Vista Home Prem. Installation Error

[Guest]

I downloaded the upgrade advisor and it says my computer is compatiable with
vista. So I installed it on my SATA drive, and when it boots up for the first
time. I get an installation failed error. It only lets me rollback to XP pro.
And in the whole process it screws up my lilo bootloader so I can no longer
boot up in linux. My PC configuration is as follows: Custom Built PC. Abit
KN8 Socket 939 mobo. with an AMD Althon 64bit 3800X2 processor, 1.5GB of
PC3200 RAM, nvidia geforce 7600 GS, DVD burner, and 3 HDDs. Main HDD is
IDE-133 120GB (1 NTFS Partition with XP Pro installed) Secondary is IDE-66
20GB (3 Linux partitions) and my SATA HDD is 300GB with 2 (partitions one
(200GB)is for data and the other is for Vista (100GB)).
Any ideas as to why Vista is acting like a loser? (I was able to use the
beta of Vista on this computer a couple of months ago in nov./ decem.)

 

[Adam Albright]

On Fri, 9 Feb 2007 14:21:00 -0800, Murix Bob <Murix

I downloaded the upgrade advisor and it says my computer is compatiable with
vista. So I installed it on my SATA drive, and when it boots up for the first
time. I get an installation failed error. It only lets me rollback to XP pro.
And in the whole process it screws up my lilo bootloader so I can no longer
boot up in linux. My PC configuration is as follows: Custom Built PC. Abit
KN8 Socket 939 mobo. with an AMD Althon 64bit 3800X2 processor, 1.5GB of
PC3200 RAM, nvidia geforce 7600 GS, DVD burner, and 3 HDDs. Main HDD is
IDE-133 120GB (1 NTFS Partition with XP Pro installed) Secondary is IDE-66
20GB (3 Linux partitions) and my SATA HDD is 300GB with 2 (partitions one
(200GB)is for data and the other is for Vista (100GB)).
Any ideas as to why Vista is acting like a loser? (I was able to use the
beta of Vista on this computer a couple of months ago in nov./ decem.)

There's a lot of anger all over the web concerning Vista and SATA
drives. If your MB uses a Intel ICH8R controller or similar they
recently released new SATA drivers that run on both XP and Vista.
If your MB vendor don't have them yet you can gamble and go to the
Intel site and see if you find something appropriate.

http://www.intel.com/design/chipsets/matrixstorage_sb.htm#benefit

To be extra safe change BIOS to IDE mode until Vista is up and
running.

 

[Guest]

On Fri, 9 Feb 2007 14:21:00 -0800, Murix Bob <Murix

There's a lot of anger all over the web concerning Vista and SATA
drives. If your MB uses a Intel ICH8R controller or similar they
recently released new SATA drivers that run on both XP and Vista.
If your MB vendor don't have them yet you can gamble and go to the
Intel site and see if you find something appropriate.

http://www.intel.com/design/chipsets/matrixstorage_sb.htm#benefit

To be extra safe change BIOS to IDE mode until Vista is up and
running.

My motherboard uses the nforce4 chipset and has a SATA built controller that
allows me to install Win XP on it if I wanted so I know thats not the problem.

 

[Michael Jennings]

When you installed the beta you weren't doing an upgrade install.
Why not try the do it twice and put in the product key 2nd time?
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=5932

Best let Vista manage the Windows boots - I only know grub,
which a Linux CD can fix after Vista goes in, maybe lilo too?

 

[Guest]

It only lets me do a new install since XP pro can't be upgrade to home prem.

 

[Michael Jennings]

You have to perform a custom installation to upgrade XP pro to home prem.
XP pro can be upgraded to home prem if you do a custom installation:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932616 Boot off the DVD.

Select home premium *without entering a product key* first install:
http://images.dailytech.com/nimage/3747_large_vista2.jpg
just like it shows you to do in the dailytech article I linked to.

Then, when installation is complete, run the install program again, but
this time not booting from the DVD, but from within Vista, and this
time enter the product key which is good for home premium. Also,
do not select Upgrade - select Custom (advanced). Yes, it is a
clean install - you'll have to back up your stuff then reinstall it.
Custom is the way they let you go from XP pro to home prem.
XP pro will upgrade non-custom to business or ultimate only.

 

[Guest]

Nope still no dice. On the clean install first one (boot on dvd) after it
installs and tries to boot for the first time I get the same installation
failed error. After that it doesn't even give me an option on the boot menu
to uninstall it or anything so now if I select windows instead of linux on my
lilo bootloader it switches to the vista bootloader with 5 vista option and
my XP install, none of the vista ones work all the same install failed error,
and it only has a timer of 3 seconds before it default boots to vista. This
is horrible microsoft makes OS's that don't even install properly with A++
tech guy installing it!

 

[Michael Jennings]

Give it its own frigging hard drive - that's all I can think of. Unplug the
rest for the install and straighten the mess out if Vista installs. Since
I think you'll appreciate this link, here it is, but it'd be foolish to imitate:
http://www.dumpalink.com/videos/Installing_Windows_Vista-87b3.html

 

[Guest]

Thank you. It works now. I guess vista scans my HDDs and decides not to
install if it detects linux on a hard drive.

 

[Michael Jennings]

You're welcome, Murix Bob. My own guess is that Vista got confused.
Install debugging may have been done mostly on virtual machines, not
testing much on metal computers with multiple drives and OS's.

 

[Adam Albright]

You're welcome, Murix Bob. My own guess is that Vista got confused.
Install debugging may have been done mostly on virtual machines, not
testing much on metal computers with multiple drives and OS's.

I've come to the conclusion that not only is the Vista installer lame
but sadly so is the installed software. It has all kinds of issues
finding/installed/removing hardware, totally messes things up in
Device Manager and in typical Microsoft fashion refuses your efforts
to fix them and head strongly attempts to do what it wants including
nag about phatom devices or installs multiple copies of same. How this
ever got out the door in its present shape beats me.

 

[Michael Jennings]

I've come to the conclusion that not only is the Vista installer lame
but sadly so is the installed software. It has all kinds of issues
finding/installed/removing hardware, totally messes things up in
Device Manager and in typical Microsoft fashion refuses your efforts
to fix them and head strongly attempts to do what it wants including
nag about phatom devices or installs multiple copies of same. How this
ever got out the door in its present shape beats me.

Well, it's possible to mult-boot and let the OS you prefer become clear
through seeing which one you're selecting and which ones you neglect.
I don't think that's going mainstream, but it is a way to figure the thing.