Anyone still running Windows 7?

Noah Sanchez39 said:By the way, how did you go about activating the OS? Like this?

Oh, of course I can 🙂

cosmicjackal39 said:I need some help here. I’m running Windows 7 Ultimate, but as soon as I activated it and rebooted, everything died. Now, when I power on the PC, it just sits there staring at me with a "verification DMI POOL DATA..." error and nothing else happens. It actually worked fine before I tried to activate it, but now it won't boot at all. I had to go through the hassle of reinstalling the whole OS, and honestly, I'm afraid to try activating it again.😠

If you're looking for advice on legitimate Windows 7, Noah Sanchez39 already gave you the rundown. For anything else, I guess you're on your own. 🙂

cosmicjackal39 said:I need some help here. I'm running Windows 7 Ultimate, but right after I activated it and rebooted—boom—nothing. Now, whenever I power up the PC, it just sits there staring at me with a "verification DMI POOL DATA" error and won't go any further. It was working perfectly fine before I tried the activation, but now? Total lockout. I had to wipe everything and reinstall the OS, and honestly, I'm terrified to even try activating it again.😠

Look, this isn't a Windows issue—it’s definitely hardware or some funky BIOS setting acting up... it has nothing to do with the OS itself. That DMI verification error happens long before Windows even tries to load.

Hey everyone!
So, here’s the deal—my girlfriend picked up a new laptop that came pre-installed with Windows 7 Home Premium. She didn't get a physical Windows DVD or anything, just the product key stuck on a sticker on the machine itself. She hadn't even gotten around to doing the phone activation yet when the whole thing decided to crap out on her. We took it in for repairs, they swapped out the motherboard, blah blah blah...
When she finally got it back from the shop and fired it up, the computer was in even worse shape than before. Every single thing in Device Manager was flagged with those yellow question marks, and it kept throwing errors saying she was running a pirated version of Windows—honestly, it looks like the guys at the repair shop installed some sketchy, cracked version after swapping the motherboard... After all that, she called Microsoft, they helped her get the OS activated, and she ran all the updates. That cleared most of the question marks in Device Manager, except for Bluetooth, which is still acting totally wonky. Plus, the computer keeps crashing constantly, which shouldn't be happening given the specs. We reached out to Micro Center where she bought it, but they basically brushed us off, saying since it's an Asus, they can't help because they only handle support for Acer, Lenovo, and HP. They suggested either the repair shop botched the job or it's just a software headache. So, I tried downloading the Bluetooth driver directly from the Asus site and installed it since Windows Update couldn't find anything, but now things are even worse—the crashes are more frequent and those question marks are still hanging around... Before we ever sent it to the shop, there weren't any driver issues at all. Anyway, my plan is to just wipe everything and do a clean install of Windows, and if it still acts up after that, we're definitely hauling it back to the service center. The catch? I don't have a Windows DVD to work with, so I can't perform a reinstall, and I really don't want to resort to installing some pirated version when she actually paid for a legitimate license. Is there any way to reinstall Windows without a disc? I've never messed with the Recovery option the laptop offers, and honestly, I feel like that probably won't fix the mess they made.
Sorry for the massive wall of text, and thanks in advance for any help!

Samuel Smith4 said:Hey there!
So, my girlfriend picked up a new laptop that came with Windows 7 Home Premium pre-installed. There wasn't a physical disc included, just the product key stuck on the machine itself. She hadn't even gotten around to doing the phone activation yet when the thing crapped out on her. They took it in for repairs, swapped out the motherboard, blah blah blah...
After she brought the laptop home from the repair shop and turned it on, the thing was in even worse shape than before. Device Manager was just full of yellow exclamation marks, and it kept flagging the OS as a pirated version. I guess those guys at the shop installed some cracked version of Windows after swapping out the motherboard or something. She ended up calling Microsoft support, and they got it activated and updated, which cleared most of the errors in Device Manager—except for Bluetooth, which is still acting up. Plus, the computer keeps crashing constantly, which shouldn't be happening given her specs. We called the shop where she bought it, but they basically brushed us off saying that since it's an Asus, they can't help because they only handle support for Acer, Lenovo, and HP. They suggested it was either a botched repair or just a software glitch. So, I tried downloading the Bluetooth driver directly from the Asus website since the standard Windows search couldn't find anything, but now it’s actually worse, it's crashing more often, and those error icons are still there. None of this was happening before we took it in. At this point, I just want to do a clean install of Windows. If it still acts up after that, we'll definitely take it back to the shop. The issue is I don't have a Windows disc to reinstall from, and I really don't want to deal with pirated software since she already paid for a legitimate license. Is there any way to reinstall without a disc? I haven't really messed with the Windows 7 Recovery option before, and I'm not sure if that would even fix the underlying mess.
Sorry for the long post, and thanks for all the help.

