Reinstalling Vista on my Inspiron 1720

Hello,

I have a similar problem, when I start my Dimension E520 i see the blue Dell logo and the BIOS does its part but then before I get to the Vista Login screen the screen goes black and all I can see is my white arrow cursor, and it just hangs there.

I have spoken to Tech Support who say I can either repair Vista or Re-install it - as this happened only this morning I have not had a chance to backup my data - How can I do this without being able to get onto the desktop.?

I was also advised to press F8 and select a repair or re-install option - but when I do this, I cannot see this option, apparently because I have had to re-install Vista once before.

So finally they suggested I use the VISTA DVD and re-install VISTA, however I never recieved any DVD's when I bought my PC (other than a Roxio one) and Dell are refusing to send me another.

What do I do ??  :(

Waheed Din UK,

Waheed Din,

Thank you for using the Dell Community Forum.

You can click the title below and use the form to escalate this issue.

UK Unresolved Issues form

I went to Dell.co.uk and put in my Service Tag to make sure i got the right ones, so now i have the drivers my laptop came with when i got it on a pendrive.  When i go to select a driver in the Vista installation first i dont see the file, so i clicked my pendrive and just had that selected.  Once i click ok it come up with a window saying

"No device drivers were found.  Make sure that the installation media contains the correct drivers, and then click OK."

Iv even unchecked the "Hide drivers that are not compatible with hardware on this computer" and still nothing :(

Think ill just send it in to be looked at.  Thanks for your time anyway :)

I am having the same problem with my inspiron 1720. I reinstalled the vista with the new disk and left it for all night to load. when I got up this morning it was a blank screen with a pointer. Could move the mouse still. I tried the download and then tried to install the drivers like you said and it couldn't find them when I brought it up. I took it to a Tech guy and he suggested the Hard drive is bad. Could that be the problem? But before I do that is there any other suggestions? Thank you for your time.

For the life of me, I can't make this work.  I've downloaded the driver. I've installed it where it asks to repair your setup, It goes through the install, and still hangs every single time at the same place.. after it reboots, and then says continuing installation...  it never goes beyond there.  I don't know what's different about my 1720, but this solution does not work, unless I'm just not getting it.

Dave aka wagnesium

Hi Dave.

I was having several issues with my 1720 so decided to reinstall my OS.  I would get to the completing installation and it would go no further.  I tried to go into safe mode and it hung up at crcdisk loading.  Googled error and when to http://thevistaforums.com/index.php?showtopic=39843&hl=. The solution at the bottom helped me get to bare Vista.

Now I cannot load drivers from my system driver cd.  I click on extract and I does nothing.  I have tried Notebook System Software also but the same.  It will not take me to a screen to install.

Hi Dlinger.  I had some of the files on the cd tell me they couldn't extract inside the resouce cd interface, in which case I just went to an explorer window and clicked them.. they extracted then.  Maybe that would work for you?  I finally had to set my SATA to ATA inside the bios and I was able to install Vista.  However, I can't go back from ATA tho, or it won't boot.  Strange to have to go through all this hassle; you would think they was engineered better.

Dave

I just wanted to say that I was having the very same problem and I was pretty much about ready to throw my laptop out of the window (I've never had so much trouble with a computer in my entire life).  Instead, I followed the instructions the dell tech left here and alas, my laptop is now up and running!

Do exactly what he says and it should work. You will need your "Drivers and Utilities" disc that came with your laptop. Only install the driver once. It looked as though nothing happened but it did install the SATA driver. I made the mistake of installing it twice the first time and lost my hard drive, so I had to do it again. After you install your drivers,  just put the windows installation CD back in the drive and go from there. The rest is pretty self explanatory.

Anyways - good luck ya'll! :D

Here is the fix for all the 1720 that will not load from the dell vista premium disc. U just need a usb drive and all bios setting at  factory default.

I have asked dell to post this fix but not yey posted by them.

This is the story from dell then my rant then the fix.

