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Can't Complete Windows 7 OEM Install on Precision T3400
Can anyone help me?
I'm attempting to do a clean install on a Dell Precision T3400 with Windows 7 64 Bit OEM, but cannot complete the sequence.
It goes through the entire installation sequence, restarting a couple of times. It gets as far as commencing the "completing installation" sequence - making what I think this is the final reboot - and then hangs. I think what should come next is the bit where I enter information for first time use - time, date, location - computer name etc. I never get this far though.
I have not upgraded the BIOS. It was previously running Windows Vista - but the disk has been wiped - so not sure if I can update the BIOS in this state.
One other thing - I have swapped the graphics card. The monitor works fine during the initial installation sequence.
Any suggestions?
Thanks very much for reading.
boundsie
6 Posts
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February 6th, 2014 19:00
The suggestion above about SATA drives didn't actually solve my problem, but it got me thinking along the right lines.
Here's what I learned about this issue through the above answer and answers on other forums. It turns out to be a common problem:
It is typically caused by missing drivers for devices that are connected to the computer. Devices may include: any kind of USB device (could even be mouse or keyboard), graphics cards, any kind of disk drive, other kinds of cards such as PCI or PCIe Firewire. If you have a SCSI card then definitely remove it.
I had a Dell keyboard with with built in USB ports and a media player control. I swapped this for a simple, plain vanilla keyboard.
I also previously swapped out the graphics card that came installed on the T3400 for an older NVidia Quadro card as a fix for adaptor compatibility with my SVGA older monitors. When I searched on the NVIDIA site, I discovered that there was no Windows 7 Driver for my graphics card, so I bought the DVI-I adaptors that I needed for the original card and put it back.
My problem turned out to be the graphics card.
On other forums I have seen people overcome the problem by removing ALL USB devices. If you have a USB mouse and keyboard, this might seem to be a problem. However, once you have initialised the windows 7 install procedure you can remove the mouse and keyboard. Each time the computer restarts it will beep and warn that no input devices are attached, but after a brief pause, it should resume with the installation procedure. In my case, the fancy USB keyboard was definitely an issue too. Removing it after initialising the install allowed the installation to proceed by two extra steps.
I was cursing Microsoft out for this issue, but to be fair I was not able to run a windows 7 compatibility test on my computer. I bought it on ebay without an operating system. If I had been able to maybe it would have flagged the problem graphics card and composite USB keyboard device.
Don't know if this will work, but if you can't figure out what your driver issue is, you may be able to run a hardware and periperhals compatibility test by doing a temporary install of Ubuntu and then connecting to the Net. I had no problem booting Ubuntu from a USB drive and connecting to the net. It works beautifully first time without any of the usual Microsoft shenanigans. In my opinion Ubuntu is a vastly superior operating system with a far more pleasant user experience. My only reason for sticking with Microsoft is legacy software. Think it highly unlikely I will ever consider buying a new Microsoft system again. They lost the plot after XP.
Good luck
Philip_Yip
7 Technologist
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16K Posts
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January 29th, 2014 05:00
Have you loaded SATA drivers during the install? Loading them might help. For more details see:
http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/a-clean-install-of-windows-7/downloading-preparing-and-loading-sata-drivers/
boundsie
6 Posts
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January 29th, 2014 20:00
Thanks for your reply NATAKUC4,
I've tried to follow the article links to digitalriver.com for latest windows 7 OEM .iso but the pages and downloads are no longer available. There is a message to say that microsoft has taken them down. My windows 7 disk actually includes service pack 1 so it seems to be up to date.
I've looked at the DELL Drivers page for my machine and there are so many drivers there that I'm confused - I really don't know what I should be downloading and installing.
http://ftp.dell.com/published/Pages/precision-t3400.html
This one looks promising - (2nd item down under Drivers) - does it look right to you?
Intel Rapid Storage Technology (Pre-OS Install) Driver
This package provides the Intel Rapid Storage Technology (Pre-OS Install) Driver and is supported on Optiplex, Precision and Latitude models that are running the following Windows Operating Systems: XP (64-bit), Vista (64-bit) and Windows 7 (64-bit).More details<ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell>
By the way, since I posted I have managed to update my BIOS to the latest version, but I still get the same problems.
I have also read in many places that any connected USB devices cause problems. I have tried going through the complete install, unplugging my USB keyboard and mouse immediately after commencing the procedure. This does seem to allow the installation procedure to go an extra step, but it still hangs before completion.
Apparently this is a very common issue - a recommendation from Microsoft support staff on one of their sites is to press Shift+F10 to open up a terminal window or similar and then run windows explorer to which should complete the process - but Shift+F10 does nothing once my computer has hung.
Thanks once again for trying to help.
Philip_Yip
7 Technologist
7 Technologist
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16K Posts
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January 30th, 2014 00:00
Yes try they SATA drivers and follow the instructions here to prepare and load them:
http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/a-clean-install-of-windows-7/downloading-preparing-and-loading-sata-drivers/
Unfortunately the Digital River Download Links have been removed and now cannot be used.
tulwar
3 Posts
0
February 6th, 2014 06:00
I am having the exact same problem, was this ever resolved ? Are there any other suggestions, please.
boundsie
6 Posts
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February 6th, 2014 19:00
Thanks, you got me thinking along the right lines with this. It turned out to be graphics card. I went looking for the drivers for it and found that there were no Windows 7 drivers. Swapped graphics cards and the install worked fine.
Thanks again for taking the time to offer your help.
tulwar
3 Posts
0
February 7th, 2014 05:00
Thank you very much for the reply Boundsie ....I too got 'wrapped up' in the idea that the SATA drivers was causing the problem. Will try ALL your suggestions, was using another graphics card and a usb mouse. I will try your suggestions and let you know what happens.
Kind Regards David
tulwar
3 Posts
0
February 7th, 2014 10:00
ALL SORTED, thank you Boundsie. My problem was a little more complex but your suggestions definitely aided the solution
David
boundsie
6 Posts
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February 7th, 2014 19:00
Glad to hear it David,
If you have any extra nuggets of advice you can add to help others with this issue don't forget to put them here. It was quite difficult to find good forum threads on the subject so perhaps we can make this one of the more useful ones.
Cheers,
Matt
Philip_Yip
7 Technologist
7 Technologist
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16K Posts
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February 9th, 2014 04:00
Thanks for the feedback, I never suspected your graphics card. What particular cards do you have?
atlithor
1 Message
0
March 23rd, 2014 20:00
How did you manage to get over this complex problem
I'm running mine with various types of graphic cards.
I have the A14 BIOS (newest)
only one HD connected + DVD-RW (I have switched between AHCI / ATA / RAID modes in BIOS
HD does not need a firmware upgrade
tried switching memmory modules (ECC & non-ECC) (4 GB)
I just can't install windows 7
after pushing "install windows 7" button in setup... it asks me for missing drivers.... and I have bunch of them after extensive forum reading ....
please help a brother in pain :P
boundsie
6 Posts
0
March 23rd, 2014 22:00
My problem was the graphics card. I had swapped the factory card with a different one. It was a 32 bit card with no driver support for Windows 7 64.