1

I have a HP Touchsmart IQ700 PC with a new SATA hard disk.

I can boot from an original Windows Vista Home Premium OEM DVD and I see a black screen and a message similar to "Windows is loading files" with a white progress bar.

This completes and the next screen is the normal "Microsoft Corporation" and the green progress bar but every time it hangs at this point. I never get to the first screen that asks where I want to install Vista onto!

All devices have been removed, leaving just the keyboard.

The Touchsmart BIOS is very basic with only Disable SATA, Disable PATA and Disable Power Management options!

I think this is related to Windows Vista and the SATA drive as I remember seeing something like this before and I disabled SATA from the BIOS.

Incidentally, Windows XP installs without a problem!

Does anyone have any suggestions!

Improve this question
0

4 Answers 4

Reset to default
1

Try disabling AHCI in your bios. I have to do this regularly on Dell workstations.

Improve this answer
1
  • I dont have this option in the BIOS. The BIOS is very limited in what I can enable / disable.
    – Belliez
    Sep 28, 2009 at 11:26
0

IIRC that machine shipped with Vista Home Premium 32-bit (plus loads of other media stuff too). I use a lot of HP xw/Z workstations and they really don't like OEM versions of Windows, they come with very specific drivers for their disk controllers slipstreamed on the CDs that come with the machine and I've never had the time or inclination to manually frig a custom build - I'd just go with the flow and use the Vista disks that came with it (or contact HP for them if your machine came with XP).

Improve this answer
4
  • I will re-try the recovery disks again however I recall that they failed in a similar fashion.
    – belliez
    Sep 24, 2009 at 15:00
  • If that's the case I think you might have something broken then - that's kind of their point right?
    – Chopper3
    Sep 24, 2009 at 15:05
  • I am not sure if the recovery disks are trying to recover from the hidden partition or not which is why I discounted it! Also, these disks are scratched and have not been looked after very well. (this is a pc someone asked me to fix for them as Vista stopped working and was currupted because the PC was only ever turned off by pulling the plug!!!)
    – belliez
    Sep 24, 2009 at 15:19
  • I have restored the hard disk by cloning an identical hard disk from an identical system. It still fails to get past the green progress bar and freezes. I have installed windows XP without a problem. It is just vista. HP recommended using DelDisk to wipe the disk and re-use the recovery disks. I did this and same problem!
    – Belliez
    Sep 28, 2009 at 11:29
0

Does the green bar stop scrolling at all or does it keep going? I've seen the Vista installer sit at the green bar screen for up to 20 minutes. Try just waiting it out for about a half-hour.

Improve this answer
4
  • it freezes... I've left it overnight to be sure and it just sits there!
    – belliez
    Sep 24, 2009 at 15:14
  • I am thinking this is a sata problem? I dont have an external DVD drive but maybe I could try with one and disconnect the sata dvd player
    – belliez
    Sep 24, 2009 at 15:15
  • how about a usb memory stick big enough to hold the contents of the DVD? that would work too.
    – brad.lane
    Sep 24, 2009 at 15:22
  • I have now tried to install from an external USB dvd drive and the same problem. I even cloned an existing hard disk from an identical system and still failed to get past the green progress bar.
    – Belliez
    Sep 28, 2009 at 11:27
0

The problem was a faulty motherboard and CPU. Replaced both (bought a faulty touchsmart from ebay for £150 as HP wanted £300 for a motherboard) and all is now fine.

Improve this answer

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.