Trying to install windows 7 on a laptop. black screen with cursor.

[Impytus]

I've seen that there have been several topics preciding mine on this subject. I've been trying to follow the steps in them all but nothing is working for me and if anything my problems seems only to have become worse.

I have a roughly year old Dell Inspiron 1525. The HDD on it was failing so i bought a Seagate 2.5" 500GB SATA HDD Momentus 5400.6

The HDD was detected and so I stuck in the windows 7 disk and let it start its proccess. When it came to choosing which disk/partition to unstall windows onto I noticed the error at the bottom:

"Windows cannot be installed to this disk. This computer's hardware may not support booting to this disk. Ensure controller is enabled."

So after seeking information in this site I found out that I had format the drive from that disk/partition screen mentioned previously.

The problem was that the link was greyed out and I couldnt click it.

From further investigation i found that I had to manually change the boot order of the drives in order for this to be clickable. So i did that. putting the dvd drive 1st.

Now when I boot it up, it shows the "windows it loading files" screen then starting windows (with the logo) but after that the screen goes blank with the cursor on the screen that i can move.

I tried reseting the bios back to default as one post suggested but it is still doing the same thing.

Can anybody help?

 

[Impytus]

I'm still trying to get help with this.

Thanks

 

[Impytus]

Anybody?

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Welcome to the community, @Impytus!

I'd recommend you reset your BIOS settings back to factory defaults from the BIOS interface. I'd also suggest you check if you have all your hardware drivers installed from the laptop manufacturer's official website. You should be able to find your model there and all the drivers & downloads available for it under Support. While on it , make sure you also have the latest BIOS version for your laptop.

Hopefully, this will resolve the issue and let you install Windows properly.
Keep me posted with the troubleshooting!
SuperSoph_WD

 

[helpstar]

Is the windows 7 DVD a 32bit version ? 64bit won´t work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mME9VLT7-xw

 

[Impytus]

Thanks. I have used this website many times before but I've only now signed up to post something myself.

I already reset the bios settings and it didnt change anything. I've tried installing various versions of linux and they all boot up fine until it comes to installing them.

I'm not sure how to get all the drivers onto the harddrive without 1st installing windows.

Yes it is a 32bit version.

Im also currently running spinrite (on maintenance setting) and only after 7 sectors its found an unrecoverable one. Do you think that is perhaps the problem?

 

[helpstar]

set the 1st boot priority to harddrive or remove the cd/DVD/usb flash drive after installing it

 

[Impytus]

set the 1st boot priority to harddrive or remove the cd/DVD/usb flash drive after installing it

I did that already.

 

[gareththegiant]

how long did you let the black screen sit there as i have had it sit for over 30 mins before any action occurred?

 

[helpstar]

is th hdd enabled as boot device? (space key)

can you boot by hdd if pressing F12, while the pc posts?

 

[Impytus]

is th hdd enabled as boot device? (space key)

can you boot by hdd if pressing F12, while the pc posts?

yes and yes. Didnt resolve anything

 

[Impytus]

how long did you let the black screen sit there as i have had it sit for over 30 mins before any action occurred?

I gave it about an hour before giving up.

 

[helpstar]

do you still have warranty on it? Get it to dell

 

[Impytus]

I managed to get windows installed. After running spinrite and it isolating the bad sector it actually let me install windows. The question is, to keep a brand new drive that has a bad sector on it.