weird windows 7 install issue

Mark · Post by **Mark** » Thu Dec 28, 2017 8:31 pm

long story but please read, over the holiday weekend i wanted to get my folks off of vista and onto windows 7 because i know it way better that windows 10, old OS but i really like it.

after about 8 diferent installs and 3 different ISO's of windows 7 pro, DVD installs, USB installs, i kept getting the same basic weird issue on the last reboot during install phase.

i tried all sorts of different BIOS settings including setting the SSD to IDE/native mode, turning off power saving features in BIOS, ect.

after the last reboot, the screen would show up for about seconds and the an error message on monitor that said no connection or whatever and a black screen.

they have a 21" acer LCD monitor hooked up through DVI.

took PC home and tonight on a whim i turned it on hooked to a 17" CRT
through VGA and was greeted to the "creat your account" screen.

mobo is some gigabyte AMD am2 board, video is ati 4850, 4GB ram 500GB crucial SSD, quad core proc.

so what would be the issue, windows not having drivers for video card or monitor maybe, on the CRT it shows generic monitor right now because the driver for the CRT gateway montitor is not installed, as is expected IMO.

the resolution of the LCD is 1650 X whatever, i know when i install windows on my 24" LCD 1920 X 1200 it works until i install monitor drivers and change resolution later.

kinda of at a loss of what would be the issue here, so i ask the PC gurus

Post by **Philip** » Fri Dec 29, 2017 12:46 am

So the system defaults to your VGA... Is that port on the Motherboard or a discrete PCI video card? What about the DVI ?

Sometimes MoBos default to their built-in video, you may have to turn it off in the BIOS if using a separate video card. You may have to set the default video in the BIOS, or, if that doesn't work just set it up using a monitor that works, and worry about it later when installing the video drivers in Windows, doesn't it work after installing video card drivers? If their monitor is using some strange resolution, it is possible that it is not supported by your built-in video adapter/driver, but we'd have to get the MoBo model and the processor to research that.

Mark · Post by **Mark** » Fri Dec 29, 2017 6:07 am

no on-board video, couldn't try the VGA because didn't have a VGA cable, not sure what the default resolution is of the monitor but will check.

Post by **Philip** » Fri Dec 29, 2017 10:40 am

If it is a separate video card, it is likely to get fixed once you install the proper video card drivers in the OS, it shouldn't be a BIOS setting.

Mark · Post by **Mark** » Sun Jan 07, 2018 5:41 pm

got the PC all setup at their house now, everything works perfectly, never have i seen such a install issue, but then i am not in IT so i am always learning i guess.

thanks everyone for the advice

Post by **Philip** » Sun Jan 07, 2018 7:02 pm

Glad it worked out ok Mark

Ken · Post by **Ken** » Tue Jan 09, 2018 10:34 am

Did you use the disk? What do you believe was causing all of the problems?

Mark · Post by **Mark** » Tue Jan 09, 2018 7:01 pm

i would guess that after the installs i was doing, i couldn't get a signal to thier DVI connected LCD screen, i had no VGA cable there to try.

when i brought PC home and connected it to an old CRT via VGA cable everything was fine, i finished up the install including proper graphics drivers, updates, ect.

but i was able to use the original ISO i have used before, so that was not the issue, but wanted it in case i needed it

Ken · Post by **Ken** » Thu Jan 11, 2018 11:45 am

Thanks for the update. Glad that it worked out!