re-install of W7 taking FOREVER!!!

[sph92173]

Hi forum,

It's been a while, but again I am stumped!!! I was trying a "Consumer Preview" of windows 8 for the past year. Bill Gates and his boys actually wanted me to BUY it, and I did not. All of a sudden, my computer would not boot the OS. Since a computer won't beat me, I re-installed the Windows 7 discs I got directly from the manufacturer of my desktop (HP Pavilion All-in-One). That worked okay ... but it has been continuing to give me a message indicating "one time set-up process" for the past two days whenever I re-boot!!! Is this normal or did my re-install not work out okay???

I have been able to load my pick of antivirus software and another program that appears to keep my machines running well, but this "one time set-up process" thing is really annoying!!!

Please advise, and thanks in advance, as always!!!

[abseh1]

I would try again....just me

Do you have more than one HDD?

If Sata HDD.... install Win 7 with the main HDD connected only (unplug in the case)

Then connect the second HDD...if only one HDD ignore this step

HP has this unique issue @ times

Is is normal to take many hours for a computer to recover af... - HP Support Forum - 371709


You could have a bad HDD....hard to say

[sph92173]

actually, abseh, yes - I picked up a second portable HDD and burned a full back-up of my original HDD onto it. (it includes all of the data from my windows 8 trial, but I don't know if that matters ...)

thanks for your advice!!!

Sean

PS - the built in disc drive has a habit of scratching the HE** of of any disk inserted, so I also picked up a portable DVD drive ...

[abseh1]

It matters @ install....because the path can become corrupted with two HDD's

[sph92173]

no kidding??? so should I disable the built-in drive DVD drive???

[abseh1]

No that is not a Sata HDD....I have no more time ...I have to go to work

May be someone else can communicate better than I ....good luck

It can be fixed....you need to do a clean install and clean the boot issues

The Win 8 preview and Win 8 actually work from your BIOS

If you have a newer computer it could be a UEFI BIOS and needs to be setup correctly


Best I can do...good luck....you seem to question and doubt the info...best I can do

[sph92173]

I attempted to re-install the original OS - Windows 7, but it still won't go. Then I discovered my HDD has shrank!!! Now, it only has 100 GB of space! I KNOW that the HP tech support threw in a 640 GB HDD when this thing was still under warranty ... so I think it's time to shop for another HDD. That should be easy enough, I have replaced a few HDD's on different machines before. Thanks for your help!!!