The hard drive is fine. Am I going to need to use the reinstall discs for vista and then reload 7, or can I use the copy of 7 I have on a disc (with the current OS as seven) to reinstall it? Basically do I need to do a clean reinstall of vista then reload 7?
One thing you absolutely need is to make a backup of what's on the drive. If you can't use USB (have you tried booting from your cloning/imaging utility CD/DVD, and if so does the external drive work there? -- if it does, you have a Windows problem), you can remove the drive and mount it externally or back up over a network. If the USB won't work even when booted outside of Windows, you've a hardware problem - you'll need to replace the mainboard .
So this looks like a clean install, which wold be the same if I had to put in the vista discs and upgrade with the 7 upgrade disc. I was hoping to find a solution without having to wipe all of my data. Remember I CANNOT connect an external hard or anything else for that mater so I will lose everything in this process. Yes I do have a hard drive image from before the upgrade, but I don't want to wipe all my personal data if I don't have to. Any other thoughts
When I talked to tech support, they said that the problem was in the registry and Microsoft and Dell put the blame on the other. The General consensus was that the chipset needed to be updated, which was made by Intel, which I updated the USB controllers to the ones compatible with seven. But under the Control panel, the problem is in the usb root hubs where I am getting the error for the information in the registry is incomplete or damaged. Could there have been an error during install, which caused this problem, or is it something else? I am making arrangements to clone my current hard drive to my external one, and I will test the system with booting from the upgrade disc tomorrow.
pdiefend
5 Posts
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November 12th, 2009 12:00
The hard drive is fine. Am I going to need to use the reinstall discs for vista and then reload 7, or can I use the copy of 7 I have on a disc (with the current OS as seven) to reinstall it? Basically do I need to do a clean reinstall of vista then reload 7?
Phil D
ejn63
9 Legend
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87.5K Posts
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November 12th, 2009 12:00
Unless you've recently run the full diagnostic, I would not proceed without one -- drives DO suddenly develop bad sectors.
http://community.winsupersite.com/blogs/paul/archive/2009/10/23/clean-install-windows-7-with-upgrade-media-the-answer.aspx
ejn63
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87.5K Posts
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November 12th, 2009 12:00
First thing: run an extended hard drive diagnostic to rule out a failing hard drive.
If the drive passes, go back and do a complete reload (format/install) of Windows 7.
ejn63
9 Legend
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87.5K Posts
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November 12th, 2009 13:00
One thing you absolutely need is to make a backup of what's on the drive. If you can't use USB (have you tried booting from your cloning/imaging utility CD/DVD, and if so does the external drive work there? -- if it does, you have a Windows problem), you can remove the drive and mount it externally or back up over a network. If the USB won't work even when booted outside of Windows, you've a hardware problem - you'll need to replace the mainboard .
pdiefend
5 Posts
0
November 12th, 2009 13:00
I forgot to mention that the hard drive passed the diagnostic.
pdiefend
5 Posts
0
November 12th, 2009 13:00
So this looks like a clean install, which wold be the same if I had to put in the vista discs and upgrade with the 7 upgrade disc. I was hoping to find a solution without having to wipe all of my data. Remember I CANNOT connect an external hard or anything else for that mater so I will lose everything in this process. Yes I do have a hard drive image from before the upgrade, but I don't want to wipe all my personal data if I don't have to. Any other thoughts
pdiefend
5 Posts
0
November 12th, 2009 16:00
When I talked to tech support, they said that the problem was in the registry and Microsoft and Dell put the blame on the other. The General consensus was that the chipset needed to be updated, which was made by Intel, which I updated the USB controllers to the ones compatible with seven. But under the Control panel, the problem is in the usb root hubs where I am getting the error for the information in the registry is incomplete or damaged. Could there have been an error during install, which caused this problem, or is it something else? I am making arrangements to clone my current hard drive to my external one, and I will test the system with booting from the upgrade disc tomorrow.