Not able to reinstall Windows7

Question

Hi All

I am trying to format my C drive and have a fresh installation of the operating system on my Inspiron 1460, which I bought 3 years back. Steps that I am following:

1. Insert Re-installation DVD for Windows 7 Home, provided by Dell

2. Power off machine

3. Power on machine

4. While it is starting press F12, and select CD/DVD and press Enter

5. "press any to key read from cd/dvd" appears, press Enter

6. System boots up

7. Install now button appears, click it

After this it is asking for a driver cd/location to install. I have a driver software cd which is also not recognized. Please help me in this. Struggling to do this from past 1 week.

DELL-Chinmay S · Answer

Hi zabin7in,

Please share the exact system model.

You may run an onboard diagnostic test on your computer to ensure the correct functionality of system hardware. To know more about diagnostics, you may refer to link: http://dell.to/OUGnqT

If the diagnostics pass, you may check if the hard drive gets detected in system BIOS and may try changing the SATA Operations from AHCI to ATA or vice versa. To access the system BIOS:

Restart the computer.
As soon as you see the Dell logo, start tapping the ‘F2’ key on top of the keyboard.
If you wait too long and the Microsoft Windows appears, then continue to wait until you see the Windows desktop. Now shutdown your computer and try again.
After this a new window would appear. You can only use the arrow keys of the keyboard to navigate between the options as the mouse is not functional in this mode.
Check if the hard drive gets detected in system BIOS.
If hard drive gets detected, try changing the SATA Operations from AHCI to ATA or vice versa.
Save settings and restart.

Check if the issue persists and share the findings.

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Not able to reinstall Windows7

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