Can't Upgrade from XP Home to the XP Pro version

[steven]

A friend bought a new HP Pavilion computer (it has a P4 cpu) two
months ago that she wants to upgrade to XP Pro from
the existing XP Home version.

She bought the XP Prp upgrade CD at a retail store.
But it never installs completely. The installation
just starts restarting the computer over and over
again.

There is no virus present and the upgrade was tried
both directly from the CD and also by downloading the
latest setup files from MS.

Anyone know how to fix this?

I called HP and they said they couldn't help.

Steve

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP\)]

At the XP Home Edition desktop, place the XP Pro Upgrade CD in the drive,
when the setup screen appears, choose "Check System Compatibility." She may
have some application or hardware installed that is causing a problem for
the XP Pro install.

If the above reveals nothing, assuming the XP Pro purchase was relatively
recent, she is entitled to free support from Microsoft. There should be a
phone number in the manual or literature that came with the product.

 

[Harry Ohrn]

Make certain that you are not pressing a key when the computer restarts
during upgrading. At the start of the upgrade setup files are written to the
hard drive and then the computer restarts. Windows XP CDs are bootable. When
the computer starts with an XP CD in the drive a message is displayed that
says "press any key to boot CD" if you press a key the CD will boot instead
of continuing with installation.

--

Harry Ohrn MS-MVP [Shell/User]
www.webtree.ca/windowsxp


| A friend bought a new HP Pavilion computer (it has a P4 cpu) two
| months ago that she wants to upgrade to XP Pro from
| the existing XP Home version.
|
| She bought the XP Prp upgrade CD at a retail store.
| But it never installs completely. The installation
| just starts restarting the computer over and over
| again.
|
| There is no virus present and the upgrade was tried
| both directly from the CD and also by downloading the
| latest setup files from MS.
|
| Anyone know how to fix this?
|
| I called HP and they said they couldn't help.
|
| Steve
|
|

 

[steven]

Make certain that you are not pressing a key when the computer restarts
during upgrading. At the start of the upgrade setup files are written to the
hard drive and then the computer restarts. Windows XP CDs are bootable. When
the computer starts with an XP CD in the drive a message is displayed that
says "press any key to boot CD" if you press a key the CD will boot instead
of continuing with installation.

I do see that on the screen, but the computer just reboots itself
over and over again without any user intervention.

I also checked the BIOS and there is no option to turn off
access to the boot sector of the hard drive as I have seen
on some other BIOS's.

Steve

 

[Harry Ohrn]

Check the BIOS to see if there is an option to Disable Virus Detection.
Spontaneous reboots can be related to flaky RAM or other hardware problems.
You might want to consult with HP about this. This is a new system and
should be under warranty

--

Harry Ohrn MS-MVP [Shell/User]
www.webtree.ca/windowsxp


| On Wed, 6 Oct 2004 14:21:35 -0600, "Harry Ohrn" <[email protected]>
| wrote:
|
| >Make certain that you are not pressing a key when the computer restarts
| >during upgrading. At the start of the upgrade setup files are written to
the
| >hard drive and then the computer restarts. Windows XP CDs are bootable.
When
| >the computer starts with an XP CD in the drive a message is displayed
that
| >says "press any key to boot CD" if you press a key the CD will boot
instead
| >of continuing with installation.
|
|
| I do see that on the screen, but the computer just reboots itself
| over and over again without any user intervention.
|
| I also checked the BIOS and there is no option to turn off
| access to the boot sector of the hard drive as I have seen
| on some other BIOS's.
|
| Steve

 

[steven]

Check the BIOS to see if there is an option to Disable Virus Detection.
Spontaneous reboots can be related to flaky RAM or other hardware problems.
You might want to consult with HP about this. This is a new system and
should be under warranty

I already have talked to HP.
They say it is not their problem as XP Pro is a MS product.

I also checked the BIOS. There is no option to Disable Virus
Detection.

 

[Harry Ohrn]

| On Thu, 7 Oct 2004 11:37:09 -0600, "Harry Ohrn" <[email protected]>
| wrote:
|
| >Check the BIOS to see if there is an option to Disable Virus Detection.
| >Spontaneous reboots can be related to flaky RAM or other hardware
problems.
| >You might want to consult with HP about this. This is a new system and
| >should be under warranty
|
| I already have talked to HP.
| They say it is not their problem as XP Pro is a MS product.
|
| I also checked the BIOS. There is no option to Disable Virus
| Detection.

If this is a hardware problem, and it well could be unless you've determined
that it is not, then it is an HP problem if the system is still under
warrenty. Installing XP Pro will not damage hardware. Spontaneous reboots
can be hardware related. Try running the HP restore process to see if you
can get the system back to it's original configuration. If you can do that
and it runs stable then the problem is not hardware. Then try upgrading
again making certain you've disabled any anti virus or third party disk
management software that might be installed with the HP stuff.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

I assume that you have used the phone support number in the XP Pro Upgrade
folder and called Microsoft support for support during the installation
process?