# Windows 7 installation hangs at "Setup is starting..." screen



## dcapp (Mar 22, 2011)

I am helping out a friend by re-installing Windows 7 on his laptop. Unfortunately the laptop had been infected beyond repair by a virus/malware and would not boot past bios. 

When installing Windows 7 x32, I make it to the "Setup is starting..." screen and it does not continue. It is not the disk as I have used the same one to install it on my laptop. The laptop is a Dell Inspiron 1545 with 4gb of ram and 500gb HDD space. 


Please help!


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

If the disk is one that came with your laptop and is an OEM version, it is illegal to install it on another machine. If it is a retail version, you can't use the same key again, and the one on the Dell will only work with a version licensed to Dell.

The laptop may have hardware problems, but you should be using its own recovery partition to reinstall Windows, anyway.


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## dcapp (Mar 22, 2011)

The disk I have is provided by my school. It is not the original Dell disc but my college provides Windows 7 and Office 2010 free to all students. I cannot find the disc provided by Dell (if they gave me one) but the Windows 7 key licensed to my laptop is under the battery. I assure you I am not doing something illegal. Regardless, I only get to the setup is starting screen as mentioned so I haven't even reached the registration yet. 

What do you mean by using its own recovery partition to reinstall Windows? Excuse my lack of technical knowledge in this area


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

The key on the laptop will only work on a Dell licensed version, from Dell. So you are wasting your time with that.

You will need a new key for this new installation unless the student version is a volume license version (which I doubt).

You do not need a CD or DVD to install Windows on modern computers. You install it from the recovery partition inside the machine (Ctrl+F11 when the machine is turned on).

(PS. I'm not trying to "catch" you doing something illegal. I'm just trying to make sure that you don't waste your time doing something that will fail.)


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## dcapp (Mar 22, 2011)

The software my school provides does come with cd keys.


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## dcapp (Mar 22, 2011)

I understand you guys are against piracy and what not so here is screenshot from my school's IT website.








I really hope this is enough proof. I don't mean to be rude but this website came highly recommended by a friend and was really looking for help.


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

As I mentioned, I'm not trying to question the legality of this whole thing. Only if it will work.

You should use the version of Windows that belongs with the laptop, the one that came with it. You will save yourself all kinds of problems if you use that, licensing among them, but also drivers that you will have to find (and laptops have a lot of special ones for F keys and modems, for starters).

Try Ctrl+F11 on boot (unless you have destroyed the copy of Windows on the hard drive that you paid for when you bought the machine).

If that doesn't work, I'll help you try to install the other version. But you will first need to remove the special partition on the hard drive. That will mean throwing away the copy of Windows that came with the machine (though you can buy cheap recovery disks from Dell if you ever need it later).

By the way, why isn't Windows booting on that machine? Are you sure that there is not a hardware problem? "Viruses and malware" would not prevent a machine from going past BIOS.

If you can't get past BIOS by any method at all, I'd start with RAM. If there is more than one stick, try removing them one at a time to see if one is defective and the machine makes it further.

-----------------------------------------------------

If you have the time and inclination, this boot CD (or USB key if you have one handy) will be useful now and later. You can use it to clear the hard drive for installation, to remove the non-standard partitions, and later, to recover data and make repairs. If it works, you will also know that there is no hardware problem with the machine.

Parted Magic disk partitoning tool (Bootable CD image)
If you prefer a bootable USB key, download and run Linux Live USB Creator. Choose the Parted Magic distro, and it will download it and automatically create a bootable USB key.

This CD (or key) contains many useful tools. You can partition, recover files, recover lost partitions, make disk images (by several different methods), transfer files between media, scan for viruses (It can serve as an Alternative Trusted Platform for search and elimination of rootkits and bootkits), examine and benchmark hardware, access the internet, and much more.


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## dcapp (Mar 22, 2011)

Ctrl+F11 didn't work. When I start up the laptop it shows the bios options then brings me to a black screen with a blinking white line.


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

Have you made any changes to the partitions on the hard drive?

Try the Ctrl+F11 more than once, with slightly different timing, to see if you get anything. If that doesn't work, you almost certainly have a hardware problem and you're not going to be able to install Windows on that machine.

If you can't access RAM to try removing sticks, you can do a RAM test from a boot CD (or choose the memory test when you boot the Windows DVD).

MemScope (Floppy and CD images.)
Roadkil's RAM Test
Microsoft Memory Test (floppy or CD ISO image)
Memtest86

If you have enough memory sticks, you can test them by removing one at a time and see if the problem disappears.

If you are running Vista or 7, tap F8 on boot and choose the memory diagnostic, or if you can boot up, go to Start > Search and type:

mdsched.exe

Choose to run a memory diagnostic on next boot. Or, you can boot from the DVD and run it from there.


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## dcapp (Mar 22, 2011)

Thanks for all your help so far Elvandil.
Still no luck with the CTRL+F11, however when I turned on the laptop again I pressed F12 for boot options and noticed there was an option for a diagnostics test. I ran the test and everything passed. After the initial test, there was also an option for an extended memory test which took about half an hour and the following things were tested and passed:

-Stress
-WCMATS
-WCMch
-MATS
-MarchB
-XMATS32
-WdPcMch
-MarchS

I have also made a copy of the parted magic disc and was able to boot it to what looks like an operating system. Is this good news? What should I do from here?


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

Yes, if Parted Magic booted, then the hardware is probably fine. Sounds like you made progress.

Start the Partition Editor on the PM desktop. See what partitions are on the hard drive (probably called "sd1" by Linux designation). Pretty cool tool, isn't it? You can probably even get on the internet. And it works even with no hard drive at all.

(Gotta run to the store. Back in 20.)

If you still plan on installing that student version, use that partition editor to delete all the partitions on the hard drive so that it is completely unallocated (Save any files on the drive that need to be saved before you do that.). You can leave it that way and then try to install windows. Or, if you hate leaving it like that, create a new partition with the partition editor and make it NTFS.


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## dcapp (Mar 22, 2011)

So there were 3 partitions: sd1, sd2 and sd3. I deleted them all, ran the Windows 7 installation again and I finally made it past the screen I was stuck on. Now I am at the installing Windows screen and it seems to be stuck once again at "Copying Windows files (0%)"


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

Could it be overheating? Do you hear the fan running? Make sure all ports are clear and even vacuum them if you can.

Also, you may need to wait for quite a while on some screens. It's often hard to tell when it is "stuck".


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## dcapp (Mar 22, 2011)

Pretty sure that's the fan I hear running. I'm going to be patient and let it sit for a while. I'll report back in an hour or so


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

OK. That particular step may take a while, but certainly less than an hour. Cross your fingers.

Installations are very CPU-intensive. They make a good system benchmark. But that also means that cooling is even more important than usual.


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## dcapp (Mar 22, 2011)

Just came back to it and there's an error message on screen:

Windows could not format a partition on disk 0. The error occurred while preparing the partition selected for installation. Error code: 0x80070057


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

Not good. Maybe a hard drive problem.

Boot up the Windows DVD again and choose the repair option instead of the install one. Get a command prompt and try to format C:.

format C: /FS:NTFS


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## dcapp (Mar 22, 2011)

the command prompt comes up and shows up like:

X:\Sources>

after typing format C: /FS:NTFS it gives me the warning that all data will be lost and it says formatting 476939M then 0 percent completed.

I've left it like this for two hours and no change.

Edit: The first time I tried the installation of Windows 7 after deleting the partitions, I left it with no partitions at all. So I decided to go in again with parted magic and make a partition, NTFS like you said and attempted the installation again. It went further this time to expanding files, it stopped at 45% and I got this message. 

Windows cannot access the installation sources. Verify the installation sources are accessible, and restart the installation

Also fyi, I have found the OEM OS disc and drivers disc that came with the laptop.


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

It seems it needs to be one of two things. Either the hard drive is having problems, or the DVD is not being read. If you can clean the laser lens in the drive with a dollar-store lens cleaner, that may eliminate that problem. Is the DVD in good condition, no fingerprints or scratches?

As far as the hard drive goes, you can do a pretty good test on it with the Windows DVD (if you can get that far). Pick the repair option on the first screen that has it and then open a command prompt:

chkdsk C: /r

Note the report at the end to see if any bad clusters are found. Can you get that far?

There is also a disk check in Parted Magic, though I'm not sure what it checks. Worth a shot if you can't run chkdsk.


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## dcapp (Mar 22, 2011)

I was able to get in the command prompt and when I tried to run chkdsk I got the following message:

The type of the file system is RAW.
CHKDSK is not available for RAW drives.


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

OK. That means that there is no file system. It has to be partitioned, and it has to be formatted with a file system before chkdsk can run. I thought you said that it was partitioned, but maybe I lost track of where we were at the moment. That can be done, and the formatting as well, with Parted Magic.


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