[SOLVED] Can not figure out how to install Windows 7 on an old HP

[munteanoo]

Im trying to install windows 7 on an HP Pavilion dv6000 (dv6415eo to be more precise), but i cant get the damn thing to boot into the windows installer. It currently has windows 7 installed on it, i dont know what version, but it just gets stuck at the "starting windows" screen.
I burned a win7 .iso on multiple USB drives using Rufus 3.13.1730, tried both MBR and GPT partition schemes, though from what i know this laptop does not have UEFI mode.
And yes, i changed the boot order in the bios
any tips on what i should do to reinstall windows on this ancient piece of junk?

 

[Ralston18]

Is it truly "stuck" or just very, very slow?

Update your post to include full system hardware specs.

Disk drive: make, model, capacity, how full?

As I read your post you are trying to reinstall Windows 7 (fresh ?)

Consider that the .iso may be corrupted in some manner. Try another copy.

 

[TerryLaze]

And yes, i changed the boot order in the bios

Does the usb show up with name or is it just a generic setting like boot from usb-hdd or something? If it's really old it might not be able to boot from a flash drive.
You can try plop boot manager to make it be able to boot from flash but it's pretty slow.

If you can remove the hdd from the laptop and connect it to a working system.
You can use imagex to transfer the instalation.wim from a installation usb/dvd to the hdd so that the installation will be done on the target system.
All you need is imagex you can download gigabytes of stuff from MS to get it or you can search for gimagex alone on the web.
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd744531(v=ws.10).aspx
The only command needed is this one.
(Of course you'll have to make sure that the drive has an active and bootable partition)
imagex /apply N:\Images\my-windows-partition.wim 1 W:\

All you have to do is change the drive letters, if your dvd or mounted iso is D:
and the target hdd/ssd is E:
you use
imagex /apply D:\sources\install.wim 1 E:
Make triple sure that you use the proper drive letter for the target, all data on that disk will be destroyed.
type cmd on the search bar and run command
the 1 at the end tells it wich list item to use.
If you have a dvd with multiple versions you can use
dism /Get-WimInfo /WimFile:F:\x86\sources\install.esd /index:1 (2-3... )
to see which is which.
Make a folder with all the drivers on the disk so they will be available to windows after its booted up and your done.

 

[munteanoo]

Is it truly "stuck" or just very, very slow?

Update your post to include full system hardware specs.

Disk drive: make, model, capacity, how full?

As I read your post you are trying to reinstall Windows 7 (fresh ?)

Consider that the .iso may be corrupted in some manner. Try another copy.

It is stuck stuck, i left it on for almost 2hrs, wont get past the "loading windows" screen
Disk is a WD2500B EVS 250GB, no idea how full it is
yes, i am trying to install a fresh copy of windows 7, it already has windows 7 on it but it doesnt work.

 

[munteanoo]

Does the usb show up with name or is it just a generic setting like boot from usb-hdd or something? If it's really old it might not be able to boot from a flash drive.
You can try plop boot manager to make it be able to boot from flash but it's pretty slow.

If you can remove the hdd from the laptop and connect it to a working system.
You can use imagex to transfer the instalation.wim from a installation usb/dvd to the hdd so that the installation will be done on the target system.
All you need is imagex you can download gigabytes of stuff from MS to get it or you can search for gimagex alone on the web.
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd744531(v=ws.10).aspx
The only command needed is this one.
(Of course you'll have to make sure that the drive has an active and bootable partition)
imagex /apply N:\Images\my-windows-partition.wim 1 W:\

All you have to do is change the drive letters, if your dvd or mounted iso is D:
and the target hdd/ssd is E:
you use
imagex /apply D:\sources\install.wim 1 E:
Make triple sure that you use the proper drive letter for the target, all data on that disk will be destroyed.
type cmd on the search bar and run command
the 1 at the end tells it wich list item to use.
If you have a dvd with multiple versions you can use
dism /Get-WimInfo /WimFile:F:\x86\sources\install.esd /index:1 (2-3... )
to see which is which.
Make a folder with all the drivers on the disk so they will be available to windows after its booted up and your done.

Thanks, i can remove the drive from the system but i can not connect it to any other system, i only have my laptop and sadly no external hdd rack, that would come in handy right about now.
as for your first question, yes, the usb shows up under a generic name, something like Boot Up from USB HDD Drive

 

[TerryLaze]

as for your first question, yes, the usb shows up under a generic name, something like Boot Up from USB HDD Drive

Yeah it probably can't boot from flash, try plop boot manager, hunt down hiren's boot cd or download plop alone on iso format and start from there.

 

[Edtwozeronine]

I used hiren's boot cd to properly reformat (unckeck the quick format option) an hdd in an old HP Tower recently. After that I managed to reinstall Windows 7 properly, it was giving all sorts of grief before that, doing similar to yours not completing the windows installation and giving weird error codes. I made several bootable ISOs in DVD and USB format and got nowhere before the full format.