Problem installing Windows Vista

Hello. I hope I am posting this in the right section. I am attempting to fix a friend's laptop, but I am having some issues. Someone used a disk wiper CD at some point so I am trying to install Windows Vista. I have tried numerous times, but each time it gets stuck at the "Completing install" stage. A couple times, it goes to a blank screen with just a cursor but that's about it. It also will not let me boot into safe mode. It gets stuck at "Loading crcdisk.sys." I've read that it could have something to do with changing the HD setting from SATA to something else, but it seems the HP bios doesn't allow you to do that. Here are some specs of the laptop:

HP Pavilion dv4-1430us
Memory: 4 GB
BIOS Version: F.42
Processor Type: Intel Core 2 Duo T6500
System Board ID: 30F7

I would appreciate any help. Thanks

 

Nevermind, I fixed it by installing Windows 7. Thread can be closed.

 

Vista...apologies you couldn't find any help...

If you'd like some help configuring Windows 7 like Vista, there are some freeware vista themes...

Google "Vista theme for Windows 7"...