Anyone still running Windows 7?

Anthony Stewart said:I ran into something pretty similar once. I went ahead and picked the 64-bit version of Windows, and man, everything just went totally south after that. 🤷

I'm not even sure if my setup actually meets the requirements here. What are you running?

AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual Core 3800
2GHz 1GB RAM

Noah Sanchez39 said:Try taking a "snapshot" of your workspace:

-hit the Print Screen button on your keyboard
-open something like MS Paint or another JPG viewer
-Paste (Ctrl V)
-save that file to, say, your desktop
-upload it to TinyPic (Resize / message board)
-post the resulting link here on the forum

I ended up with this link: http://i54.tinypic.com/e1rew.jpg... So—what comes next? 😕

driftingfalcon51 said:So, I got this link: http://i54.tinypic.com/e13rew.jpg... Now what? 😕

Is that really what your desktop looks like? Not even a single icon (like Computer or my Documents)? 🤔

Maybe your Windows Taskbar is just hidden?

Noah Sanchez39 said:Is that what your desktop actually looks like? I don't see any icons at all—no Computer icon or even My Documents? 🤔

Could it be that your Windows Taskbar is just set to "hidden"?

Yeah... there’s nothing there. So maybe that's the issue. If the Windows Taskbar really is hidden—what should I do? 😁

driftingfalcon51 said:Yeah... I don't have anything else. Maybe that's it. But what if the Windows Taskbar is just hidden? What am I supposed to do then? 😁

Move your cursor to the bottom of the screen. Once the Taskbar pops up, right-click it and look for an unhide option or something similar. 🙄

Noah Sanchez39 said:Move your cursor to the bottom of the screen—once the Taskbar appears—then right-click and select unhide, or something along those lines. 🙄

True, but the Taskbar simply isn't appearing. Regardless—thanks so much for the help!

Noah Sanchez39 said:Move your cursor to the bottom of the screen—once the Taskbar pops up—then right-click and select unhide or something similar 🙄

True, but the Taskbar simply isn't appearing at all. Regardless—thanks so much for the help!

driftingfalcon51 said:I can't tell if this is a Windows issue or what, but whenever I boot up my laptop and everything goes black after I log in (zero icons on the desktop, no Windows Taskbar, nothing...), then when I mash that little arrow key repeatedly, the Sticky Keys prompt pops up, which is how I finally managed to get online.

So you log into Windows 7 (do you even know which version?) and all you see is a BLACK DESKTOP? 😲

Are you talking about the indicator above the Shift key? That's Caps Lock.

Hey there! So, I'm running into a bit of a headache while trying to install Windows 7. Here’s the deal: I've got this 80GB partition ready to go, but for some reason, it's showing up as a logical drive instead of primary. Anyway, I'm following the standard steps and everything seems fine at first—I check the box to start copying Windows Files, and it moves right along to Expanding Windows Files. That's where things fall apart. When it hits about 27%, I just force a restart, and it actually works. But then, once it reaches the 36% mark, the screen just goes black, the whole system reboots, and it kicks me straight back into my old Windows XP. If anyone has any idea what's causing this mess, I'd really appreciate the help. thanks!

Nathan Ramos62 said:Hey there. I'm running into a wall trying to install Windows 7. I've got this 80GB partition ready to go, but instead of showing up as primary, it's listed as logical. I've been following the usual steps and everything seems fine at first—it hits the "copying Windows files" stage, checks the box, moves right along to "Expanding Windows Files." But that's where the wheels fall off. When it hits about 27%, I just pull the plug, reboot, and somehow it works. But then? Once it reaches 36%, the screen just goes black and the whole thing restarts, booting me right back into my old Windows XP. Anyone have a clue what's going on here? I'd really appreciate the help. Thanks!

did you actually format the partition where XP is sitting before you started

Douglas Garcia52 said:Did you actually format the partition where Windows XP was sitting during the install?

Yeah, I did. But the second I try to do it again, the whole thing just breaks, and before I know it, even my Windows XP is gone.

Nathan Ramos62 said:Yeah, I did. But then the second I try doing it again, the whole thing breaks, and after that? Forget about it. Even Windows XP is gone.

Are you even sure that install DVD isn't a dud?
I mean, I assume you actually know what you're doing when it comes to installing Windows 7, right?

Douglas Garcia52 said:Are you absolutely positive that installation DVD isn't a dud?
I mean, I assume you actually know what you're doing when it comes to installing Windows 7.

Look, I tested that exact same disc at a buddy's place just yesterday and everything worked perfectly fine—even on the x64 version.

I follow every single step, make sure there's plenty of free space, and then... out of nowhere, the screen just goes black, the whole thing restarts, and I'm right back in XP.

I read somewhere online that it might be an issue with the AHCI settings in the BIOS, but honestly, I'm totally lost on what to do next.

Nathan Ramos62 said:I was just messing around with that disc at a buddy's place yesterday and everything worked fine, even on x64.

I follow all the steps, plenty of disk space, then suddenly—bam—black screen, reboot, and I'm right back in XP.

I read somewhere that maybe it's an issue with AHCI in the BIOS, but honestly, I'm totally lost here.

Look, when you're installing Windows 7, it's totally normal for the PC to reboot itself a few times during the process. But if your DVD isn't bunk and you're pretty sure you aren't screwing up the steps... man, I don't know what else to tell you.🤷

Douglas Garcia52 said:Look, when you're installing Windows 7, it’s totally normal for the computer to reboot itself a couple of times during the process. As long as your DVD isn't a piece of junk and you're actually following the steps correctly, I honestly have no clue what else could be going wrong here. 🤷

The instructions literally say it should restart on its own, but once it does, it's supposed to pick up where it left off, not just kick me right back into Windows XP.

Nathan Ramos62 said:I read somewhere that maybe it's an issue with Enable AHCI in the BIOS, but honestly, I have no clue what to do next.

Check out this article: How to Enable AHCI in Windows 7 | Windows 7 News 😉

Noah Sanchez39 said:Check out this article: How to Enable AHCI in Windows 7 | Windows 7 News 😉

I'm keeping an eye on everything, but I haven't come across that latest "msahci" thing yet.

Nathan Ramos62 said:I'm following everything, but I don't see this latest "msahci" thing.

Try a quick reboot and jump straight into the BIOS (hit Del or F8). Under the "Main" tab, you should see an option for "SATA configuration." From there, just toggle between IDE or AHCI; at least that's how it works on my rig.🙄

You can install it on IDE or AHCI...

But honestly, going with AHCI is definitely the better way to go...

Take multitasking, for example—it handles it way more efficiently. If you're recording a podcast while browsing the web at the same time, an IDE setup will start stuttering because the drive just can't juggle the simultaneous read/write demands from the cache. In my experience, if you're recording, you really shouldn't be surfing the web on IDE. With AHCI, that isn't an issue; it handles both tasks without any bad sectors or lag. That’s just how it works in practice. Don't get me wrong, Windows 7 runs fine on IDE, it's just specifically struggling with that particular workload on my machine...

👍

I went digging through my BIOS settings, but I couldn't find it anywhere. Is it possible my board just doesn't support this?
Here’s what I'm running:
BIOS: Phoenix - Award Workstation BIOS v6.00PG
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 3800+, MMX, 3DNow (2 CPUs), ~2.0GHz
Memory: 1GB RAM
ATI Radeon hd 4300/4500 Series