-safe defaults - I must be more tired than I thought :rolleyes:

On the advice of random forums I have now tried starting the install on its way, then unplugging everything - keyboard, mouse, the works. If this doesn't work I really must go to bed. However, many users have recommended enabling AHCI in the BIOS - does anyone know where this option is on the GD80? I can't find it!
 
well i always have AHCI enabled, and IDE disabled. I use AMD award bios's but must be an option and that could be where your issue lie
 
well i always have AHCI enabled, and IDE disabled. I use AMD award bios's but must be an option and that could be where your issue lie

The only place in my BIOS where there is mention of AHCI is in the RAID settings. Is this the correct place to switch it on? It was previously set to IDE, but I assumed that this was irrelevant as I'm not running a RAID setup...
 
yeah change to ACHI and reinstall, see how that goes, or even try booting but will prob bluescreen

it is in the same place on my bios
 
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