Boot/Install Issue

[He's Dead Jim]

Hello all,

I recently acquired a Dell Optiplex 990 Ultra Small Form Factor with an i5 processor and 4Gb ram. 

It came from an office with no information. other than "the PC was wiped"

I booted it up, and it loaded a W10 type login screen with the user name "Administrator" and password entry box.

I had no password though, and thought, well I like W7 fine so I'll just stick W7 on a USB and install a fresh OS.

 

I entered the bios and set to boot from USB with the W7 install media, it seemed to go ok but then came up with  this screen

  Quote

Load Driver

A media driver your computer needs is missing. This could be a DVD, USB, or Hard Disk driver. If you have a  CD, DVD, USB flash drive with the driver on it please insert it now

Note; If the installation media for windows is in the DVD drive or on a USB drive you can  safely remove it for this step.

 

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At some point I'm sure there was a repair option which said "unable to repair, OS is missing".

 

So, I thought to myself it must be the W7 install media, I made a fresh one using a different W7 DVD and the media creation tool, but that didn't work and just gave the same "Load Driver" error.

 

Next I decided to try a W10 install,  I used the MS tool to download and create a fresh USB installation media, and booted off it  It gives the same "Load Driver" error message

 

If I try to boot from the Hard Drive, I no longer get a W10 login/password screen,  I now get a screen which says;

  Quote

Boot Configuration Data is missing or contains errors

File:\Boot\BCD

Error Code 0xc000000f

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The pc then restarts itself and loops.

Somehow I think I have broken something in my haste to get the PC up and running with W7, and really want to install W10 instead.

I can get to Command Prompt after booting with the W10 install media, but am not sure what to do next.

 

 

Any help greatly appreciated, no rush,  small simple steps for a novice pls

 

[Eric Veteran]

Can you get to the part of the clean install where it has an option for "repair?" You might be able to open a CLI and use diskpart to completely wipe the partition table.

 

Also, perhaps F6 drivers from here if it's Intel-based.

[Mando]

if your trying to install W7, you need to change the devices to Legacy or RAID (from AHCI) on Opti 990s.

 

If W10 set it as AHCI.

 

boot to the media and install as norm.

 

 

[sc302 Veteran]

The easiest solution is to get an install disk that came with that computer, the harder solution will be to slip stream the sata controller and the chipset into the iso and reburn/iso to usb the install media with the updated drivers.

 

Which way do you want to go?  Can't get the install disk that came with the computer/don't want to call dell and pay for it, looks like you are slip streaming.  

[Nick H. Supervisor]

Well you have a USB and a computer that doesn't seem to like Windows at the second. What about a live Linux USB? What does that throw up for errors?

[He's Dead Jim]

  On 30/04/2018 at 13:15, Eric said:

Can you get to the part of the clean install where it has an option for "repair?" You might be able to open a CLI and use diskpart to completely wipe the partition table.

 

Also, perhaps F6 drivers from here if it's Intel-based.

Expand  

I can get "repair" when booting with the W10 USB, all the repair options fail except Command Prompt, but don't know any commands to input.

What are F6 drivers, will it not work without them?

  On 30/04/2018 at 15:00, Mando said:

if your trying to install W7, you need to change the devices to Legacy or RAID (from AHCI) on Opti 990s.

 

If W10 set it as AHCI.

 

boot to the media and install as norm.

 

 

Expand  

Thanks, I'll check that, It's W10 I really want to install.

 

  On 30/04/2018 at 15:15, sc302 said:

The easiest solution is to get an install disk that came with that computer, the harder solution will be to slip stream the sata controller and the chipset into the iso and reburn/iso to usb the install media with the updated drivers.

 

Which way do you want to go?  Can't get the install disk that came with the computer/don't want to call dell and pay for it, looks like you are slip streaming.  

Expand  

No I don't have the install disk, as far as I know it was originally a W7(there's a W7 sticker on the machine), and got the W10 upgrade before becoming surplus to the office who were disposing of it.

I wouldn't have a clue how to slipstream the sata or chipset, do you mean that those must be the causing the missing device driver error I get ?

  On 30/04/2018 at 15:25, Nick H. said:

Well you have a USB and a computer that doesn't seem to like Windows at the second. What about a live Linux USB? What does that throw up for errors?

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No, I haven't tried a Linux Live USB, I'll need to track one down

[Circaflex]

  On 30/04/2018 at 11:54, He's Dead Jim said:

Hello all,

I recently acquired a Dell Optiplex 990 Ultra Small Form Factor with an i5 processor and 4Gb ram. 

