Please help... complicated issue inside

Got a 17 Envy today. It won't boot into the OS. I ran HD and memory tests from BIOS setup and all checks out OK. I made a recovery boot disc for Windows 7 and now the OS boots reading (Seutp is preparing your computer for first use) but I get an error message during the "Welcome" screen that says "Windows could not complete the installation. To install Windows on this computer, reinstall the installation".

I wasted three hours with HP support today to no avail. They told me they would have to replace it. I was transferred to another department. They told me that they won't replace it without running my credit through financing again to order a new one, then credit the original account. That is unacceptable to me and I would rather return it for a full refund and forget I ever did this in the first place.

Or...

I have a copy of Windows 7 Ultimate I was thinking of installing on it anyway, after I had a chance to play around with it a bit. I've read through the clean install guides here but this seems like it would need a specific approach. I don't have access to any of the software or drivers loaded onto the computer so I can't really make backups.

What drivers do I need to download and any specific input you guys could provide to make the process easier would be appreciated.

Specs:

HP Envy 17
• Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (so much for that)
• Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-720QM Quad Core processor (1.6GHz, 6MB L3 Cache) with Turbo Boost up to 2.8 GHz
• 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon(TM) HD 5850 Graphics [HDMI]
• 8GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
• 500GB 7200RPM Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
• Microsoft(R) Office Starter 2010 (so much for that)
• 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (standard) - Up to 2.25 hours of battery life +++
• 17.3" diagonal Full HD HP Ultra BrightView Infinity LED Display (1920x1080)
• Blu-ray ROM with SuperMulti DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support (Slot Load)
• HP TrueVision HD Webcam
• Intel Wireless-N Card with Bluetooth
• Backlit Keyboard

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

I got the copy of windows only to realize it's 32 bit so it won't even work.

Anyone has any ideas how to fix my issue?

 

32 bit will work... it just wont accommodate all your RAM and will require a clean install

This thread has all the drivers you should need
http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-...3-dv7-gen-4-select-edition-envy-17-intel.html

 

Thanks for the response. I think I'm going to wait until Monday to see if I can source a 64 bit version.

Would I be able to install Ultimate without having to do a clean install thus preserving the drivers?

Also, someone suggested this could be a faulty memory stick. BIOS does read all 8GB of RAM and the memory test comes back successful.

 

64 bit and 32 bit Win7 share the same keys so you can get an .iso of a 64 bit somewhere and use that.

 

Don't ask me how but I was able to gain access to the control panel and the device manager through a series of clicks after it booted into a help menu... (sigh...) anywhere I should be checking to see where the error is or why the W7 installation is corrupt? It won't let me connect to a wireless network.

According to Windows Explorer, the HD is 75GB.

What the hell??

 

It sounds to me like the hard drive itself may be bad. If that's the case, then re-installing isn't going to help. Since it's only 2 days old, I would return it to HP and either get it repaired or replaced. Its doing you no good as it is. If your determined to fix it yourself, get a new hard drive, and put the old one in an external case so you can access the HP software on it.

Good luck

 

They're sending me a set of recovery discs free of charge. Should be here early this coming week. I'll try that and if that fails I'm sending it back.

 

Being impatient as I always am, I popped in my W7 Ultimate disc to try and see if it would install. It showed several partitions on the HD. All of which added up to 500GB. I made a brand new partition on the larges of the partitions to install Ultimate. It's about to complete...

Hopefully I can make it work. Everything so far points out to the fact that the OS was not installed correctly but not to hardware failures.

 

So far so good.

It booted and it allowed me to select from which of the installations to boot into (the home premium which is faulty, or the Ultimate which I just installed).

 

Just to update, I am able to install all the drivers by navigating to D:SWSETUP which is where all the original drivers for my config reside.

I now see the W7 Home Premium Partition and the new Ultimate partition. There is somewhere a very large amount of unallocated hard drive space though.

 

Allocated remaining space to the Ultimate partition, now I have two partitions, C: with 389GB and D: with 75.9GB - everything seems to be working fine though.

 

@Svander

If you haven't already installed your programs, I'm about to release the set of drivers that I use on my Envy 17. Specifically, the version of the IDT Audio driver that I have seems to reduce the hissing from the headphone jacks. However, this version breaks the fn+b for toggling Beats audio tone control. I have gone ahead and identified the culprit for this and have solved it (no thanks to HP).

 

Hey metril.

I did install most of the programs, except the HP bloatware. I did notice that the fn+b function isn't working at all. In fact, launching the beats control app doesn't allow for bass control in any way, shape or form, so I'm a little confused there (there is an equalizer though).

I have been getting quite a bit of BSODs though... all pointing to a windows driver. I downloaded and installed almost 60 updates to Windows, hope that takes care of that.

I'd definitely be interested in a set of your drivers.

 

Just for the sake of updating, after I did my clean install, I was getting numerous blue screen errors, almost every time I would do, well, anything on the computer (one time I even got one without doing anytihng at all, while the computer was idle). After having the minidumps analyzed and pinpointing the cultpirts to an ATI driver and a Windows driver, I was told that I could either have sofware conflcts of defective RAM. I was then advised to run Memtest86+. I ran it overnight and got no errors at all.

This morning, I got the HP restore discs and did a clean install with their discs... So far I haven't experienced any issues. I haven't seen anything that would warrant me to upgrate to Ultimate vs. Home Premium so I think I may just leave it as is. It's working well and my issue is resolved for the time being. RAM is working, all HD space is there too.

I will continue to closely monitor the performace of the notebook for the next 15 days as I still can return it should it act up.

 

This is the link to my driver package.

MEGAUPLOAD - The leading online storage and file delivery service

 

Well, another update.

After stress testing the machine for a few days I would continue to get BSOD errors at a rate of about one per day which is simply unacceptable. I returned the laptop and am now waiting on a replacement which is scheduled to ship by Nov 30th.

Hope this is all worth it.