Issues Installing Any OS Other Than XP

[bsa4]

Hello, I have recently been browsing the internet trying to find a solution to my problem; however, I have not been able to locate any definite information. I decided to find a forum to ask my question so thank you in advance for any information given.

My computer came with Vista when it was the 'new thing' and was terrible. I ran it for awhile but eventually switched to a pirated copy of XP. I then switched to Ubuntu for a few months but returned to XP eventually. I had no problems with this process. Now, I have attempted to install Vista as well as Windows 7. With both OS's the install seems to be performing perfectly but when the loading screen appears with the Windows logo all action stops. The screen either freezes or continues to look as if it were loading but never actually loads. Now, I did use pirated copies of both but both worked on other PCs. The college I attend announced they are giving out free copies of Windows 7 Home so I would like to figure out the problem before I wipe my hard drive again for a failed installation.

After failing with both Vista and 7, but still wanting to upgrade my OS, I have come here looking for an answer to what may be causing this. While perusing the internet for an answer I thought it may be a problem with the MBR but I'm not entirely sure.

 

[corbett_1989]

Did you partition the hard drive properly?

 

[SNGX1275]

I would boot off something like gParted and remove all the partitions on your drive, so you have a drive with just unpartitioned space on it. Be sure you get the partitions removed, gParted will visually show you what your drive map will look like before actually doing anything.

Then I would disconnect everything that you do not need to get Windows installed. So boot up as barebones as possible, remove any PCI or PCIe cards that aren't essential, remove every non essential USB device, ect. Then try to install. If still doesn't work, might go down to 1 stick of RAM or even try turning off some things in the BIOS.

What kind of hardware are we dealing with?