It came from an office with no information. other than "the PC was wiped"

I booted it up, and it loaded a W10 type login screen with the user name "Administrator" and password entry box.

I had no password though, and thought, well I like W7 fine so I'll just stick W7 on a USB and install a fresh OS.

 

I entered the bios and set to boot from USB with the W7 install media, it seemed to go ok but then came up with  this screen

At some point I'm sure there was a repair option which said "unable to repair, OS is missing".

 

So, I thought to myself it must be the W7 install media, I made a fresh one using a different W7 DVD and the media creation tool, but that didn't work and just gave the same "Load Driver" error.

 

Next I decided to try a W10 install,  I used the MS tool to download and create a fresh USB installation media, and booted off it  It gives the same "Load Driver" error message

 

If I try to boot from the Hard Drive, I no longer get a W10 login/password screen,  I now get a screen which says;

The pc then restarts itself and loops.

Somehow I think I have broken something in my haste to get the PC up and running with W7, and really want to install W10 instead.

I can get to Command Prompt after booting with the W10 install media, but am not sure what to do next.

 

 

Any help greatly appreciated, no rush,  small simple steps for a novice pls

 

Expand  

For Windows 7, it sounds like your device is so new, that it needs the SATA drivers. You can download these from Dell or Intel, and put them on the USB stick in a different folder, then select them when asked for the driver. Windows 7, definitely works with AHCI, you can even load Windows 7 via UEFI install. Don't worry about changing that part.

 

For Windows 10, are you trying to install this via a USB3 port on the computer? Generally these are blue in color, if so, try using a standard 2.0 port and I bet your error message goes away when attempting to install Windows 10. 

 

Let me know if you have any more questions.
 

  On 30/04/2018 at 17:24, He's Dead Jim said:

No I don't have the install disk, as far as I know it was originally a W7(there's a W7 sticker on the machine), and got the W10 upgrade before becoming surplus to the office who were disposing of it.

I wouldn't have a clue how to slipstream the sata or chipset, do you mean that those must be the causing the missing device driver error I get ?

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You can use nLite or vLite I forget which works with 7 and above, but honestly the easier way is to load them into your USB under a folder that you can browse to when asked for them. This is if you want to install Windows 7.

 

[Brandon H Supervisor]

  On 30/04/2018 at 20:12, Circaflex said:

For Windows 10, are you trying to install this via a USB3 port on the computer? Generally these are blue in color, if so, try using a standard 2.0 port and I bet your error message goes away when attempting to install Windows 10. 

Expand  

This is a good point, I've heard of several people having issues installing if usb is plugged into a usb3 port but moving the usb stick to a 2.0 port worked great.

[Circaflex]

  On 30/04/2018 at 20:45, Brandon H said:

This is a good point, I've heard of several having issues installing if plugged into a usb3 port but moving the usb stick to a 2.0 port worked great.

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Ya, it drove me nuts on a few builds because I was either in a rush or not paying attention. Some work, but I have a feeling those that don't are just too new for the install media thus resulting in strange errors about the media installation not being found.

[sc302 Veteran]

  On 30/04/2018 at 17:24, He's Dead Jim said:

 

 

No I don't have the install disk, as far as I know it was originally a W7(there's a W7 sticker on the machine), and got the W10 upgrade before becoming surplus to the office who were disposing of it.

I wouldn't have a clue how to slipstream the sata or chipset, do you mean that those must be the causing the missing device driver error I get ?

 

Expand  

Yes.

[Eric Veteran]

  On 30/04/2018 at 17:24, He's Dead Jim said:

I can get "repair" when booting with the W10 USB, all the repair options fail except Command Prompt, but don't know any commands to input.

What are F6 drivers, will it not work without them?

Thanks, I'll check that, It's W10 I really want to install.

 

No I don't have the install disk, as far as I know it was originally a W7(there's a W7 sticker on the machine), and got the W10 upgrade before becoming surplus to the office who were disposing of it.

I wouldn't have a clue how to slipstream the sata or chipset, do you mean that those must be the causing the missing device driver error I get ?

No, I haven't tried a Linux Live USB, I'll need to track one down

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To completely wipe the HDD from the repair command prompt:

 

1. run "DISKPART"

2. Type "LIST DISK". It will show you a list of the hard drives it sees installed. If there aren't any then the rest of this won't work.

3. Find your HDD in the list. It shows the sizes in gigabytes. Select it by typing "SELECT DISK X" where "X" is the number on the list.

4. Make sure you selected the right drive as the next command will wipe it out!

5. Type "CLEAN". That should remove all of the partitions and set the drive to raw.

6. Type "EXIT" and see if it finds everything.