I know Vista is a POS, but it’s all I got to get me to the next OS.
I’m at least 2 hours into my second “Install” attempt and since the machine hasn’t completely seized up I figure I’ll let it run its course.
I’m getting the impression that although I selected a “A new Install” that would wipe all my old data, it’s still trying to reference components of what is left of the previous OS.
A new install will wipe the hard drive. You want to make sure the hard drive is empty before you do the install. The hanging may be a bad hard drive. Unfortunately, you won’t know that until you get it running.
“I’m at least 2 hours into my second “Install” attempt and since the machine hasn’t completely seized up I figure I’ll let it run its course.
I’m getting the impression that although I selected a “A new Install” that would wipe all my old data, it’s still trying to reference components of what is left of the previous OS.”
Why keep doing this when you say it doesn’t work? Cancel the automatic repair/install in order to pull up the advanced options menu and then do the repartition and reformat, either using the menu prompts or manually by the command line method. When you use auto repair, the system is most likely trying to access the repair partition on the drive, but if the disk is full based on your earlier comment, it won’t be able to complete a repair and OS reinstallation. This is why you need to wipe that disk yourself. You seem to be stuck on following what you see on the monitor instead of following the instructions from the link I posted.