Windows 7 install issues on Dell Studio XPS 8000

[HFultzjr]

Hello everyone,

I'm looking for some help - suggestions please.

Customer brought in a Dell Studio XPS 8000.
Out of warranty......hard drive dead.
Replaced with a new one.
Customer never made recovery disks and since the drive died, no recovery partition.

No problem, I'll just install a copy of Win 7 from my disk collection and update drivers, etc.

Here is where the problem is:
When I boot from the DVD and start the installation process, I get an error about a CD/DVD driver missing, please browse to location to install.
No matter what I try I can't get past this point. I've seen lots of posts about this issue and none of the fixes are working.

Here are the computer specs:
Dell Studio XPS 8000 purchased 2009
6GB Ram
500GB SATA hard drive
CD/DVD-RW SATA combo drive
Win 7 Home Premium 64bit

Here are the things I've tried so far with no success, always getting to the same error:
Regular procedure - error
Checked BIOS, drives are showing correctly
Checked BIOS SATA controllers, options are ATA and RAID - error
Changed cables and used different ports on motherboard - error
Dropped down to 2GB Ram as per one post suggested - error
Win 7 disk had been used before, so shouldn't be an issue
Boots to live cd's just fine
Tried pointing to drivers it is asking for - error


Here are some things I plan to try:
Boot and install from USB DVD drive
Replace DVD drive with a different one

By the way, I have ordered a replacement set of recovery media from DELL, but this is driving me nuts. I hate when I can't get something figured out, that should work. So, I'm going to keep trying until recovery disks arrive.

Although I have only done a few Win 7 re-installs, I've done many XP and Vista. I've had a few issues with some, but always worked through them. This one has me stumped. Lots of Google searches with a lot of different answers, but so far none have seemed to work. Quite a common problem from the amount of Google posts, but no general reason why.

Has anybody come across this? Any help or info appreciated.

Thanks,
Harold
ACS Alternative Computer Solutions

 

[markcuk11]

set the storage controller to ide and try again and if it works change it back to ahci after installation http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/61869-ahci-enable-windows-7-vista.html

 

[HFultzjr]

Yes, I have done that before on different occasions, but this time the only BIOS options for changing the SATA is ATA and RAID, both result in the same error. Nothings shows an option for IDE.




Thanks,
Harold
ACS Alternative Computer Solutions

 

[gazza]

I have only ever seen this happen on some Dell computers.

Download this file from my dropbox http://db.tt/HdHyjUtR

Run the file and copy the XP folder to a USB stick and when ask by Windows 7 for the missing cd/dvd driver browse to the XP folder on the usb stick and you should be able to continue the installation.

 

[JD1248]

I recently had a dell I was upgrading from vista to 7 do the same thing. It was a remote job. I downloaded a win7 home premium 64 bit from technet, everything seemed fine til we got that error. After googling, I decided to try downloading a 32 bit version. I also burned the iso at a slower speed. One of those two things solved the problem, since it installed just fine after that.

JD

 

[HFultzjr]

JD1248,

Thanks for the response. Customer's machine has 6GB Ram, so I really don't want to go the 32bit route. I have also heard about the burning at slower speed, but since I've used this install disk before, I thinks it's a good burn.
Thanks for the advice, I'll keep it in mind if I still don't get anywhere.

gazza,

Thanks for the file, I'll give it a try.

All,
For what it's worth I get the same error from a USB External DVD drive.
Now that really doesn't make sense, does it? Read somewhere that this message means drivers for the chipset, not CD/DVD as the messsage says.


Thanks,
Harold
ACS Alternative Computer Solutions

 

[HFultzjr]

Well.......the Dell Recovery Media arrived. I needed to get this thing out of here, so I used them and all went well.

Thanks to all for your help and info. I'll keep it in mind in case I ever need it again.

gazza....thanks for the file, I'll keep it for future use. That was very kind of you.

I wish I could of had more time to figure this out, but I need to remember that I don't get paid until it's out the door.

Guess I'll never know what was really hapening......I hate that!

Thanks,
Harold
ACS Alternative Computer Solutions

 

[NBCS]

Maybe an updated BIOS would fix it? Sounds like a bug.