AsRock H370 Pro with Intel Pentium Gold - Cant boot windows 7

[SProbert]

Hi,

Here are my specs ;

Intel Pentium Gold G5400 LGA1511
AsRock H370 Pro 4 main board
WD 1 TB Sata drive with Windows 7 64 bit already installed

I have tried every setting I can think of in the BIOS and it just wont boot to the hard drive. It detects it in the BIOS but just wont boot.

Any suggestions ?

Thanks

 

[DSzymborski]

Two significant problems here.

First, Coffee Lake doesn't officially support Windows 7. Now, some people are able to get it running, but driver support is going to be hit-or-miss.

Second, you've reduced your chances at getting Windows 7 to work by not installing it properly. Unless you're running an actual portable version of Windows designed to be moved around like Windows To Go that's found in Windows 8 Enterprise, the proper method for a Windows installation on new hardware involves a reformat of the OS hard drive and a complete, fresh install.

While Windows 10 is pretty decent at making do after someone decides to skip steps and just slap in their old Windows 10 install, you're already trying to do something that's not strictly compatible and with Windows 7, which is not as cooperative about this. It's always best practice to do it right the first time.

There may also be a hardware problem at work, but it's going to be tricky to diagnose that without first taking improper installation and unsupported OS out of the equation.

 

[SProbert]

Hi, thanks for that.

So would you suggest I run an install of Windows 10 but from a USB stick ?. Then just keep the windows.old file for my data on the Windows 7 install ?

Thanks

Two significant problems here.

First, Coffee Lake doesn't officially support Windows 7. Now, some people are able to get it running, but driver support is going to be hit-or-miss.

Second, you've reduced your chances at getting Windows 7 to work by not installing it properly. Unless you're running an actual portable version of Windows designed to be moved around like Windows To Go that's found in Windows 8 Enterprise, the proper method for a Windows installation on new hardware involves a reformat of the OS hard drive and a complete, fresh install.

While Windows 10 is pretty decent at making do after someone decides to skip steps and just slap in their old Windows 10 install, you're already trying to do something that's not strictly compatible and with Windows 7, which is not as cooperative about this. It's always best practice to do it right the first time.

There may also be a hardware problem at work, but it's going to be tricky to diagnose that without first taking improper installation and unsupported OS out of the equation.

 

[DSzymborski]

Hi, thanks for that.

So would you suggest I run an install of Windows 10 but from a USB stick ?. Then just keep the windows.old file for my data on the Windows 7 install ?

Thanks

Two significant problems here.

First, Coffee Lake doesn't officially support Windows 7. Now, some people are able to get it running, but driver support is going to be hit-or-miss.

Second, you've reduced your chances at getting Windows 7 to work by not installing it properly. Unless you're running an actual portable version of Windows designed to be moved around like Windows To Go that's found in Windows 8 Enterprise, the proper method for a Windows installation on new hardware involves a reformat of the OS hard drive and a complete, fresh install.

While Windows 10 is pretty decent at making do after someone decides to skip steps and just slap in their old Windows 10 install, you're already trying to do something that's not strictly compatible and with Windows 7, which is not as cooperative about this. It's always best practice to do it right the first time.

There may also be a hardware problem at work, but it's going to be tricky to diagnose that without first taking improper installation and unsupported OS out of the equation.

I'd do a fresh install. Back up your important data -- you should already be doing this anyway! -- and format the hard drive and install Windows 10. Anything less and you're upgrading from an OS install not made for this PC that you're having trouble getting running in the first place.