Thinkpads Forum

Hello, guys. Right now I'm trying to install Win7 x64 to Lenovo T530, but I'm stuck with one major problem - black screen and blinking cursor after the first reboot in the process of installation. Installation won't go past this point, it just gets stuck . An important mention is that the laptop used to work fine on an older windows 7 that I got it with, so it's seems not to be a hardware issue.

I've tried using both DVD-disc Install and USB HDD install. Bios settings are: SATA-AHCI, Legacy Bios (CSM Enabled).
There are 4 partitions on the HDD right now - 3 are empty (2 for the data and 1 for the OS) and one called SYSTEM_DRV which seems to be necessary for the correct operation of the system.

Any suggestions are highly appreciated!

Did you fully wipe the disk before reinstalling Win 7? Or are you trying to keep certain partitions with data on? I would suggest that you allow Windows to wipe the disk i.e. delete all partitions then click on next & allow Windows to create it's own partitions that it needs to run. Once it's up & running you can easily create extra partitions from Disk Management

ideal-pc wrote:Did you fully wipe the disk before reinstalling Win 7?

I didn't but I'm thinking about it. Basically, right now the question is should I try a full clean installation (meaning the deletion of every partiotion of the disk, including SYSTEM_DRV) or there are any other things that can cause this problem.
The thing is that SYSTEM_DRV contains the files necessary to boot into windows 7 and also system restore files (which are unaccesible now) and I wonder if a new WIN7 will create it's own SYSTEM_DRV or the system will be totally bricked.

W7 will create everything from scratch.
During setup-start, if given the chance, delete all partitions first, then select the whole HD/SSD to install in.
Later you can shrink the main W7 partition and create a second partition for e.g. data.

RealBlackStuff wrote:W7 will create everything from scratch.

It worked. SYSTEM_DRV was the cause of the blinking cursor, so after its deletion windows successfully installed. Thank you