Problematic Win 7 reinstall :-(

[quest63]

I have just reinstalled win7 and have reams of problems which I need help with please.

1) The track pad wont scroll at all and I cant find anything in control panel to fix it.

I have tried updating the driver in device manager but it just endlessly searches for a driver without even reporting back. It also wont cancel or close on the x button and I have to use task manager to close it down. There are also two other drivers in device manage missing for PCI flash memory which I also cant update.

2) I cant seem to get any updates at all either through updates or in device manager I seem to remember years ago you had to register on the Microsoft website to get updates etc is that still the case? was it called windows experience or something like that?

3) I have a file called windows.old that's massive taking up 32 GB of my available 60GB. Am I able to use any of my old programme files in it by cut and pasting into my new Win 7 installation programme folder or Can I just delete the whole windows.old folder entirely

Cheers in advance peeps and Happy New Year when it comes.

 

[748]

Hi Questy
Stating the obvious here but it looks like you have various driver problems.
How did you do the reinstall? Was it from restore disks that came with the laptop? If so you may have a separate cd with drivers and utilities on it.
But I remember I did something like this I had to go on to the laptop/PC manufacturer's website. You should be able to find drivers and downloads for your particular device and get them from there.
Not sure about the update thingy.
I would copy that windows.old folder to a removable device of some sort and then delete it from your hard drive, just in case there's something in there that you may need to recover. Programs will not run from that location either, they will need to be re-installed on the new windows installation.
Hope this helps.
Happy new year matey.
Paul

 

[quest63]

I had the same win 7 installed from the same disk a couple of years ago and whichever way I did it I managed to sort it out.

The laptops 7-8 years old but I got the disk a couple of years ago and its originally from a different make of computer it did however activate on both occasions without any fuss.

I Just tried the Fujitsu siemans website for drivers but it seems to say it doesn't have any for my win7. I don't have a separate drivers disk.

I realise programs wont run from the windows.old location so I have to reinstall them from scratch I cant just cut / copy and paste them from windows.old to my new windows installation programs folder and expect them to work?

 

[quest63]

Right some progress I have a working touchpad managed to find a driver elsewhere than the makers website who didn't have one (the cockwombles )

 

[quest63]

Still cant get any updates it just keeps scanning but not offering me any updates. :-(

 

[YOG]

Do you have the KB3004394 update installed?
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2859120/windows-7-users-urged-to-uninstall-broken-update-that-wreaks-havoc-on-software.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You could try restoring the previous version from the windows.old file:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/971760" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[quest63]

Thanks YOG I don't have that update so that's excluded but thanks anyway.

I'll look into the other solution tomorrow but should I be able to copy and paste all those commands? rather than type them?

I have also failed to upgrade to WIN 10 at the update stage of the installation as well.

Cheers again

 

[JAC]

Failing to upgrade to Win 10 in a good thing in my opinion

Sometimes, when reformatting a Win 7 machine, it will not update straight away. It may even take a couple of days before you turn it off and get "installing update 1 of 297"!

The windows.old file contains all the info of what was on your pc before you formatted (with regards to windows), which in my opinion is also a waste of space. Usually, I try to format the drive completely before reinstalling Windows, which doesn't leave you with the Windows.old file.

I am guessing that it is a completely legal install of windows that you have done (with the correct serial key etc.), if this is the case, the give it a couple of days to see if it updates.

BTW, what antivirus have you installed? I find that MSE (Microsoft Security Essentials) works well on "legal" installs, and also helps speed up the update process.

 

[quest63]

I assume that as it has activated twice its legit. It was an ebay purchase. I installed AVG free.
I don't know if its relevant but I couldn't get the install disk to boot from the cd rom so had to click on the setup installer
Thingmajig via my computer.

 

[JAC]

That's the reason (booting from the thingimajig) for the Windows.old file. If you boot from the CD (usually you will have to select it in the BIOS menu if it is not already above the HD in the boot list) then you can do a full format and start with a clean harddrive, but that shouldn't make a difference for updating.

If there is an issue with updates, usually Windows will inform you of an error, that is why I recommend giving it a couple of days before doing anything else, but if you are still having issues, you could try the windows "FixIt" tool. You can find it on the Microsoft page.

 

[quest63]

I will give it some time as you suggest. I already tried that fixit jobby. I kept changing the bios to boot from
The cd then iir f10 to save and exit but it just wouldn't do it. And when I went back it was back to booting from the. Hard drive.

 

[red]

You should be able to get the updates going straight away in my experience.

It sounds like the initial problem was that you needed a bunch of drivers for the laptop, this will always usually be the case if you've used a vanilla Windows CD to rebuild the device rather than the manufacturer specific installation media.

Usually they'll provide download links on their website even for the oldest of models, I know I can still download some drivers for a Samsung laptop from circa 2007 but I expect eventually they will stop providing them. Maybe you'd be able to contact them and ask politely for a download link if it was previously available as I doubt they'd destroy them all internally.

 

[JAC]

You should be able to get the updates going straight away in my experience.

Maybe mine just take a while for them to translate into spanish

 

[quest63]

The problems now further compounded by a failed windows 10 install plus having to shut the laptop down before windows 10 had finished clearing its files. I also earlier found I couldn't install my 2003 office as it gave me some message about needing to elevate permission or something. Not the kind of message I remember from vista and its administrator messages just a basic very small message box. Will have to start again when I get time will keep you updated.

Cheers guys :thumbs:

 

[quest63]

You should be able to get the updates going straight away in my experience.

It sounds like the initial problem was that you needed a bunch of drivers for the laptop, this will always usually be the case if you've used a vanilla Windows CD to rebuild the device rather than the manufacturer specific installation media.

Usually they'll provide download links on their website even for the oldest of models, I know I can still download some drivers for a Samsung laptop from circa 2007 but I expect eventually they will stop providing them. Maybe you'd be able to contact them and ask politely for a download link if it was previously available as I doubt they'd destroy them all internally.

Mines about 7 years old as well I do have another laptop but prefer this beloved old one. I did manage to get the touchpad driver elsewhere and that was fine.

 

[JAC]

If you plan on starting over, may I suggest you try inistalling with an external CD drive if it won't let you boot from your CD drive.

As long as it isn't a Sony Vaio, you should be able to set the BIOS to boot from the external CD drive via USB.

Also, before you start, try and gather the necessary drivers etc.

If you can´t find them, send me the make and model (specific model number) and I will see if I can help.

 

[quest63]

Thanks for the offer It will be tomorrow before I get the time but I'll report back. Happy New Year Guys :thumbs: