The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Windows crashed, cannot install new copy.

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by StarScream8, Mar 30, 2012.

  1. StarScream8

    StarScream8 Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    2
    Messages:
    37
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    15
    Hi!

    So I have a M17X R1 with Windows 7 Ultimate x64 and for no reason it stopped booting correctly one day. It would get stuck on the repair tool and would restart everytime I tried to load Windows normally. I tried to use the installation DVD to use its repair tool but it wouldn't work either.

    So now I'm going for a fresh install but the setup is stuck on 'Setup is starting' page. I tried 3 different copies of Windows 7 so far, any ideas how I can solve this?

    Thanks
     
    StarScream8, Mar 30, 2012
    #1
  2. Joe85

    Joe85 Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    587
    Messages:
    1,024
    Likes Received:
    4
    Trophy Points:
    56
    New Hard Drive perhaps?
     
    Joe85, Mar 30, 2012
    #2
  3. SlickDude80

    SlickDude80 Notebook Prophet

    Reputations:
    3,262
    Messages:
    4,997
    Likes Received:
    3
    Trophy Points:
    106
    i think Joe is right... starScream, do you have a spare harddrive or SSD?
     
    SlickDude80, Mar 30, 2012
    #3
  4. StarScream8

    StarScream8 Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    2
    Messages:
    37
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    15
    hmm can I use my second hard drive as my primary one?
     
    StarScream8, Mar 30, 2012
    #4
  5. Brabostaan

    Brabostaan Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    238
    Messages:
    1,452
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    55
    Just swap the drive's, leave the bad one out until you installed everything.
     
    Brabostaan, Mar 30, 2012
    #5
  6. StarScream8

    StarScream8 Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    2
    Messages:
    37
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    15
    The hard drive was the problem, just swapped it with the one from my old laptop, cause I don't have a screwdriver to remove the caddy right now. Thanks!
     
    StarScream8, Mar 30, 2012
    #6
  7. katalin_2003

    katalin_2003 NBR Spectre Super Moderator

    Reputations:
    14,963
    Messages:
    5,671
    Likes Received:
    1,521
    Trophy Points:
    331
    How did you get the primary one out without a screwdriver?
     
    katalin_2003, Mar 30, 2012
    #7
  8. StarScream8

    StarScream8 Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    2
    Messages:
    37
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    15
    The screws to remove the caddy from the laptop are weak so I used a screwdriver I got from my toy heli. But it wasn't strong enough to remove the HD from the caddy!
     
    StarScream8, Mar 31, 2012
    #8