Windows Vista system will not boot into Windows 7 from the CD/DVD or USB drives

[Senator]

System:

HP m8187c Desktop PC / Product #: GG779AAR#ABA - Media Center PC

Vista Home Premium (original OS)

Vintage circa 2008

Intel Core2 Duo E6750(a)

BIOS Version: 5.13 10/24/07

4GB RAM

WD 1TB hard drive

SuperMulti DVD Burner with LightScribe

New Windows 7 Professional (64bit) DVD

-I am not looking to upgrade from Vista to W-7. I want to do a clean W-7 install.

-If I run Vista, it does not see the files on the DVD, but it can see the same files I copied to a USB drive.

-The system will boot from a Windows XP install disc and my VISTA Recovery disc. No obvious hardware issues.

-The DVD containing the original Windows 7 files will boot properly on a Windows XP laptop. Therefore the disc is good.

-If I try to Run the setup.exe file from the USB drive running VISTA (Safe Mode) Command Prompt, I get the message "The version of this file is not compatible with the version of Windows you're running. Check your computer's system information to see whether you need an x86 (32-bit) or x64 (64-bit) version of the program, and then contact the software publisher."

 

[kw123]

Well, is your current OS 32 or 64-bit? And is the disc you have made/acquired the same version as your OS or is it different?

 

[Senator]

Good question and I believe you are on the right track, but on this topic I only know enough to be dangerous.

I know for sure that the W-7 disc is 64 bit and I assume I was running a 32 bit version of VISTA.

When I spoke with Microsoft, before purchasing the Windows 7 disc, they asked me specific information about what my current hardware and software (Vista Home Premium). I understood them to say that the hardware I had would support W-7 64 bit. But this is where I'm somewhat in the dark. How would you know if the hardware could support a 64 bit OS? This would seem to open a whole bunch of questions; BIOS, processor spec, drivers, etc.

 

[kw123]

Good question and I believe you are on the right track, but on this topic I only know enough to be dangerous.

I know for sure that the W-7 disc is 64 bit and I assume I was running a 32 bit version of VISTA.

When I spoke with Microsoft, before purchasing the Windows 7 disc, they asked me specific information about what my current hardware and software (Vista Home Premium). I understood them to say that the hardware I had would support W-7 64 bit. But this is where I'm somewhat in the dark. How would you know if the hardware could support a 64 bit OS? This would seem to open a whole bunch of questions; BIOS, processor spec, drivers, etc.

Looking at those specs I would say it could run a 64-bit OS no problem.
If you're trying to run the setup.exe through the OS, then the 64bit version might not install this way on your 32-bit OS. Forget installing it using the setup.exe for now, try doing it by booting to the disc.

 

[clifford_cooley]

Your current OS is irrelevant, as you are wanting a clean install. Windows 64-bit should run fine on the machine. Do you have the USB/DVD drive set to boot first in the BIOS?

 

[Senator]

KW123 > The system cannot read the disc. I have a new 1TB hard drive with nothing on it and I tried booting from the DVD. It will not read it. It will not boot. It appears to try reading the disc about four times and then nothing.

Clifford > Yes, I have tried booting from both the DVD and the USB drive. It will not boot. The DVD can't even see the files. The USB sees them, but cannot run the setup.exe. See my original post for details.

I feel like I'm beginning to repeat myself.

Thanks for your help. Very frustrating.

 

[clifford_cooley]

I feel like I'm beginning to repeat myself.

Maybe so, I'm in a strange mood today. I appologize for that. I'm clearly not thinking straight at the moment.

 

[kw123]

Are the other discs you have tried (the XP disc and Vista Recovery) DVD's or CD's? If they're CD's then perhaps your optical drive is having trouble reading DVD's?
Either way I think you should get/borrow an external DVD drive and try again.

 

[Shintaro]

I think the boot menu option on startup is F12.
So have you tried accessing the DVD / CD by pressing the F12 key to get to the boot menu?