Windows 7: black screen before setup is complete

[sevensc]

I have been trying to get Windows 7 RC1 up and running on my my rig but have been met with a black screen the very first time the system attempts to boot into windows, but before the setup is officially complete (meaning i can't get into safe mode at all).

I have installed onto a clean hard drive. I have a Q9550, 9800gtx+ and 8bg of ddr2. I have been able to run build 7000 of windows 7.

I have already tried installing with only my mouse, keyboard and 1 monitor attached to the computer (the only "solution" i have come across so far) - no success.

Btw, the black screen is all black - no watermark, no nothing.

[bojangles]

Damn that sucks. Have you tried just letting it hang there for a bit? I had a similar issue when installing Windows Vista on my previous computer where the setup would stall for over 15-20 minutes. You should also install the OS with barebones parts: CPU, GPU, Optical Drive (or flashed USB as bootable), and ONE stick of RAM. Make sure that only a keyboard, mouse and monitor are plugged in too and that BIOS settings are correct with hard drives and other devices you have.

[sevensc]

After trying a number of times yesterday to get the thing up and running, I let it sit on the black screen over night (about 8 hours) and nothing had changed.

As for BIOS settings, I have run it with my normal OC settings, reset to factory default, and tried a couple things in between the two, no luck on that front.

I'll try leaving just 1 RAM module in and give it a go.

[Shadowmeph]

maybe try a different win7 version or go to the win7 site to see if there are any other people having the same issue

[sevensc]

1 RAM stick only didn't work. I have been all over windows 7 support forums, have found no working solution.

[Arinoth]

Have you tried re-burning/downloading the iso? For some odd reason there may have been some issue with the download, or could have been something with the disc as well. Just a suggestion to run out possible problems

[Eagle Eye]

Arinoth is probably on the right track here.

When you burned the image did you do at the slowest possible speed?

My issue with Win7RC is my current GPU and till this day upon loading the desktop it will BSOD and I get nvlddmkm.sys error, the problem is likely an unstable overclock coupled with buggy drivers.

You could try another GPU and see if that might work.

EE

[Arinoth]

Originally Posted by Eagle Eye

Arinoth is probably on the right track here.

When you burned the image, did you do at the slowest possible speed?
EE

Its the only thing that make sense really if the system has hardware that worked find with a previous operating system. As well, i've never burned anything at the slowest possible speed and never run into issues but that could be the type of burner i use and/or the type of disks i use as well. Which reminds me as well, the burning could have gone bad because of a bad/cheap disk as well

[sevensc]

I did burn using slowest speed using the same disk type I used to burn a v7000 iso, but I guess this is something I could try again - I'll try to find another download of RC 1 and burn it again.

Also, I did just try installing while running on an ATI X700 card, and I got the same black screen in the same spot.

I'll let you know how the new dl/burn works out.

[sevensc]

Well, I re-downloaded RC1 from Microsoft's site and burned the iso with a different program and I still get the black screen at the same time at the end of setup.

I'm completely blank on where to go from here.