Can't install Win7 when booting from Disk

Hi everyone. I have a little problem with my computer and was wondering if someone else had the same problem and fixed it, or has a solution. My computer is a Dell 8300 dimension. It had XP on it, went with Digital River download Upgrade to Win7. Installed Win7 while XP was running. Want to install Win7 again but want to format harddrive, so I need to boot from DVD. I can boot from DVD, white bar on bottom of screen appears, then flowery background picture comes up and everything stops. No install. I have tried both discs, the one I created and the disc D/R sent me. The disc does work fine from boot when I tried it on my vista laptop, able to install Win7. So, problem must be my computer not disk. I also removed ram down to 1 stick of 1g, no luck, 2 sticks of 512mb no luck. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Mar

I think you need 2 Gb memory ,though I am not so sure .

When you installed Win 7 the first time, I assume you used the custom install option. If so, why do you want to install Windows 7 again?

Are you running a RAID setup?

2 G of memory is necessary for x64, only 1 G for 32 bit, according to MS.

Yes, saltgrass. I used the custom install option through xp. I want to reformat harddrive and put Win7 on it. This can only be done if you boot from install disc. I can boot from disc, get windows is copying files, then nothing happens when flowery screen comes up. Any ideas. No raid setup. Have 4G of ram. Went down to 1G to see if that was the problem, no. Drivers seem to be okay. No RAID setup.

Mar

So you get the humming bird screen when you are reinstalling Windows 7...

Have you given it extra time? Do you see any drive activity?

If it installed once without problems, it should install again. Did you activate it the first time?

If you are trying to clean install, a custom install is a clean install. You may have a couple of extra folders, which can be deleted, but everything else is clean.

Anyway, give it some more time to install. Have you changed any hardware since your first install?

You can check to see if you have a setupact.log in your Windows\Panther folder to see if it shows any problems in the last several entries.

Otherwise, simplify your computer as much as possible prior to installing.

How did you get the digital rivers download to boot from dvd? It requires some tricks that most people don't know about.

You have to use oscdimg or make an image then make a bootable usb from the files.

Thanks for getting back to me Saltgrass. Yes I activated it the first time. That's right. I get the humming bird screen but it just sits there, nothing happens. When I put DVD in my dell laptop with Vista, and boot from DVD pick language screen appears right away on humming bird screen(blue). I just want to be able to format hard drive before install. I installed Win7 originally when XP was running, ran setup from DVD. Nothing in the setupact folder, just the logs for the original install.
Mar

It has been a while since I installed, but you should get a select language screen, then a upgrade or custom install screen, then a partition screen where your hard drive is shown with the disk options button for formatting. It does not sound like you are going through the normal sequence.

Are you sure your DVD is booting correctly. I do not think the humming bird screen comes until after the Windows is loading files stage, which is after when you can format the drives.

Just wanted to Thank everyone for thier replies and suggestions. Saltgrass was on the money. Waited 10-15 minutes and DVD drive started up again and started to install Win7 (Language Screen). This wait time happened a couple of times. Ol' well, can install Win7 and format hard drive, Yeah! Loving Win7!!.
Thanks,
Mar