Expres Upgrade to Vista

[Guest]

Can someone possibly help or advice?
I have a Dell system purchased in Decenber 2006 that came with a Express
Upgrade to Vista Premium offer. I have now received the upgrade kit but 4
days of my life seem to have been wasted in trying to get the upgrade to
complete.

On every single attempt at the final phase where it is "completing upgrade"
the process hangs at 64% completion with no disc or hard drive activity. It
remains like this for hours , nothing happens. I have to restart the system
in order to get the pc back. I have left it overnight and still it remains at
64%. I have reularly left it all day to complete...it never does.

I have tried removing peripherals, uninstalling all security software ,
tried the lot. Everything I can think off I have tried with no luck.

The upgrade assistand DVD that comes with the Express Upgrade showed no
issues and neither did the online Microsoft upgrade assistant. I dont want a
clean install as this would defeat the object of upgrading as I would lose
much of the pre installed software that comes with the pc but has not been
supplied in in backup cd format.

Thank you in advance

 

[Andre Da Costa[ActiveWin]]

Turn Off Serial Key Devices: Windows Vista does not support Serial Key
devices. If you are upgrading and you currently use Serial Keys with an
alternative input device, you must turn off Serial Keys and install another
input option before the upgrade. To turn off Serial Keys in Windows XP, open
Accessibility Options in Control Panel. For more information, go to the
Microsoft Accessibility website (http://www.microsoft.com/enable).

Also do a Cold Boot (reset the machine) > Start the computer, when the
Windows Boot Manager is displayed, select Windows Setup press F8 on your
keyboard and setup should continue.

 

[Shane Nokes]

Dell provides BackUp cd's for all of the pre-installed programs.

If they did not ship those CD's with your PC then you really should complain
to Dell about that portion.

As for the upgrade not completing my recommendation would be to uninstall
any cd burning software.

I do know that a lot of times that can help fix issues.

Also are the mouse and keyboard you're using wireless by chance? If so that
can sometimes cause issues.

 

[Guest]

Hi Andre
Thanks for your reply.
I tried to upgrade to Vista and yet again following a reboot the
installation yet again hans at 64% of the "completeing upgrade" final phase.
Prior to this attempt I made sure Serial Keys were turned off, which they
were.
When the installation stopped at 64% I followed your instructions and reset
the machine with the Express Upgrade to Vista still in the cd tray. I then
pressed F8 to get to the Windows Setup screen. However there was no option
here called "Windows Setup" as you suggest. Apart from the normal Safe Mode
options there was only "Start Windows Normally" option which I think is the
wrong option and I was scared it would mes things up even more because the
Vista install had clearly not completesd successfully.
I came out of this scren and re booted and got a window saying that Vista
installation had failed and I would revert back to my old XP MCE operating
system.
This is so frustrating. Thanks for your help so far but is there any other
advice you can give me?

 

[Guest]

Thanks for your reply Shane. All the cd burning software pre installed by
Dell was temporarily unistalled by the Express Vista Upgrade Assistant DVD
and were due to be re installed automaticallu following a successful Vista
Upgrade installation. This as you know did not happen cause installation hung
at 64% after a reboot and failed.

I do not have a wireles keyboard or mouse on this pc. Only wireless item I
have is a wireless adpater for my boroadband connection which is connected to
pc by usb. In any case I have disconected this for all the installation
attempts as I have disconnected all other USB devices and I have also
disabled the sound card.
Thanks for your help so far. Have you any other suggestions?

 

[Andre Da Costa[ActiveWin]]

Sounds like you will just have to back up any important data in XP Media
Center and do a clean installation.