New SSHD and RAM in laptop, can't boot windows 7 64 bit

[Nintendork99]

Recently my sister's laptop had a RAM malfunction, plus her hard drive was full, so I got her a new Seagate SSHD 8/500GB and 8GB G.Skill RAM. Since the hard drive is brand new, it is totally blank. Also, since it's a Dell laptop, it did not come with a boot cd, (or if it did, I have no idea where it is) but still has the label with the product key for windows 7 64 bit. The first thing I tried was downloading the ISO for win7x64 and burning it to a blank DVD using ImgBurn on 2x speed, but when I boot to cd/DVD, I get a prompt that says "operations system not found".
The second thing I tried was inserting an old win7x64 upgrade DVD but it says "windows has failed to start, a recent hardware change might be the cause." And the lists some hardware data. I still have all the old parts, but it is a huge pain to take apart this laptop to get to the HDD bay, so if there is any fix for this that doesn't involve that, I would greatly appreciate it. Of course, I can take it apart if I have to...

Thanks,
Nintendork

 

[USAFRet]

but when I boot to cd/DVD, I get a prompt that says "operations system not found".

You need to change the boot order in the BIOS.
DVD first in the boot order.

 

[Nintendork99]

I beleive I already said this but my DVD drive has always been highest boot priority. That is literally the first thing I checked.

EDIT: I guess I never explicitly said that I was booting to cd/DVD, so sorry if the above sounds condescending...

 

[USAFRet]

OK...try booting from a Linux LiveCD, just to verify it can actually boot from the optical drive.

 

[Nintendork99]

Well I think i found the culprit. The Ubuntu LiveCD got the same message, so I tried my win7x64 boot DVD on my desktop and it loaded all the files and was prepared to install windows. I'm guessing I need a new CD/DVD drive, but is there any way to avoid that? I'm getting tired of spending money.

EDIT: OK so I guess I could boot from an external hard drive but I do need an optical drive because I prefer to install Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2013 from its backup DVD.

 

[USAFRet]

Well I think i found the culprit. The Ubuntu LiveCD got the same message, so I tried my win7x64 boot DVD on my desktop and it loaded all the files and was prepared to install windows. I'm guessing I need a new CD/DVD drive, but is there any way to avoid that? I'm getting tired of spending money.

If it's a physical issue with that DVD drive, and it is actually connected properly...probably not much you can do but replace it.

 

[Nintendork99]

Well I think i found the culprit. The Ubuntu LiveCD got the same message, so I tried my win7x64 boot DVD on my desktop and it loaded all the files and was prepared to install windows. I'm guessing I need a new CD/DVD drive, but is there any way to avoid that? I'm getting tired of spending money.

If it's a physical issue with that DVD drive, and it is actually connected properly...probably not much you can do but replace it.

Do you think I should try a external hard drive or USB stick boot?

 

[USAFRet]

Well I think i found the culprit. The Ubuntu LiveCD got the same message, so I tried my win7x64 boot DVD on my desktop and it loaded all the files and was prepared to install windows. I'm guessing I need a new CD/DVD drive, but is there any way to avoid that? I'm getting tired of spending money.

If it's a physical issue with that DVD drive, and it is actually connected properly...probably not much you can do but replace it.

Do you think I should try a external hard drive or USB stick boot?

Try the USB stick.

 

[Nintendork99]

I'm beginning to think that maybe the drive cant act as a boot device, but can still read media, because when the laptop was working, i could play music CDs off of it. I guess I'll have to get windows installed to find out.

 

[J-Mello]

You could try booting from a USB, you can find the tool here
http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/html/pbPage.Help_Win7_usbdvd_dwnTool

 

[Nintendork99]

You could try booting from a USB, you can find the tool here
http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/html/pbPage.Help_Win7_usbdvd_dwnTool

OK so i partitioned and burned my image to a 8GB USB but when I boot to USB, it tells me to remove all devices and restart. When I boot to 'removable media' it gives me the 'operation system not found'. Any ideas?

 

[Nintendork99]

I think I might try putting in the old RAM and installing from DVD again.

 

[divyehanda]

I am facing exactly same problem(Got a new seagate SSHD - st500lm000;Have dell XPS 15 l502x; tried installing Win 7 Ultimate from USB stick but Shows "operating system not found" and when tried a few times it shows PXE rom error and exits).

P.S -->Changed boot order to USB followed by removable drive and disabled Integrated NIC too and my optical drive is fried too.

So, Any Ideas?