Installation Failed, Did it activate though?

I have a HP 17" widescreen ZD7000 Notebook, P4 3.4Ghz CPU, 2Gb Ram, GO5700
128Mg Video, 7200rpm 60Gb hard drive with XP Pro since new. Today I bought a
retail version of Vista Ultimate Upgrade. I spent the last two days
uninstalling programs and getting ready for the upgrade. The Advisor shows
everything is good. I even uninstalled all virus, Spyware protection and
firewalls. I checked the box to automatically activate at the beginning of
the Vista installation. The upgrade was going real well and actually thought
it was finished until it got to the last reboot. It almost gets through the
reboot and then get the dreaded BSOD, it then automatically reboots and
repeats. I then got to a screen that said the installation failed and could
revert back to the original OS that worked fine. I guess I have two
questions. 1) Why did this happen? 2) I didn't watch the screen during the
hour and a half of the upgrade, did it automatically activate or would this
happen after a successful complete boot into Vista? Which I don’t think
happened. The reason I ask is I don't think I will try the install again on
this notebook, but use it on my desktop in about three months. I just don't
want a surprise that says it’s already in use.
Thanks,
Tom

No, it should not have activated - you get that option when you eventually
get Vista Loaded.

I also had a clean report from upgrade advisor, but two failed installs.
You HAVE to make sure all your device drivers are up to date. Check your
drivers for Sound and Graphics and make sure they have the latest versions
for WinXP before attempting the upgrade.

For example I have a realtek audio onboard sound card - even though this is
disabled, it still caused the upgrade to fail because I did not have the
latest XP driver for it. Once I had sorted this (and an ethernet card that
also was not being used) my upgrade went fine.

Check you laptops website for any other useful info.

Regards
Brian.

"finalrinse" wrote:

> I have a HP 17" widescreen ZD7000 Notebook, P4 3.4Ghz CPU, 2Gb Ram, GO5700
> 128Mg Video, 7200rpm 60Gb hard drive with XP Pro since new. Today I bought a
> retail version of Vista Ultimate Upgrade. I spent the last two days
> uninstalling programs and getting ready for the upgrade. The Advisor shows
> everything is good. I even uninstalled all virus, Spyware protection and
> firewalls. I checked the box to automatically activate at the beginning of
> the Vista installation. The upgrade was going real well and actually thought
> it was finished until it got to the last reboot. It almost gets through the
> reboot and then get the dreaded BSOD, it then automatically reboots and
> repeats. I then got to a screen that said the installation failed and could
> revert back to the original OS that worked fine. I guess I have two
> questions. 1) Why did this happen? 2) I didn't watch the screen during the
> hour and a half of the upgrade, did it automatically activate or would this
> happen after a successful complete boot into Vista? Which I don’t think
> happened. The reason I ask is I don't think I will try the install again on
> this notebook, but use it on my desktop in about three months. I just don't
> want a surprise that says it’s already in use.
> Thanks,
> Tom

Thanks Brian, I think the NVidia Go5700 graphics driver might have been the
problem, but it is the latest driver. I will research this, worst case I may
have to wait for a Vista driver.
Tom

"Brian Hunt" wrote:

> No, it should not have activated - you get that option when you eventually
> get Vista Loaded.
>
> I also had a clean report from upgrade advisor, but two failed installs.
> You HAVE to make sure all your device drivers are up to date. Check your
> drivers for Sound and Graphics and make sure they have the latest versions
> for WinXP before attempting the upgrade.
>
> For example I have a realtek audio onboard sound card - even though this is
> disabled, it still caused the upgrade to fail because I did not have the
> latest XP driver for it. Once I had sorted this (and an ethernet card that
> also was not being used) my upgrade went fine.
>
> Check you laptops website for any other useful info.
>
> Regards
> Brian.
>
> "finalrinse" wrote:
>
> > I have a HP 17" widescreen ZD7000 Notebook, P4 3.4Ghz CPU, 2Gb Ram, GO5700
> > 128Mg Video, 7200rpm 60Gb hard drive with XP Pro since new. Today I bought a
> > retail version of Vista Ultimate Upgrade. I spent the last two days
> > uninstalling programs and getting ready for the upgrade. The Advisor shows
> > everything is good. I even uninstalled all virus, Spyware protection and
> > firewalls. I checked the box to automatically activate at the beginning of
> > the Vista installation. The upgrade was going real well and actually thought
> > it was finished until it got to the last reboot. It almost gets through the
> > reboot and then get the dreaded BSOD, it then automatically reboots and
> > repeats. I then got to a screen that said the installation failed and could
> > revert back to the original OS that worked fine. I guess I have two
> > questions. 1) Why did this happen? 2) I didn't watch the screen during the
> > hour and a half of the upgrade, did it automatically activate or would this
> > happen after a successful complete boot into Vista? Which I don’t think
> > happened. The reason I ask is I don't think I will try the install again on
> > this notebook, but use it on my desktop in about three months. I just don't
> > want a surprise that says it’s already in use.
> > Thanks,
> > Tom

I went to the HP web site. They have a list of products that are Vista
capable. My zd7000 is not, but I don't see why? The hardware is certainly
capable. I think they are just too lazy and not supporting the drivers for a
two year old product.
Tom

"Brian Hunt" wrote:

> No, it should not have activated - you get that option when you eventually
> get Vista Loaded.
>
> I also had a clean report from upgrade advisor, but two failed installs.
> You HAVE to make sure all your device drivers are up to date. Check your
> drivers for Sound and Graphics and make sure they have the latest versions
> for WinXP before attempting the upgrade.
>
> For example I have a realtek audio onboard sound card - even though this is
> disabled, it still caused the upgrade to fail because I did not have the
> latest XP driver for it. Once I had sorted this (and an ethernet card that
> also was not being used) my upgrade went fine.
>
> Check you laptops website for any other useful info.
>
> Regards
> Brian.
>
> "finalrinse" wrote:
>
> > I have a HP 17" widescreen ZD7000 Notebook, P4 3.4Ghz CPU, 2Gb Ram, GO5700
> > 128Mg Video, 7200rpm 60Gb hard drive with XP Pro since new. Today I bought a
> > retail version of Vista Ultimate Upgrade. I spent the last two days
> > uninstalling programs and getting ready for the upgrade. The Advisor shows
> > everything is good. I even uninstalled all virus, Spyware protection and
> > firewalls. I checked the box to automatically activate at the beginning of
> > the Vista installation. The upgrade was going real well and actually thought
> > it was finished until it got to the last reboot. It almost gets through the
> > reboot and then get the dreaded BSOD, it then automatically reboots and
> > repeats. I then got to a screen that said the installation failed and could
> > revert back to the original OS that worked fine. I guess I have two
> > questions. 1) Why did this happen? 2) I didn't watch the screen during the
> > hour and a half of the upgrade, did it automatically activate or would this
> > happen after a successful complete boot into Vista? Which I don’t think
> > happened. The reason I ask is I don't think I will try the install again on
> > this notebook, but use it on my desktop in about three months. I just don't
> > want a surprise that says it’s already in use.
> > Thanks,
> > Tom