INSTALLATION FAILURE MY LAPTOP SWITCHES OFF AFTER LOADING FILES DURING EARLY STAGES OF WINDOWS OS SETUP-IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE STARTING WINDOWS STAGE

Loading Missing Firmware As described in the section called "Devices Requiring Firmware", some devices require firmware to be loaded. In most cases the device will not work at all if the firmware is not available; sometimes basic functionality is not impaired if it is missing and the firmware is only needed to enable additional features.
If a device driver requests firmware that is not available, debian-installer will display a dialog offering to load the missing firmware. If this option is selected, debian-installer will scan available devices for either loose firmware files or packages containing firmware. If found, the firmware will be copied to the correct location (/lib/firmware) and the driver module will be reloaded.
Which devices are scanned and which file systems are supported depends on the architecture, the installation method and the stage of the installation. Especially during the early stages of the installation, loading the firmware is most likely to succeed from a FAT-formatted floppy disk or USB stick.
Note that it is possible to skip loading the firmware if you know the device will also function without it, or if the device is not needed during the installation.
Support for loading firmware is still relatively basic and is likely to be improved in future releases of the installer. Currently debian-installer will for example not display any warning if you choose to load missing firmware, but the requested firmware is not found. Please report any issues you encounter by filing an installation report (see the section called "Submitting Installation Reports").
Preparing a medium Although in some cases the firmware can also be loaded from a partition on a hard disk, the most common method to load firmware will be from some removable medium such as a floppy disk or a USB stick. The firmware files or packages must be placed in either the root directory or a directory named /firmware of the file system on the medium. The recommended file system to use is FAT as that is most certain to be supported during the early stages of the installation.
Tarballs containing current packages for the most common firmware are available from:

• http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/unofficial/non-free/firmware/
  

Just download the tarball for the correct release and unpack it to the file system on the medium.
If the firmware you need is not included in the tarball, you can also download specific firmware packages from the (non-free section of the) archive. The following overview should list most available firmware packages but is not guaranteed to be complete and may also contain non-firmware packages:

• http://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=firmware
  

It is also possible to copy individual firmware files to the medium. Loose firmware could be obtained for example from an already installed system or from a hardware vendor.
Firmware and the Installed System Any firmware loaded during the installation will be copied automatically to the installed system. In most cases this will ensure that the device that requires the firmware will also work correctly after the system is rebooted into the installed system. However, if the installed system runs a different kernel version from the installer there is a slight chance that the firmware cannot be loaded due to version skew.
If the firmware was loaded from a firmware package, debian-installer will also install this package for the installed system and will automatically add the non-free section of the package archive in APT's sources.list. This has the advantage that the firmware should be updated automatically if a new version becomes available.
If loading the firmware was skipped during the installation, the relevant device will probably not work with the installed system until the firmware (package) is installed manually.
If the firmware was loaded from loose firmware files, the firmware copied to the installed system will not be automatically updated unless the corresponding firmware package (if available) is installed after the installation is completed.

hope this helps

Hi!

If I understand correctly your problem, it has nothing to do with a password you used previously.
During installation of the NEW Windows 7 it ask for a password to use in the FUTURE. That means you have to simply write a NEW password, confirm it and everything will be OK.

Please let me know if it helped.

Good luck!

PS: be sure to have at least the networking drivers ready to install after you have made the new Windows installation. Other drivers can be than downloaded later.

There are only few things which we can do if the Laptop doesnt start of shuts down at initial stage. We need to clearly understand the various stages which the system goes through while booting. And based on the stage at which the system shuts down we can analyse if there is an issue with HW or OS. If the system turns off as soon as you switches it on, This could be due to failure in post.. You may have to flash the bios and give a check to the hardware.
If it just starts the cmos and then turns off, think about any hardware which you might have attached to the laptop, remove them and then try, still if it turns off then it could be due to a major hardware detection error, which could also be due to a chipset malfunctioning on the motherboard.
If it runs till loding the OS and then turns off, we have to check the OS Boot files which could be corrupt or lost. I would advice you to take your laptop for a Hardware Check.

