Having a hard time doing a Win 7 installation

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rebelx

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Mar 18, 2012
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I have a license for Win 7 Ultimate that I'm trying to install on my secondary PC at home. Unfortunately, my school only allows us the link to download Windows 7 for 30 days and after that, we have to pay to access it.

This is what my current issues are:

I had the OS installed, but my dad was complaining that my new system (sandy i3, 8GB ram, 60gb OCZ agility 3), was slow and that it would crash often.

I isolated the problem after checking error codes and the like to a windows installation error. I do not have another computer in the house that can burn DVDs, so I use the flash drive method (via the Windows 7 USB DVD Download Tool) to put the .iso on the drive and boot/install that way.

Since I wiped the computer, I have been unable to successfully install any version of Windows (XP Pro, Win 7, Win 8) on his computer without it installing/performing very slowly, or experiencing any crashes.

I randomly downloaded some .isos online from 7 Ultimate, and most of the time when I use the Windows Tool to make my flash drive bootable, I get a generic "this is not a valid iso file" error and I am unable to continue with that .iso. When I successfully installed Win 8 twice on my computer, it was running very slowly and would keep crashing. Sometimes when I install Windows, it fails while unpacking/installing the files.

My dad ran a defrag on the SSD once. Could that have been sufficient to completely ruin it? Could my flash drive be faulty (I've used it to run installations before)?

Is there any way where I can get a legitimate copy of Win 7 Ultimate (I do not need a license, I have my own) so I can try again? Additionally, is there another easy way to make a bootable flash drive without using the Windows Tool?

Tech supporting this has been a major pain and I can't figure it out. TIA!
 
Solution
dodger46
Meant a cheap replacement board! But if under warranty, different kettle. CPU the most unlikely component to die, they're pretty hardy. The MCC is on the North Bridge of your Mobo and I doubt it can be replaced. Modern AMD and Intel i7 onwards have them built into the CPU for efficiency. RMA your board, citing RAM problems that were not cured by replacing with new RAM
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Check the overall health of the SSD through any major drive monitoring/testing utility. You stated you have an OCZ Vertex 3 in there, which sorry to say, is a good candidate for high drive failure rates. RAM will typically cause system instability and outright cause crashes, BSOD, data corruption, etc. If you're experiencing severe sluggishness and install errors on a new installation, seriously look at your drive. Overall system speed and responsiveness also has more to do with the HDD or SSD that runs the computer more than any other component inside it.

"Is there any way where I can get a legitimate copy of Win 7 Ultimate (I do not need a license, I have my own) so I can try again?"
The way it works is the consumer purchases the right to use the CD key, you have not purchased and do not own the version of Windows (talk to the Microjoke company about this policy). You can have all the licenses in the world (God knows I feel like I do), but you have to have a build number (not version like Ultimate, Professional, etc.) to match your CD key series. It will be trial and error to find one that works, as to where you find it though, I cannot say short of outright purchasing a new key and install.
 
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You can install Windows and run it for 30 days without a key before you're forced to activate. To rule out the SSD try installing it on your HDD and if that's successful...Meanwhile the defrag will only reduce the lifetime of an SSD, not destroy it. There is a limit to the number of time cells can be written to, so data is deliberately spread around the SSD to use cells evenly. Defragging does performance no good, and only increases the number of times cells are written to...
 
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I was able to get an ISO burned to a DVD at a friend's house, but for some reason it hangs at the "installing updates" part (after it's been upacked 100%). So far, flash drive method still doesn't work (I was able to use a different tool to get modified ISOs onto the flash drive). I'll keep trying :/
 
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Windows is super fast when it works, but when it wants to randomly freeze for a minute, then I'm literally just stuck waiting.

I was about to check ACHI via BIOS, but the computer is on "Installing Update 7 of 25" so I can't check that yet.

I found out that OCZ's firmware toolbox doesn't let you update the firmware of the drive if it's Drive C (main boot drive of Windows), so I read online somewhere that I can use the Linux ISO to update it. I don't know how to check the firmware currently of the unit.

I'm not trying to find a tool that works to make my flashdrive bootable with the linux ISO.
 
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I have not yet, thanks for the reminder! I'm going wait till these Windows updates finish installing, then I'll check drive health after I make sure BIOS is ACHI ready.
 
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I just set up the SSD in BIOS as ACHI (changed from IDE) and then it blue screen'd (like half a second) and then restarted itself. Now I'm waiting at a black screen for the Windows logo to show up...

EDIT: I had to change it back to IDE otherwise it would keep crashing everytime (and leave me at a permanent black screen with no text) I did a hard restart :/

EDIT 2: I wasn't able to use my flash drive and Linux ISO as a bootable drive for some reason. Computer kept saying that the Boot Manager was missing and I had to ctr alt del to restart. Going to run a health check on the SSD now.

EDIT 3: I used CrystalDiskInfo and it gave the health of the drive as "Good 100%." I'm waiting for Windows to unfreeze again, so I can maybe try and download some updates again.
 
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That the thing if ACHI not activated when installing OS it need to use couple of step to enable it....

u will need microsoft hot fix (not remember the link)... ACHI driver from the motherboard...

the problem is, I'm forget the step by step way to do it... sorry

The other way is reinstall OS..
--------------------

The thing is if ACHI is not used there a chance TRIM also not activated. Without TRIM The SSD will became dumpster that will degenerate over time until it need to be reset -ed...

It could be the problems...
 
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Beat me to it by a millisecond!
Here's the M'soft link

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976

 
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Thanks! I'll try this tomorrow. I don't have access to that computer right now.

To check that TRIM was active, I used this:

1) Check if TRIM is activated

fsutil behavior query DisableDeleteNotify

If you receive a result of 0 then TRIM is enabled, and if you get "1" then the TRIM command is disabled.

My response from CMD was a "0" so I thought I was good.

How do you ensure that ACHI is on when you do a reinstall of Windows? So far, I've only really installed Chrome on the computer and some MS updates.
 
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Thanks for that! I was able to successfully change to ACHI via the MS hot fix.

I was able to update the firmware for the SSD which made performance significantly better.

BUT...

Then I started getting blue screens every few minutes.

This in particular:
KSwuR.jpg


So then I used OCZ's secure erase feature to bring the SSD to factory-fresh (but with the new FW) but now I can't successfully install Windows anymore.

/sigh
 
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It's time to head out to sleep, but when I get back from work tomorrow night, I'll look up how to reset the CMOS in the guide, thanks! And I don't have a meter to check the battery voltage :/
 
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to reset cmos is unplug all device (cpu. monitor, speaker, etc) from wall power ...

Remove the battery for 5 min, then reinstall the battery... (u might wanna use new battery, it quite cheap and sold almost everywhere...)
 
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I'm heading out to work, but before I go home, I can buy one. Any idea on what they're called?
 
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I did that (I received a message that bios was reset), but then I ended up with this during the Windows install:

KMzZ2.jpg
 
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No go :/ I was able to reset it, but the windows installation didn't go thru. Any other ideas?
 
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