Win7 will not go past the Welcome screen

winston · Post by **winston** » 23 Jul 2014 12:01 pm

This laptop is a Dell Inspirion 1720 trying to install win7. The hard drive went out and I am trying to install win7 on a new drive but the computer stops when the cd is trying to load the installation files. It stops on the welcome to windows screen. It had win7 in it when the hard drive went bad. Any thoughts on this problem??? thanks Winston May

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 23 Jul 2014 2:15 pm

Check this out from the Windows 7 forum's tutorials.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/32 ... html?ltr=W

winston · Post by **winston** » 23 Jul 2014 4:50 pm

Thanks Jack, I will try this and let you know the outcome. Winston May

winston · Post by **winston** » 24 Jul 2014 5:29 pm

Jack, the machine would not boot from a flash drive. I tested the drive on a different machine and it is working fine. Machine stops on the first screen which is the 4 icons going around. It will not go any farther.

Wiz Feinberg · Post by **Wiz Feinberg** » 24 Jul 2014 7:53 pm

It could be that your optical drive on the Inspiron has dust on the laser, or it could be out of alignment. See about borrowing an external CD/DVD drive that plugs into a USB port and set the bios to boot from that port first.

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 25 Jul 2014 2:26 am

Wiz, as it won't boot from a USB flash drive, either suggests some other problem.

As it won't boot the WinPE, which is a stripped down Windows that is used for installations, it could be the Windows installation disc is bad(?)

winston · Post by **winston** » 25 Jul 2014 5:24 am

I am going to experiment a litte. I will report back here with the results. thanks Jack and Wiz for your help. Winston May

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 25 Jul 2014 6:51 am

The disc is just something to consider. The Win 7 disc is probably OK, but nothing can be discounted until the actual problem is found.

winston · Post by **winston** » 25 Jul 2014 11:55 am

The disc is ok. I checked it on another machine before I posted this problem. Is it possible something could be stopping the machine from writing to the hard drive? BTW it is a new 1T drive. I have reset the ram, reset the cmos to defaults. This laptop has two hard drive compartments, makes no difference which side the hard drive is in.

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 25 Jul 2014 12:39 pm

Are trying to install Windows 7 32 bit or Windows 7 64 bit? Dell only supports XP and Vista 32 bit on this model. In addition, the maximum memory is 4GB. Thus you should only install Windows 7 32 bit.

From the Dell service manual:

NOTICE: If only one hard drive is installed, or is being installed, ensure that the drive is installed in the primary hard drive bay. Install an optional
second hard drive in the secondary hard drive bay.

EDIT/ADDED: Just dawned on me. You have a 1TB hard drive. I suspect this system (BIOS) won't support that large a hard drive, considering the age of the PC (made for XP).

winston · Post by **winston** » 25 Jul 2014 7:30 pm

Jack, the machine had win7 on it. The sticker on the machine has vista wrote on it. It is a dual core processor. As far as the hard drive goes I put 2 or 3 different ones in it thinking that maybe they were bad. That's when I got a new drive out. The hard drive is in the right drive bay. I really appreciate your help.

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 26 Jul 2014 2:33 am

According to my friends on the Dell Forum, the 1TB drive should work.

Can you check the hard drive and mode in the BIOS? (F2 at power on to enter the BIOS). See if its being detected and see if its set to AHCI.

Maybe with all the problems, the Dell forum may be a better place to post this. Those there familiar with Dell's and any potential glitches that could cause your problems.

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/

winston · Post by **winston** » 26 Jul 2014 5:31 am

Thanks again Jack. I will try the Dell forum. Winston May

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 29 Jul 2014 2:38 am

I looked on the Dell forum, Laptop Hardware section and did not see any post???

winston · Post by **winston** » 29 Jul 2014 6:11 am

Jack, I have been busy. I will post today. thanks again.

Wiz Feinberg · Post by **Wiz Feinberg** » 29 Jul 2014 7:30 am

Winston;
Let us know if you find a cause and solution. I won't close this until then.

winston · Post by **winston** » 29 Jul 2014 7:36 am

Will do Wiz.

winston · Post by **winston** » 31 Jul 2014 5:38 am

Jack
http://en.community.dell.com/support-fo ... 93725.aspx

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 4 Aug 2014 6:04 am

Winston, I just looked at that thread. I had asked my "RockStars" Dell Guru friends to take a look at that. The RockStars is Dell's designation for the guru user help staff - Rock because they are in Round Rock Texas. I am "one of them".

I'm beginning to wonder if there is some hardware problem. They asked about the BIOS. You could reset the BIOS and see if that makes a difference.

The Dell Service Manual details how to remove/replace the CR2032 coin cell CMOS Memory (BIOS) back up battery. with the PC powered off, remove the battery for AT LEAST 10 minutes. Reinstall the battery, observing battery polarity. Then try the install.

Dell Service Manual

winston · Post by **winston** » 4 Aug 2014 6:11 am

Jack, I reset the BIOS to defaults and that did not help. I will take the battery out today and let you know the results. I think it may be hardware related also.

Wiz Feinberg · Post by **Wiz Feinberg** » 4 Aug 2014 8:43 am

Winston;
Get a bright lamp and use it to inspect the capacitors on the motherboard. Look for bulging tops, and/or signs of oozing of the compound inside them. If this compound gets onto the motherboard and touches the solder traces, it will short them out eventually.

Leaking electrolytic capacitors are a major cause of motherboard problems. They cause intermittent hardware issues, often resulting to BSODs. In the final stages of leakage, they cause sudden shutdowns.

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 5 Aug 2014 6:59 am

Wiz, this is a laptop. Hard to see much of the motherboard without major disassembly. At least with this model Dell made it relatively easy to change the battery. In older models it was a disassembly to access the CMOS backup battery.

winston · Post by **winston** » 5 Aug 2014 10:08 am

Jack
I took the battery out for about 3 hours. Reconnected it and it did not help anything. It has to be in the hardware somewhere. I think the next step is to disassemble the computer and look around. I really appreciate all the help. thanks Winston May

John Gilman · Post by **John Gilman** » 5 Aug 2014 11:34 am

Since it's starting to look more and more like a hardware issue, you might consider grabbing a copy of UBCD http://ubcd.sourceforge.net/ and seeing if any of the stand alone diagnostics can give you an insight into the problem.

winston · Post by **winston** » 6 Aug 2014 5:38 am

Thanks for the info John. I will try some of this.