Ive got a computer with windows XP 32bit installed on it and I want to upgrade/clean install it to Windows 7 64bit.
I've tried the following:
- booting from the CD
- booting from USB
I changed the bootoorder in my BIOs to boot from CD/USB first and I tried to format the hard drive but it won't let me do that.
None of the above have worked and I'm running out of ideas, is there anything else I can try to install a fresh version of windows?
83 Answers
The problem you're running in to is your keyboard, when you see that prompt in dos that there is a bootable cd/dvd "press any key to start" etc. And you press a key, nothing happens.
This is most likely due to that fact you're using a USB keyboard, and your motherboard is so old it doesn't load usb drivers off the bat like more modern motherboards do.
GET a ps2 keyboard, and you should be fine.
As a last resort you can try hooking up your hard drive to another computer to format it (as a bootable NTFS partition) and connect it up again. If your working on a tower, it's handy to have a box and book around to prop your HDD on as you're doing connecting and testing. Even though new SATA drives are hot-swappable if the setting is enabled in BIOS, I would not recommend unplugging connections, especialy power directly to the back of the drive while the PC is on... fried an IDE drive this way, smoking PCB board and everything.
One thing you did not mention is if your cpu is x64 capable,if it is then another option is to remove your drive and do the whole install on a tower as windows installs generic drivers initially,stick your drive back in and install correct drivers!
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