Tel convo with dell well his reply

Then told me we ship hundreds of these discs and no others have had any
problems. I then told him to go look at the dell forums, as i am not the
only person to have these issues. However many have probably followed
instructions posted on the forum, which does work to a point, however this
does have further implications and does move from default settings in the
bios. This also has an impact on the second stage of running media direct.

I would also state that of the hundreds of pc shipped, how many were the
1720, and how many owners would have used the dell vista premium disc
provided?

I have proved without any doubt whatsoever that it is the disc software at
fault for the 1720.

After a couple of hours testing i have succeeded in running the dell vista
premium disc on to my 1720, without freezing and crashing and without
altering the bios settings from default, (as this option caused media direct
to fail installing) , then i was able to run the second stage of media
direct also.

THE FIX

I had to down load the driver pack R154200 and load to flash drive  ( exstract all files to the root of flash drive) and
inject on initial install only the i aahci. cat and iastor drivers ( you can only install 1 driver at a time so ensure u load both drivers before you continue install). This
then allowed the dell vista premium disc to run in fully without freezing
and causing blue screen crash.  You can load the drivers prior to the install screen of the dell os disc ( it does state load drivers)

I have tried to install the dell disc over 10 times now and to no avail, but
my vista ultimate disc installs faultlessly, however after the telephone
conversation, with your help desk it got my back up so much i had to find a
solution, so i now suggest that a dell rep post this fix on the forum, and i
would appreciate a dell vista premium disc sent  to my self that will
install without any need to inject drivers or which freezes on the 1720
series.

Just in case you think this is a 1 off, i have since re installed a further
5 times the dell premium disc without injecting the drivers and still it
fails. I have then installed a further 5 times injecting the above mentioned
drivers and installs without any problems whatsoever.

I have now got some where with dell and i suggest that you all have a go at dell as apparently i am the only one with this problem.

I hope this is easy for you to follow and i feel sure u will have sucsess.:emotion-1:

Go to BIOS ---> Onboard Devices

Go to Flash Cache Module - Turn it OFF
Go to SATA Operation - Change AHCI to ATA

That should fix the freezing problem.

I have read your threads and find them all interesting.  What is even more interesting is that Dell doesn't do anything or even enough to help us out.  I had the same installation problem where at the point when the screen says "starting vista up for the first time" the process eventually stops.

There could be two reasons.  At first I thought my disk was corrupted but didn't turn out to be the case.  So there are two schools of thought here.  First one goes this way.  I used an OEM vista disk with sp2 already on it from a friend of mine who is a tech and it installed correctly.  Then I reloaded the remainder of the drivers and programs and my 1720 is working fine but I don't have he HPA partition for the hidden installation files, which, on the 1720 wouldn't work anyway because according to dell, the reinstallation requires the dvd and not the method in which you depress F8 during start up.

Second method is to use the media direct cd first for partitioning.  Then when you put the vista cd back in, it recognizes the format and installs from the dell cd.

Another problems that occurs when this is not followed in order is that the vista cd doesn't see the C: drive.  I also tried to install the sata driver so that the drive could be recognized but truthfully, that did not work for me.

I may be all wet on this but I tried both methods and finally did it.  Oddly enough, on my old dell with XP on it, reinstallation was a snap.  I like my 1720 but I am fed up with Dell and their treatment of their customers, especially those who have this computer.  They should post something from their customer support to help us out.

Hi chas i do have the dell disk new unopened if u want one,( home premium) it was their latest version, Brown in color not blue, the blue is the first version.

This version does install using all settings as default.

You can contact me on Stating vista disk from dell forum

Regards  

<ADMIN NOTE : Email id removed per privacy policy>

ok so after looking around online I figured out that vista looses some of its memory due to graphics card or other cards in the system. I really thought I remembered seeing 4 gb of memory, but I guess I was wrong. Thanks anyways everyone that had something to do with me fixing my comp. Problem solved, finally.

I had the same problem and I find this solution on another forum.

1- Acceed to the BIOS (F2)

2- Go to "Onboard Devices"

3- Go to "Flash Cache Module" - unactivate this option

4- Go to "Sata Operation" desactivate AHCI and activate ATA

5 - Save and install Windows

It work for me

Don't re-modify the BIOS