SOLVED Clean Install on New Hard Drive Fails

[Paul Arthur]

I am having trouble getting Windows 10 Installation to complete after doing a clean install on a new hard drive on my ASUS G73SW Laptop that previously had Windows 10 running just fine. I should add that when I first installed the new hard drive I attempted to use the Windows 7 system restore disks that I originally created when I first bought this computer. I'd intended to get Windows 7 back on first then upgrade back to Windows 10 again however the restore failed at the end with Error Code 1029. After that, I decided to just do a clean install of Windows 10 using the Microsoft Media Creation Tool. I created both a DVD and USB version from the Media Creation tool and have tried both to no avail. Everything looks good up until the 1st reboot then I get the Window symbol with the circle and it just keeps running. I should mention that when I first attempted to reinstall Windows 10 I noticed the installation showed my new hard drive as having 4 partitions including a recovery partition. I assume that was created during the failed attempt at restoring Windows 7 from the restore disks so I deleted all of the partitions and formatted the remaining free space and tried installing Windows 10 again but no luck. Any thoughts as to what I need to try next?

 

[Saltgrass]

If you are trying to install to a new drive and there are no partitions you want to keep, just delete all of the ones on the drive during the install process. Then let it install or create an unallocated space you want to install Win 10 and the install will create it own partitions.

Since you had Win 7, can we assume your system is Legacy and not UEFI capable? The OS will install based on what version of the Install media you boot to, if it has UEFI available.

 

[Paul Arthur]

I did not think my ASUS G73SW laptop was UEFI capable however after you asked, I googled it and found a reference on an ASUS forum indicating that it does have that capability but it has to be enabled and I have not enabled it. I did delete all of the partitions except one. I will go back and delete all partitions and attempt to reinstall again. Thanks.

 

[David H]

I did not think my ASUS G73SW laptop was UEFI capable however after you asked, I googled it and found a reference on an ASUS forum indicating that it does have that capability but it has to be enabled and I have not enabled it. I did delete all of the partitions except one. I will go back and delete all partitions and attempt to reinstall again. Thanks.

And if it still fails you could look at your installation media, or the New HDD may have a fault, or the Laptop it's self may have a fault that only shows up under load.

 

[Paul Arthur]

Well that did it, I deleted all of the partitions and restarted the installation and it completed in short order. I really sabotaged myself by attempting to use those old Windows 7 Recovery disks instead of going straight to a clean install of Windows 10 in the first place.
Thanks for the help!