Yet another Bootcamp/Win 7 issue

Sorry for the long post. I want to be as thorough as possible. I've gone through a ton of threads here, and didn't see the specific problem listed that I'm having. I've also read a lot of info on the Apple support pages, and didn't see this listed there either.

Yes, I've read through the Bootcamp installation tutorial.

Just a preface, I had installed Vista Ultimate a couple of years ago. I had to reformat the drive due to a OSX failure of sorts. I didn't try again until after Win 7 came out, and here we are.

So...

I created a 101GB partition in Bootcamp. I was logged in as Admin. I inserted the 32bit Win 7 DVD, and waited for it to mount. Then I clicked 'start installation'. The screen flashes from black to white/gray (2 seconds), and then stays at the white/gray screen indefinitely. I thought that maybe I was getting impatient, so I let it sit in this scenario while the wife and I had dinner. A couple of hours went by, and nothing changed. I turned the computer off, and then back on. I held the Option key to try and manually boot the installer, and the same thing happened.

I then created a root login, and tried it while logged in as root. Same result.

So, then I went back and tried to install Vista again (just out of curiosity). It's doing the same thing. Weird. I had zero trouble a couple of years ago when I installed Vista.

So, I'm a little stuck. Most posts mention either a black or blue screen, some with flashing cursors in the top corner. I didn't have this issue at all.


I appreciate any advice.

more info

Here's some info on my system:

Model Name: iMac
Model Identifier: iMac7,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.8 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 4 MB
Memory: 4 GB
Bus Speed: 800 MHz
Boot ROM Version: IM71.007A.B03
SMC Version (system): 1.21f4
Serial Number (system): W87420EWX8A
Hardware UUID: 00000000-0000-1000-8000-001B63A9FEBF


ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro:

Chipset Model: ATI,RadeonHD2600
Type: GPU
Bus: PCIe
PCIe Lane Width: x16
VRAM (Total): 256 MB
Vendor: ATI (0x1002)
Device ID: 0x9583
Revision ID: 0x0000
ROM Revision: 113-B2250F-212
EFI Driver Version: 01.00.212
Displays:
iMac:
Resolution: 1920 x 1200
Pixel Depth: 32-Bit Color (ARGB8888)
Main Display: Yes
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Built-In: Yes
Display Connector:
Status: No Display Connected


Power On Self-Test:

Last Run: 6/24/10 9:24 PM
Result: Passed

You could be having hardware issues with your machine. It looks like it might even be related to the hard drive. When both Windows 7 and Vista refuse to install, that's an indication. First thing I would try, is remove the BC partition and recreate it. If you get the same failure as before, it's time to run diagnostics.

That means booting your machine with the original install media DVD and run Disk Utility from the DVD. Do a verify and repair on the entire hard drive. If you run into errors, let DU repair them. But I would not attempt to install Windows again until the hard drive is replaced.

Regards.

Thank you for the reply. Sounds like it's time to cash in on the Applecare.