Win 7 install failure

SFJ

New member
I just bought a Genesis V, without an O/S; I want to install a brand new, fully legit copy of Win 7 Home Premium, 64bit. The "Welcome Booklet" that came with the laptop assures me that PCS laptops are built to be "fully compatible with Windows 7".

Despite ordering no O/S, the laptop came with trial version Win 10 "for testing purposes" still installed. The PCS website says this "can be removed in a few simple steps when you come to install your own operating system", however I am having no end of problems installing Win 7, despite PCS support telling me yesterday that I simply "clean install it over the top of the trial version".

Booting with the Win 7 install CD in the drive (as the Welcome Booklet Win 7 install guide says) did not work, and the laptop hanged at the "Starting Windows" screen. I presume, because the guide appears to be tailored to a completely clean install, whereas I already have Win 10 on the drive?

So I tried installing Win 7 via the Win 10 desktop: it began the install/overwrite without any problem, but then when it rebooted as part of the install process, it again hanged itself at the "Starting Windows" screen.

The laptop now appears to be bricked. Obviously I can no longer access Win 10, and nothing I do will make it boot into any diagnostic mode, e.g. with a disk management program or ISO on a USB stick.

There appears to be no "compatibility mode" available in the laptop setup options, which many Windows forums are suggesting as a solution. I can't even get it to a DOS prompt, where at least I could format the hard drive completely.

What am I missing, please? Thank you.

Serena
 
Last edited:

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
So I tried installing Win 7 via the Win 10 desktop:
That wouldn't be a clean install, in Win 10 is already running. Generally one would boot from the installation media and delete all existing partitions during the setup process, wiping out Win 10 or whatever else was already on the laptop.

When trying to boot from a USB pen, have you made the USB pen bootable using a tool like Rufus USB? i.e. you haven't just copied the ISO to the USB pen.

And is the boot order set to the USB pen first? You'd need to have your bootable USB plugged into the PC before switching it on / restarting it and then set the boot order in the BIOS before it tries loading from the internal storage with the messed up OS.
 

Tony1044

Prolific Poster
As Oussebon points out if you install over / from within Windows 10 that isn't a clean install.

I'd burn Windows 7 to USB - you can download the ISO from Microsoft here - https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows7

Then log into the PCS main site and download your drivers to the same USB stick As it's Windows 7 you're putting on pay special attention to chipset, network (LAN and WiFi) if if they're there, storage.

Boot to the USB stick and choose a clean install. Ideally allow the installer to partition the drive (drive options screen). This will remove any unnecessary kludge left over from Win 10

A few points: It's no wonder you cannot get it to boot at all now as it's borked the boot table from a part-install but it's not likely that the HDD/SSD is faulty.
 
Top