Question An Ancient Forum Concern

[mcarlucci]

Hello anyone,

I'd like to pick your brains on an issue I'm having. It is an issue/problem which has been much discussed here on this forum; one which generated text stating many possible causes. I have read through numerous threads, clicked on a googolplex of hyperlinks, and tried countless solutions and suggested fixes to solve this dilemma, but to no avail.

My situation:

I have an older desktop within which the hard drive thoroughly died; it is completely inaccessible. I am presently attempting to resurrect this Phoenix from the ashes through maintenance. I've purchased a new HDD, installed said physical device, and am now caught up in the frustrating process of trying to load Windows 7 Home Premium (from disc). However—and get ready to read something you may have already guessed—the setup keeps getting hung up/freezing in one spot. Yes, you guessed it!...at the logo. Once booting it in safe mode, the spot is revealed: windows\system32\drivers\disk.sys

Now, I cannot perform the "no-secure-boot/legacy " thing because those options do not exist in my BIOS. Memory tests passed, "RAM swapping/removing" got no results, nor did a number of other common solutions. I am at wits end...it's been 3 days! I used to have a full head of hair, but I'm thinking I'll probably shave off the remaining six hairs and go with the completely bald look. Any suggestions?...I mean, about a possible fix, not my hair...

Desktop Specs:

- HP Pavilion p6644y Special Edition

• (motherboard)The H-I41-uATX (Eton)
• 4GB DDR3
  

New replacement HDD:

- WD Blue 1TB Desktop Hard Disk Drive - 7200 RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache 3.5 Inch - WD10EZEX - OEM

 

[geofelt]

Safe mode boots with a minimum of drivers.
If you can boot in safe mode, you have a driver issue.

Can you find the HP motherboard drivers, download and and install them in safe mode?

As another possible fix, why not download windows 10.

Lastly, I would have replaced the HDD with a ssd. You will be amazed at the difference in performance.

 

[mcarlucci]

Safe mode boots with a minimum of drivers.
If you can boot in safe mode, you have a driver issue.

Can you find the HP motherboard drivers, download and and install them in safe mode?

As another possible fix, why not download windows 10.

Lastly, I would have replaced the HDD with a ssd. You will be amazed at the difference in performance.

Hi,

In answer to both questions about my choice of OS and drive—this resurrection is being done "on the cheap" as it were, with limited budgeting. The HDD was a great bargain, and I already own a copy of Windows 7 (which I've always liked). The PC will be used (if I ever get it up and running) as a secondary device. It doesn't have to be great, just functional.

As per your suggestion, I have downloaded the MB drivers, burning them onto disc. But my attempts to install have failed. When booting, even with the optical drive being first, I am only seeing a black screen with a flashing cursor in the upper-left corner of the screen. Also tried a USB flash. Didn't work.

PS: Question; how is it possible to do that in the absence of an OS? Please forgive me; I am a novice.
Also; what files load in immediately after windows\system32\drivers\disk.sys ?

Update - 6/7/20

I did find this Microsoft Article within which it states that the issue is cause by pcmcia.sys file being corrupted. It suggests using the Windows 7 DVD to start the computer in Windows Recovery. Unfortunately, I'm not able to get into WinRE for obvious reasons.


____

 

[mcarlucci]

PS -

Secondary question: Would my issue have anything to do with the fact that I am attempting to load a separately purchased version of Win7 Home Premium—one with a different product key from the PC's original factory installation load? To me, that would seem unlikely because the freeze is happening before I'm able to get to that data entry screen. But, I thought I'd ask, anyway.