Solved Vista Re-Install Issues

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briegg

New Member
Hi All


Newbie here having some serious trouble - I am trying to re-install Windows Vista Home Premium onto a Dell laptop with the below specifications (I hope these are enough)
Dell Inspiron 1720 Laptop


Intel Pentium Dual Core T2390

160GB HDD

3GB RAM


The computer came preinstalled with Vista Home premium - I am trying to recover from some serious viruses, so figured a clean install would be the best. I have tried the clean install 3 times (using the OEM reinstall CD)- each time, after one system restart, and the "completing installation" occurring for about 1hr, the screen goes to a black screen with a white arrow. The arrow can be manipulated via the mouse, but nothing else draws any response (including Ctrl-Alt-Del) - I have left the computer in this state to "finish" for about 2 hrs. with to no avail.

After the 3rd attempt, I am now running the Startup Repair utility from the Vista CD - it has been "searching for problems" for about an hour - I'm not sure how ling this should take.

I am not sure where to go from here - any help would be greatly appreciated -and don't hesitate to let me know if I have omitted important info. I am not terribly computer savy - probably feel more comfortable with hardware replacement than anything. I can follow detailed step by step directions

Thanks in advance.
 

My Computer

System One

Hello briegg, welcome to Vista Forums!





Here's an option to try, if you have nothing on the Hard Disk Drive (HDD) you don't want to lose as this method over-writes everything and makes any/all data on the entire HDD un-recoverable; have a look at the tutorial at the link below. I'm not sure if this will work or not but it's worth a try as it'll "remove" any residual data from the HDD and give you a clean slate to start over.
Be sure to post back with any updates.


SSD / HDD : Optimize for Windows Reinstallation
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    * BFK Customs *
    CPU
    Intel C2Q 9550 Yorkfield
    Motherboard
    ASUS P5Q Pro
    Memory
    8GB Dominator 8500C5D
    Graphics Card(s)
    XFX ATI 1GB 4870 XXX
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD 7-1
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1x 47" LCD HDMI & 2x 26" LCD HDMI
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080P & 1920x1200
    Hard Drives
    2x 500GB 7200RPM 32MB Cache WD Caviar Black
    PSU
    Corsair 620HX
    Case
    CM Cosmos RC-1000
    Cooling
    Tuniq Tower 120, 2x 140mm and 3x 120mm case fans
    Keyboard
    HP Enhansed Multimedia
    Mouse
    Razer Diamondback 3G
    Internet Speed
    18.6Mb/s
    Other Info
    My First Build ;)
Thanks Bare Foot Kid,

I tried this process exactly(it was for Windows 7, but was nearly identical for Vista Home Premium). The same problem happened during the Windows install - I got all the way through the first reboot, after the "completing installation" happened for quite a while, it seemed like a restart needed to take place - the screen turned black with only a white mouse pointer. I had mouse control, but nothing else (ctrl alt del did not work) - I left this black condition over night (at least 5 hours) and no change.

Another thing I did was to run a hard drive diagnostic tool to see if the drive is bad, although I did not realize that those tools are somewhat manufacturer specific, and I did not run the one made by the manufacturer of my drive (fujitsu) - I ran the Hitachi Drive Fitness Test - it showed no errors, but does say that the test for the Hitachi drives is more "detailed" - so I guess I'm not totally confident that the drive truly has no issues, although it's not loud.

Any further suggestions would be really approciated.
 

My Computer

System One

run memtest to see if your memory is the problem, as i had vista problems in the past due to bad RAM.
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    AMD Phenom ii 940 - 3.60GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M3A79-T Deluxe
    Memory
    Kingston HyperX 2x2GB 1066MHz 4096MB
    Graphics Card(s)
    4870 1GB
    Sound Card
    N/A
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Viewsonix VX2240w
    Screen Resolution
    1680 x 1050
    Hard Drives
    Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 7200rpm
    PSU
    Corsair AX850
    Case
    Coolermaster HAF 932
    Cooling
    Scythe Mugen 2 rev.b
    Keyboard
    Das Keyboard Silent Professional
    Mouse
    Logitech G500
    Internet Speed
    iunno.
Hello again.



Have a look at the links below, the first should have your HDD manufacturer and the second is for Memtest86+, at the Memtest link download the ISO zip file towards the bottom of the page where it says "download pre-built ISOs" then extract and burn that to CD (CD works best) and boot the disk and let it run, over-night is best as checking RAM can take a while to get reliable results.


Hard Drive Diagnostics Tools and Utilities

Memtest86+
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    * BFK Customs *
    CPU
    Intel C2Q 9550 Yorkfield
    Motherboard
    ASUS P5Q Pro
    Memory
    8GB Dominator 8500C5D
    Graphics Card(s)
    XFX ATI 1GB 4870 XXX
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD 7-1
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1x 47" LCD HDMI & 2x 26" LCD HDMI
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080P & 1920x1200
    Hard Drives
    2x 500GB 7200RPM 32MB Cache WD Caviar Black
    PSU
    Corsair 620HX
    Case
    CM Cosmos RC-1000
    Cooling
    Tuniq Tower 120, 2x 140mm and 3x 120mm case fans
    Keyboard
    HP Enhansed Multimedia
    Mouse
    Razer Diamondback 3G
    Internet Speed
    18.6Mb/s
    Other Info
    My First Build ;)
Hi again guys - I wanted to thank you all for your help - my problem was solved through a bit more detailed search of this forum (this time using the model number of my laptop - I had no idea this problem would be so specific). Apparently, the SATA driver needs to be installed first before completing the Vista installation. Thanks again.

For you reference, here is the thread that saved the day for me.

http://www.vistax64.com/general-discussion/218554-vista-reinstall-failure.html
 

My Computer

System One

Hello again briegg.





Glad you found a solution, thanks for the update.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    * BFK Customs *
    CPU
    Intel C2Q 9550 Yorkfield
    Motherboard
    ASUS P5Q Pro
    Memory
    8GB Dominator 8500C5D
    Graphics Card(s)
    XFX ATI 1GB 4870 XXX
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD 7-1
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1x 47" LCD HDMI & 2x 26" LCD HDMI
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080P & 1920x1200
    Hard Drives
    2x 500GB 7200RPM 32MB Cache WD Caviar Black
    PSU
    Corsair 620HX
    Case
    CM Cosmos RC-1000
    Cooling
    Tuniq Tower 120, 2x 140mm and 3x 120mm case fans
    Keyboard
    HP Enhansed Multimedia
    Mouse
    Razer Diamondback 3G
    Internet Speed
    18.6Mb/s
    Other Info
    My First Build ;)
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