How-To Geek

Had to replace my HD and used the image bu I made, but now it will not start. I get the Dell screen but afterwards just a dark empty screen.
I am restoring it again. Can I let it run until next morning? It's not even halfway done yet.
Dell 8100
Win 7 64bit

I did let it run all night, but nothing changed. Windows will not start from the BU or the old HD. Gave up and now formatted the new HD to remove everything and thought I would just put a fresh install of Win on it. Nope. I keep getting a screen saying: Windows failed to start .
1. Insert Win Cd and restart
2. Choose Lang settings - never get that far because I keep getting same screen and can't get out of it
How do I install Win from the Dell cd.
I am beyond upset.

Just an update: took it to a shop. I ran out of ideas.

It seems like a combo of Windows Issue plus a failing HD. Thought it was a simple fix. Ha ha

i have been using computers for the past 25 years my first was an xt with floppies and win over the years i have learned to back up everything no matter how inconsequencial it may seem and have tons of frivoulous stuff. recently i got a hp pavilion dv7 and the first thing i did was make a back up of the system because it came without disks which needless to say is a real p----- but anyway the inevetable happend and my windows crashed so hard there was nothing i could do so i had to reformat the hd. my restore disk starts fine, i can use the file manager to move delete copy and all the stuff. so i know the disk is fine. i have a toshiba 1tb external disk that i keep my files on so that is not a worry. but no matter what i do i can't get the system disk to recognize the systemimagebackup. i went into diskpart and formatted the drive thinking it would help because i used its tool, nope i then deleted the volume hoping the disk would do something with that, nope i then removed the partition, nope then i made it a dynamic disk, nope so i formated it to a linux volume hoping for something to happen, nope i tried slax, nope i tried linus, nope i have went thru several hundred files and clicked on them to see if the system would recognize the backup image, nope i have been trying to get it to work for a month. i took it back to the store where i purchased it, with $180 worth of insurance, they wanted to charge me $69 to put a new copy on and not the backup,nope why should i pay when i have insurance and the paperwork and reciepts to prove it. sorry service charges are not covered under the insurance just a replacement if needed but then they would not be able to get to it for quite some time because of the work backlog. so now i have a $1200 text editor. not even a real word processor. anyway do you have any suggestions other than the garbage can which i have been looking at real hard. i hope that it doesnt take until next month for a reply. i refuse to pay for disks when they should have come with the machine, needless to say i think very low of Hewlett Packed now.

@richardprivy, I know you spent some time compiling your problem but, you should start a new topic if you want answers specific to it.