Good Luck.

Try to reinstall windows overwriting the previous installation so that all your data, files and programs will not be deleted. If you have your windows installation cd, insert it to the cd/dvd drive and start/restart your laptop. It then detects the installer and scans your computer. Just follow the on-screen instructions. But during setup, do not choose the "Repair Mode" instead choose "New Install". Now when attempting to install, then system will detect your previous windows installation so there highlight (using the arrow keys) choose "Repair Previous Installation". When you do this, all windows system files will be replaced but all programs and personal files will be in tact.

First, I want to know if you sees the Dell logo after turning on the laptop? If yes then this is no boot issue.
1. Immediately run the PSA. Make sure laptop is off. Press and hold down the Fn key, while holding down Fn key press the power button at the same time just once. Once the Dell screen loaded you can now let go of the Fn key. Check if the PSA will run short test for the LCD, RAM and HDD. When full color displays on the screen just press Y. PSA will continue. Just take note of any error code will appear on the screen such as 0141, 0142 and 0146 these are HDD failure errors which means HDD needs replacement. If the test says no errors found then proceed to step 2;
2. Try restarting the laptop once you see dell logo then keep tapping F8. Select last known good configuration. Press enter key. Just wait and check if laptop will load Windows. If not then, restart laptop keep tapping F8 try to select safe mode check if it will load Windows. If not then prepare the Windows OS disc the one came with your laptop.
3. While laptop is on insert the Windows OS disc. Restart the computer. On the Dell screen keep tapping on F12 to show boot menu. In the boot menu select CD/DVD ROM Drive. Press enter then keep tapping on space bar until it will say Windows loading files, please wait.
4. In the User Interface it will show you some options to select. Once the Install screen comes up look on the lower part select Repair Your Computer. If will ask you to do Startup Repair, please do start up repair. If fails try the System Restore. If fails then step 5;
5. If you have important files in your HDD then back up your files first. After backing up of files you can now install the Windows OS. Here is the process in installing the Windows OS. Insert the Windows OS disc, restart the laptop, keep tapping F12 on Dell screen, on boot menu select CD/DVD ROM Drive.Install the Windows OS. Just complete the installation.After the installation install the laptop drivers.

PXE media failure means the system is trying to boot via Network card not your hard drive. When you performed fdisk then formatted the disk, you might have not selected an active or logical partitioning to support the OS. Run the PSA diagnostics by holding the Fn button before turning on your computer. If it gives you an error, it means your HDD has gone bad and needs to be replaced. If it freezes during the the loading of files during the installation, it means that your RAMs are bad because the windows loader dumps all the information to the RAM chips. If it does hang during the installation of files, two points of failure are to be looked upon, the RAMs and the HDD. I recommend you reset the BIOS to the factory settings as to reset the boot priority so it does boot to HDD first, not to any of the bootable drives available on your computer.

Maybe its a software problem, have you tried putting in a bootable XP installation CD? After the bios boot and it asks you to boot to CD, press R for repair, it will try to repair your OS, and if it is an OS problem ,then it will boot once again... If not you can try formatting your HDD and reinstalling windows...

If you can try a different hard drive. And make sure the format of the hard drive that's installed doesn't freeze or doesn't complete.
Those are just the first things that popped into my mind,
I'm sure other's will have more suggestions.
Good luck.

The bluescreen saying about the ACPI, I had the same problem at work with a older computer. Next time you get the bluescreen read everything it says.

It tells you to press a button, I'm not sure thats why I'm telling you to read the bluescreen (windows 2000 or xp) it was f5 or f8.

You press f5 or f8 I think it was f5 since f6 is to load custom drivers.

So you press f5 when it asks you to press f6 This disables the ACPI subsystem in the setup and you should be able to install windows 2000 without any more problems. If its not f5 read the bluescreen thats where I got it!

Good luck, keep me posted and tell me if theres anything else.

I had the same problem, when I took it down to Tiger Direct it appeared that I had a corrupted hard drive. I bought a 60GB for about 20 bux since then I haven't had any other issues.