New Laptop + Fresh Install = Problems

[Carbo]

I purchased a new laptop about two weeks ago. Used it a few times but have been too busy to really get into it. The little I did use it all was fine.
One of the first things I do with any computer is to wipe the hard drive of all the bloat and preinstalled crap that manufacturers love to load up. Never been an issue with this. . .until now.
The new laptop came with a WD 750GB hard drive. WD used to have a downloadable utility to write zeroes to the drive and to test them for potential problems. For some reason they no longer do and so I used a third party program called KillDisk. I've used it previously, including my another laptop which is the same as this new one. Ran the program, zeroed out the drive, and tried to install Windows 7 Pro, (64 bit, full version). Nothing happened except a white bar across the top and bottom of the screen. Tried several times but always the same result. Went back and tried to install the Windows installation disk that came with the computer.
It started to install but then stopped about 90 seconds in and said something was wrong with the configuration, (sorry, can't recall exactly).
Now I'm becoming frustrated and concerned that I hosed my new laptop. For no reason other than desperation I pulled out the memory, (6 G's), and reinstalled it, then popped in the Windows 7 Pro disk. Installed quickly and without a hitch.
What the hell was that all about??

 

[Puppies04]

I purchased a new laptop about two weeks ago. Used it a few times but have been too busy to really get into it. The little I did use it all was fine.
One of the first things I do with any computer is to wipe the hard drive of all the bloat and preinstalled crap that manufacturers love to load up. Never been an issue with this. . .until now.
The new laptop came with a WD 750GB hard drive. WD used to have a downloadable utility to write zeroes to the drive and to test them for potential problems. For some reason they no longer do and so I used a third party program called KillDisk. I've used it previously, including my another laptop which is the same as this new one. Ran the program, zeroed out the drive, and tried to install Windows 7 Pro, (64 bit, full version). Nothing happened except a white bar across the top and bottom of the screen. Tried several times but always the same result. Went back and tried to install the Windows installation disk that came with the computer.
It started to install but then stopped about 90 seconds in and said something was wrong with the configuration, (sorry, can't recall exactly).
Now I'm becoming frustrated and concerned that I hosed my new laptop. For no reason other than desperation I pulled out the memory, (6 G's), and reinstalled it, then popped in the Windows 7 Pro disk. Installed quickly and without a hitch.
What the hell was that all about??

I'm not an expert but i think your ram wasn't seated properly

 

[Carbo]

I would think that was the issue. But of course that leads to the question, why did this only happen after the format? Bad RAM is bad RAM, I have to believe.

 

[pete1229]

I could be wrong here but it sounds to me like the cmos may have reset itself after you pulled the ram and reinstalled it. And perhaps the reason you got the config error with the install disk that came with the new laptop it may not have recognized the HDD after the wipe. Just my theory.

 

[Carbo]

Whatever it was, it's one for the archives. Laptop is running like a thoroughbred right now. Quite a difference going from a Pentium 4 and XP to an i7 quad core and Windows 7!

 

[Puppies04]

Or the ram wasn't quite locked down 100% and you bumped it when you picked the laptop up. Or a tiny peice of dust got between the ram sticks connectors and the mobo.

Fault finding it tricky at the best of times, you are asking people to decide what the fault was after you have got rid of it. You are never going to get an answer that is any more than a guess unfortunatly.