Vista install problem

[Guest]

Hi, I recently tried to upgrade XP Pro to Windows Vista X32 business edition.
I clicked on the Install Now button and it said please wait. After entering
the Key, a error message stated that ACPI not found.. The XP Device Mgr
shows ACPI enabled and working. ACPI is enabled in the Bios as well. I have
heard that the HAL may not have ACPI enabled. The MB has the latest Bios that
I can find.

I also saw somewhere to try to do a "clean" install without the Install Key
but don't activate. Then do the upgrade install over the unactivated Vista. I
am wondering if this will keep my installed applications in the Registry? . I
do not know what to do. Please help, I am just a teenager.

Specs:

Motherboard: VIA K7VTA3

Video cardNY tech GeForce 6600 STD AGP 256MB

Hard drive Hitachi Desktar 160GB

Memorex DVD/CD writer/reader/burner

AMD Athlon 2600+ 1.91Ghz

1GB of Memorex RAM

 

[Guest]

Hi, I recently tried to upgrade XP Pro to Windows Vista X32 business edition.
I clicked on the Install Now button and it said please wait. After entering
the Key, a error message stated that ACPI not found.. The XP Device Mgr
shows ACPI enabled and working. ACPI is enabled in the Bios as well. I have
heard that the HAL may not have ACPI enabled. The MB has the latest Bios that
I can find.

I also saw somewhere to try to do a "clean" install without the Install Key
but don't activate. Then do the upgrade install over the unactivated Vista. I
am wondering if this will keep my installed applications in the Registry? . I
do not know what to do. Please help, I am just a teenager.

Specs:

Motherboard: VIA K7VTA3

Video cardNY tech GeForce 6600 STD AGP 256MB

Hard drive Hitachi Desktar 160GB

Memorex DVD/CD writer/reader/burner

AMD Athlon 2600+ 1.91Ghz

1GB of Memorex RAM

The concept of upgrade install over clean install without product key was to
get around an issue regarding doing a new install with an upgrade DVD. In
the past, if you had a previous version of Windows, you could still do a
clean install using an upgrade edition of a new OS by letting the installer
see the old OS media. Vista won't let you do that, it can only install
through an existing OS, not by booting from the media.
So, you can do a clean install of Vista, but don't provide the product key.
This completely installs Vista, but it will timebomb in 14-30 days. After
you install the unkeyed vista, you can use that to launch and install a keyed
installation on top of the unkeyed one.

I can't say why your system can't detect the ACPI. Perhaps it isn't
installed properly on XP. If originally ACPI was not available when you
installed XP, the HAL could be all wrong. It is a pain to change the HAL.
You can try doing a repair install of XP, but then you have to reload SP2 if
your media is below SP2, and all the updates have to be applied again. If
you are upgrading though, you may not need to apply any updates other than
being at SP2.

 

[Guest]

The concept of upgrade install over clean install without product key was to
get around an issue regarding doing a new install with an upgrade DVD. In
the past, if you had a previous version of Windows, you could still do a
clean install using an upgrade edition of a new OS by letting the installer
see the old OS media. Vista won't let you do that, it can only install
through an existing OS, not by booting from the media.
So, you can do a clean install of Vista, but don't provide the product key.
This completely installs Vista, but it will timebomb in 14-30 days. After
you install the unkeyed vista, you can use that to launch and install a keyed
installation on top of the unkeyed one.

I can't say why your system can't detect the ACPI. Perhaps it isn't
installed properly on XP. If originally ACPI was not available when you
installed XP, the HAL could be all wrong. It is a pain to change the HAL.
You can try doing a repair install of XP, but then you have to reload SP2 if
your media is below SP2, and all the updates have to be applied again. If
you are upgrading though, you may not need to apply any updates other than
being at SP2.

Thanks for the response. What will happen to my installed applications using
this approach? what will happen to the registry entries. Can I save them
through the files and settings transfer method?

Thanks again for your help!

Ben