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Vista will not complete installation....
I'm having problem with my Dell Inspiron 1720; it came with Vista and has run fine for over a year now.. Recently I restarted it and could not get past the Windows 'load' bar screen.. An aquaintence advised me that something had happened and it wasn't registering my OS anymore.. So I busted out the Vista disk that came with it and tried to fix it; I attempted to run Startup Repair, I tried to do a manual rollback, then I opted to just do a clean install when neither worked...
I can get the custom install to load; it goes through steps 1-4 {1: Copying Windows Files; 2: Expanding Files; 3: Installing Features; 4: Installing Updates}; at this point it restarts, comes back, and appears to begin the 5th and final step for this screen {Completing Installation}, but the progress bar doesn't move.. Tinyperiods {...} appear in a moving sequence after the words, but even if left for hours it has not loaded Vista; instead it has progressed to a black screen with a white mouse {arrow} that can be moved around, but nothing appears.. The only option is to hard-restart and start all over...
It is now showing something on the OS partition when I hard-restart and get to the screen to select where to install Vista {i had previously selected to format and restored it to the full number; i know i lost everything but nothing was working and still isn't....}... I again tried to do a Startup Repair through the System Recovery Options menu, but it won't go past the "Searching for problems" scrolling bar screen... any additional suggestions would be appreciate, as my dell is my primary work computer as well as the one i use for classes and need to find a fix asap...
if any additional information is needed, please let me know...
DELL-Jesse L
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May 12th, 2009 07:00
Gruvi,
Thank you for using the Dell Community Forum.
You will need to install the Sata Driver. On one of the setup screens is an option to install drivers on the lower right side of the screen. Choose this option and put the Dell Driver disk in. The driver it is looking to install is the Intel Matrix Storage Driver. If you need to download this driver and put it on a disk you can click the title below.
Another way to complete the install without first installing the driver is to change the bios setting to ATA. To do this restart the system and press F2 to enter setup. Once there you can TAB down to Onboard Devices and hit Enter. Then tab down to SATA Operation. You will then see at the top of the screen on the right side ATA and AHCI. Change this to ATA. Save the changes and exit out. Once the system restarts you should be able to complete the install. After the install and you have loaded the drivers you will need to go back into the bios and change the setting back to AHCI.
Gruvi
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May 12th, 2009 12:00
Jesse,
Thank you for your responce... Oh my, I tried the 1st solution... I got to the portion where it asks where I want to Install Windows.. It was previously showing me 3 partitions... I selected "Load Driver" at this step {I had the OS partition selected}... I put the driver disk in, selected "Hide drivers that are not compatible with hardware on this computer" and received one option...
Intel(R) 82801 HEM/HBM SATA AHCI Controller (E:\1386\R154200\IAAHCI.INF)
I selected it and pressed "Next"... Suddenly I am back at the "Where do you want to install Windows"screen, only its now blank... No partitions are showing anymore... And at the bottom I have a yellow exclamation and it says "No drives were found. Click Load Driver to provide mass storage driver for installation".... -- repeat process, same results.... Now, if I unselect the Hide drivers box, there are 13 options all together... But I'd imagine I'm only supposed to try the one that's compatible....
On to solution suggestion #2... For anyone interested in the step-by-step process, here is my best attempt... It tells me "SATA Operation must be in AHCI mode when the Flash Cache Module is enable. You must disable the Flash Cache Module first before changing this field." I found the Flash Cache option and turned it off; returned to the SATA Operation, selected ATA, and recieved the message "SATA Operation is being changed! Attention! Changing this setting may prevent your operating system from booting or require a reinstall. Are you sure you would like to continue? No/Yes" I selected Yes... Then Save/Exit out of Bios... Back to running the installation disk... Fingers crossed - check... Steps 1-4 of installation complete - check... Restart and Step 5 appear - check... Step 5 of installation complete - CHECK!!!! I nearly jumped for joy at this point, seriously...
Now a new set of problems.... I loaded all the drivers, changed back to AHCI, reactivated the Flash Cache... And now Windows wont load again... A blue screen flashes so briefly, I can't see what it says....Then it restarts and I am given then option to Launch Startup Repair {which won't do anything, it won't leave the black and white screen} or Start Windows Normally {which goes through and flickers that blue screen again; I can't see what it says}...... If I switch back to ATA and disable Flash Cache it allows me to load into Vista...I don't know what I'm doing wrong here; and the instructions weren't very detailed... :( Also, as I was loading the drivers I noticed my WiFi wasn't picking up as a device... Unfortunatly, this is a neccesity as my whole house is set up WiFi, as is my work... I had loaded all the drivers and still nothing.. After a little research, I learned there is an order Dell recommends you install the drivers... Obviously, I didn't follow this order as I wasn't made aware of it - will that effect the ability to change back to AHCI or pickup the Wireless device?