Upgrade Install Reset

[Roderunner]

Hi Folks, My friends pc was not running well (Win7 Professional 64bit) so I did an upgrade install with his original dvd. I entered the 25 digit code exactly but it was refused.
Is there any way I can reverse the upgrade to get it activated again?

[viking33]

Look in the Windows folder for a Windows.old file.


Check out the link to revert versions HERE

[Roderunner]

Hi Bob, just remembered, I could not get the pc to boot from a dvd, which is why I did the Upgrade install.
I did manage to access the BIOS but that was as far as I got, so I exited without changing anything as it would not allow it.
P.S. I believe the dvd is an original and not an upgrade dvd.

[stuck]

Is there not an activate by phone option? I seem to remember that when I replaced a failed HDD on my son's laptop with an SSD, so I had to install Win 7 from scratch, it wouldn't acticate automatically when I entered the key but it did work when I used the phone option.

Ken

[Roderunner]

I found out yesterday, I had entered the wrong code. Now it has the right one it is now activated.
I now feel as if I am the man in stuck's 'Avatar'.
All I have to do now is find out why it still freezes on start-up 65% or more, of the time.

[viking33]

Have you tried to go to Control Panel>Administrative tools>System Configuration.
On the screen select Startup tab and then see what is being enabled at start up?
You could try unchecking a few items and then rebooting to see if any of them is causing the freeze at start. If so, go back in and enable one entry, etc. Still NG? uncheck a few more and repeat the painful process till hopefully one will reveal itself.

[Roderunner]

The PC in question was installed by a staff member of Currys PC World. It has never worked properly.
I freezes on most start ups. I refuses to do any Image back up.

RR.PNG

I put PatchMyPC on the pc,it wont run on a schedule.
I have Audacity on my Desktop PC, I can set a timer to record for example 60 minutes, stop, then save the file as .mp3 on the desktop and exit Audacity when finished. This is impossible on my friends PC.
The above was the reason for doing an Upgrade Install and is as above after doing it.
My friend also got a Win7 Home Premium copy so I will be doing it as a clean install.
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One final question, The PC is currently running Win7 Professional 64bit, will a format prior to a clean install of Win7 Home Premium clear the BIOS settings as they were causing trouble but somehow I managed to fix them so as it would boot from a CD/DVD.

[viking33]

Googling the error code 0x8078002a gets a lot of hits, many suggesting an I/O error or trying to back up to a large capacity HDD. Take a look and see if any are close to your particular problem.

[Roderunner]

Hi Bob, I have been at my friends pc since 0700hrs. Changing the BIOS settings went from unstartable to start normally 'BUT' when the text 'Press any key to boot from cd/dvd appears it starts to load the files then freezes. I know the discs are bootable as they work ok on my computers.

[Roderunner]

Here is an update of my progress or lack of...

JP.PNG

BIOS with a dvd loaded
1st Boot Device UEFI: HL-DT-ST-DVDR
2nd Boot Device Windows Boot Manager
3rd Boot Device [Removable Device]
4th Boot Device [Lan]
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BIOS with no dvd loaded
1st Boot Device CD&DVD
2nd Boot Device Windows Boot Manager
3rd Boot Device [Removable Device]
4th Boot Device [Lan]
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I have done over 10 forced shut downs but never got the warning that the pc was not shut down correctly with the usual options for continueing. Cant boot from the dvd I used to do the Upgrade install

[viking33]

Just a stray thought.
Is your Avast AV optioned to check for virus at startup? That could sure make it look like it was frozen in time!

[Roderunner]

Hi Bob, I just checked my Avast on my Laptop and can't find anything related to check at startup.
I installed Avast on my friends PC.