The installation should be sitting on a hidden partition. You can usually get to it by tapping a specific key right when you boot up the laptop—it typically pops up a message on the screen telling you which one to hit to trigger the Recovery. Once that kicks in, it restores the whole system along with all the drivers, so everything should hopefully run smoothly after that. 🙂

@ Samuel Smith4

Windows 7 Recovery Partition - Windows 7

The "Asus system Recovery" describes the specific procedure. 😉

Noah Sanchez39 and Keith Bennett38, you guys are absolute lifesavers—that was exactly what I was looking for!🙏🙏

I’m running into a serious issue.
I installed Windows 7, and everything was running smoothly for about ten days. Then today, everything just went haywire. Every time I boot up the computer, it hangs on the welcome screen and stays stuck there for at least 10 minutes—and I didn't wait any longer than that. It boots up normally if I use Safe Mode, and I've already tried running System Recovery, but that hasn't helped at all. After a few forced restarts, it eventually manages to boot, but then after about five minutes, it just resets itself and the whole cycle starts all over again. It isn't a virus, and the system isn't throwing any specific error messages or anything.
If anyone has dealt with something similar or actually knows how to fix this, please help me out!!!

I'm thinking about installing Windows 7 Professional 64-bit on this laptop, so I wanted to run the specs by you all... does this setup seem up to the task?
AMD Turion X2 Dual Core 2.00 GHz
3 GB DDR2 RAM
ATI RADEON 3200HD
320GB HDD

Exactly.

Thanks so much! 🙂

I don't have anything else to say about this 😉

Jeffrey Price2 said:I'm hitting a wall here.
I installed Windows 7 and everything was smooth sailing for about ten days. Then today, everything just went sideways. When I boot up, it hangs on the welcome screen and won't budge for at least 10 minutes (I didn't stay longer than that). It boots fine if I use Safe Mode. I tried a system recovery, but no luck. After a few hard resets, it actually manages to load, but then it just reboots itself after five minutes and the whole cycle repeats. It isn't a virus, and the system isn't throwing any error messages or anything.
If anyone's dealt with this or knows a fix, please help!!!

Advanced startup options (including safe mode)

Try using the "Safa moda with Command Prompt" option. If Safe Mode freezes the system, take note of the last file that loaded right before the hang occurs.

I've already given it a shot. There's just no way to fix this.

I really need some help here
I have two separate systems installed—Windows XP on my C drive and Windows 7 over on the D drive.
Up until now, everything was working perfectly; whenever I booted up, the computer would actually give me a choice between starting XP or Windows 7.
However, I decided to reinstall XP onto the C drive today, and now the system won't even give me the option—it just defaults straight into XP without asking me anything at all.
I think I read somewhere that this might have something to do with NTFS or some similar file system issue.

mellowowl402 said:I need help ASAP
I've got two systems installed—Windows XP on my C drive and Windows 7 on my D drive.
Everything was working perfectly fine before; whenever I booted up, the computer would actually ask me which one I wanted to run, XP or Windows 7.
But today, I went ahead and reinstalled XP onto the C drive, and now it won't give me the choice at all. It just defaults straight to XP and boots right in.
I read somewhere online that this might have something to do with NTFS or some other file system issue.

Just go find and download easyBCD 1.7.2 along with the instructions on how to use it. That’s your fix. Forget all that nonsense about NTFS.
And obviously, I'm assuming you didn't try to install this using FAT32.👍

Taylor Morales31 said:just hunt down and download easyBCD 1.7.2

Or grab a newer version like 2.0.2 from August 2010 (the one mentioned above is old news from April 2008) 😉

It works perfectly fine, and I’ve actually been testing this setup on a dual boot with Windows XP and Windows 7 for quite some time now.👍

Thank you all so much, but I think it’s already too late—it looks like everything has been wiped from my D drive, including all my photos
Oh man, this is terrible

Carl Scott92 said:I'm planning on installing Windows 7 Professional 64 bit on my laptop, so I wanted to see if this setup is up to the task:
AMD TurionX2 Dual Core 2.00 GHz
3 GB DDR2 RAM
ATI RADEON 3200HD
320GB HDD

There's really no need to bother since you have 3 GB of RAM, which you'll still have even with the 32-bit version... you won't actually gain anything by switching to 64-bit Windows, you'll likely just end up losing performance... I keep both versions around just so I can run things on 32-bit that won't work on 64