Error message "The Computer Restarted unexpectedly or encountered an unexpected error" after System Startup on Windows 7 Recovery

Anonymous

Recently, I needed to restore my laptop to factory settings. I have an HP Pavilion Model Number G-60. I purchased a set of recovery disks from HP and when they arrived, I booted the system with Disc 1 in the CD/RW drive. The installation asked for all 3 discs and after it ejected the 3rd disc, the system rebooted and then restarted. I got the message, "Setup is preparing your computer for first use"....then the Error message "The Computer Restarted unexpectedly or encountered an unexpected error. Windows installation cannot proceed. To install Windows, click OK to restart the computer and then restart the installation". Doing this only keeps repeating the error message. I looked at some of the messages already on the forum and tried the solution by Syed Karim but that did not work. Can you think of anything else that I can try to get this working? Honestly, I am very frustrated with this. I didn't buy this laptop so that I can have these problems with a Windows 7 installation that would make my laptop useless. I would appreciate any help you can give me. Thanks, Dave

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Answer accepted by question author

Anonymous

1) On the same error screen press SHIFT+F10 and it will open up a black Window. (a command prompt window)

2) In the black windows type the word "regedit"(without the inverted commas and hit enter. That will open the registry editor.

In the Registry Editor..

Browse to....

HKLocal machine/SYSTEM/SETUP/STATUS/ChildCompletion, and after highliting childcompletion,on the right hand side check for setup.exe. if the value is 1 change it to 3.(by double clicking on setup.exe and changing the value shown in the box).

Then close the registry editor and then also close the black window.

Then click on OK for the error and the computer will restart and the installation may complete. just try it and let me know if it worked.

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Answer accepted by question author

Anonymous

Seeing as how you are trying to restore your system from OEM disks that were supplied by HP, you need to contact HP about the problem, it could be hardware related.

Also, OEM versions of Windows 7 are to have all support supplied be the computer manufacturer, not Microsoft.

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704 additional answers

Anonymous

2017-06-28T22:16:12+00:00

Thank you! I had malware on my computer (dataup pup) and after trying again and again (bleeping computer's instructions, windows malicious software removal, any and all programs despite it blocking definition updates) I was able to access the Windows Update menu and download the Windows Update Troubleshooter. Finally when I clicked Reset this PC it worked and I chose delete everything and scrub the drives. I did that before I fell asleep and when I woke up 6 hours later it was still going. I thought it wasn't working (because my screen is broken hooked up to a TV via HDMI) I couldn't tell and shut it off like a dummy. I would then get this error everytime it restarted. After I got home from work I found this post and changed the value to 3 and I saw a flash on my TV it picked up where it left off at 65% so now I will wait for it to complete.

Appreciate the info!
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Anonymous

2017-07-01T05:11:13+00:00

Fantastic!!!! I've been trying to solve this for 3 days. I'd like to put this info with the post that explained how to partition the drive to less than 100GB. That helps give you a very fresh install.

Bob Glenn
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Anonymous

2017-07-04T19:24:07+00:00

Hi it worked xomes up 64 percent then keeps going black screen no error but keeps saying preparing thanks
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