I recently bought a Dell Inspiron 15R Turbo/Special Edition with following configuration:
- 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i5-3210M processor,
- Windows 8 Single Language, English (64bit),
- 8GB 2 DIMM (4GB x2) DDR3 1600Mhz,
- 1.0TB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive,
- 15.6" FHD Anti-glare (1920×1080) For ICC,
- AMD Radeon™ HD 7730M DDR3 2GB – ICC,
- 12.7" SATA Tray Load DVD+/-RW,
- Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 2230,
- 802.11b/g/n + Bluetooth v4.0 & 6-cell Lithium Ion (48WHr) Battery, and
- Blue colored USB ports which support USB ver 3.0 I guess
As I am not impressed with Windows 8 Single Language 64bit OS, I want to format & clean install Windows 7 Professional 64Bit on this laptop.
I tried doing that by changing the SATA operation to Intel Smart Response Technology and disabling the Secure Boot option. Though it boots from the DVD & shows the first (all black & grey screen) which says Windows loading files; the installation freezes at the second screen that says 'Starting Windows'.
What is the procedure to do a clean installation of Windows 7 Professional 64bit on this laptop?
Best Answer
I had the same problem, but found I could install Win 7 Pro if I changed the BOOT mode to "Legacy; Secure boot: OFF".
Note: At the end of my install I had no network drivers loaded, so had to download these from Dell copy them across to the laptop and then perform an installation. Once installed I had network/Internet access and could complete all other software upgrades directly from the laptop.