Question Windows 7 x86 installs but x64 BSOD on new build ?

[Windows7 Fan]

Hi everyone,

I hope everyone's well.
I've been a lurker of this site for many many years and like some of you I am still a Windows 7 user.

Just yesterday I decided to upgrade my PC build which now has the Ryzen 9 5950X CPU on an
ASRock X570 Pro4 motherboard.

To my small surprise it didn't boot all the way through, it came the the Starting Windows logo and restarts into an endless loop.

Usually doing a Start-up repair from the installation disc would solve this issue but as soon it's done with "Windows Loading Files" it then suddenly BSOD.
HOWEVER...when using an x86 disc for repair, it loads completely.

I have since experimented different methods, but the one that was ought to be fullpoof just doesn't make sense.

I'm using a dummy/spare 3TB hard drive and I thought to do a fresh install of Windows 7 x64, but like before, after "Windows Loading Files" it then BSOD.
BUT...when I use a x86 disc, the setup boots and the installation completes!
I even boot straight into the freshly installed operating system!

This has me scratching and pulling my hair, I went through BIOS, tweaked settings and tried different combinations but the system just doesn't seem to like anything 64bit, even thoigh the hardware is all under spec, the last thing it would want is 32bit anything but yet it gladly accept it!

Can anyone help me out here or explain what is going on? I would REALLY appreciate it!

 

[kanewolf]

Hi everyone,

I hope everyone's well.
I've been a lurker of this site for many many years and like some of you I am still a Windows 7 user.

Just yesterday I decided to upgrade my PC build which now included the Ryzen 5950x and Asrock x570 Pro4 motherboard.
To my small surprise it didn't boot all the way through, it came the the Starting Windows logo and restarts into an endless loop.

Usually doing a Start-up repair from the installation disc would solve this issue but as soon it's done with "Windows Loading Files" it then suddenly BSOD.
HOWEVER...when using an x86 disc for repair, it loads completely.

I have since experimented different methods, but the one that was ought to be fullpoof just doesn't make sense.

I'm using a dummy/spare 3TB hard drive and I thought to do a fresh install of Windows 7 x64, but like before, after "Windows Loading Files" it then BSOD.
BUT...when I use a x86 disc, the setup boots and the installation completes!
I even boot straight into the freshly installed operating system!

This has me scratching and pulling my hair, I went through BIOS, tweaked settings and tried different combinations but the system just doesn't seem to like anything 64bit, even thoigh the hardware is all under spec, the last thing it would want is 32bit anything but yet it gladly accept it!

Can anyone help me out here or explain what is going on? I would REALLY appreciate it!

Where did you get drivers for Win7? The motherboard vendor does not provide Win 7 drivers for that motherboard.

 

[Windows7 Fan]

Where did you get drivers for Win7? The motherboard vendor does not provide Win 7 drivers for that motherboard.

Of course yes, when doing the fresh install almost nothing works but there is a workaround to that which I will resolve in my own time.

However it's the fact that the new build allowed me to install and boot into Windows 7 x86 operating system, but yet refuses to boot, let alone install a Windows 7 x64 operating system itself.

That is what's truly baffling me. Am I missing something perhaps? 🤔🙁

 

[kanewolf]

Of course yes, when doing the fresh install almost nothing works but there is a workaround to that which I will resolve in my own time.

However it's the fact that the new build allowed me to install and boot into Windows 7 x86 operating system, but yet refuses to boot, let alone install a Windows 7 x64 operating system itself.

That is what's truly baffling me. Am I missing something perhaps? 🤔🙁

IMO, what you are missing, is that the motherboard does not support Win7, I think the X370 did but not the X570.
You are asking the equivalent of why oil and water don't mix. Basic incompatibility.

 

[Windows7 Fan]

IMO, what you are missing, is that the motherboard does not support Win7, I think the X370 did but not the X570.
You are asking the equivalent of why oil and water don't mix. Basic incompatibility.

I see where you'e coming from, but I was still able to install Windows 7 x86 with virtually no problems.

 

[BFG-9000]

So the 32-bit MS default drivers are close enough to run on later hardware without crashing, but the 64-bit ones are more picky. Note that those aren't intended for normal usage, but for letting you properly install the actual drivers, so will not enable any hardware acceleration or other special hardware features making them really poor performing (for example the Microsoft Basic Display Adapter/Standard VGA Graphics Adapter driver that is used before you install any specific GPU driver). But if there are no proper drivers...

If you wanted really compatible, nothing beats Win 9x because it could fall back all the way to 16-bit MS-DOS compatibility mode to still run until working drivers can be installed. Such a mode is even slower + more limiting and may even limit the device to 64MB of usable RAM. But that's OK because it technically "runs" long enough to do the job

Given that 32-bit Windows 7 only supports booting from MBR and thus Legacy BIOS mode, you could try forcing the same in 64-bit by using a 2TB max drive and toggling on "Legacy Option ROM only" for Storage, Secure Boot off, CSM mode on. Win7-64 was always more tricky to install in UEFI mode than Legacy BIOS mode so the latter is probably more compatible, but of course means you can't boot from a 3TB GPT disk.

 

[Windows7 Fan]

I thought to just give a small update, really just to inform, apparently it might be due to the ACPI in Asrock motherboards that's preventing the process happening.

I have went into the BIOS and I disabled everything (or as much as I can) related to ACPI.

Also Secure Boot off, CSM Enabled and Legacy enabled from UEFI.

After all this it still fails, i.e. nothing has changed

Is threre any way to try and get this running on an Asrock motherboard perhaps?