Installation hangs before first setup screen appears

[Carl Daniel [VC++ MVP]]

I'm trying to install Vista build 5308, booting from a DVD. I get to the
screen with the little progress bar animating near the bottom, then a blank
screen and no further activity.

This is a recent vintage machine: P4, 2.8Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 200Gb SATA hard
drive, DVD & CD-ROM drives, nVidia 5600 FX video. All components are
known-good (had Svr2k3 running previously).

Ideas? Suggestions?

I can dig up more details on chipsets, etc., if that'd help.

-cd

 

[Zack Whittaker]

Try reburning the ISO image from either Connect/MSDN on a really slow burn,
such as 2x speed. If that doesn't help, re-download the ISO and reburn at 2x
speed.

If that fails, report back soldier! P

--
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» This mailing is provided "as is" with no warranties, and confers no
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of my employer, best friend, Ghandi, my mother or my cat. Glad we cleared
that up!

--: Original message follows :--

 

[Carl Daniel [VC++ MVP]]

Try reburning the ISO image from either Connect/MSDN on a really slow
burn, such as 2x speed. If that doesn't help, re-download the ISO and
reburn at 2x speed.

If that fails, report back soldier! P

Unfortunately, I don't have the ISO image anymore - I'll download another
copy just to be sure, but it seems like an unlikely cause - I've never had
an issue with downloaded file intregrity or readability of a burned DVD on
this hardware.

-cd

 

[Andre Da Costa [Extended64]]

Try burning the ISO also with a different brand media, or even reattempt the
install, if you have not. I got a failed install on the first attemtp,
second try it installed without a hitch. I use TDK or Verbatim DVD Blanks.
--
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[Carl Daniel [VC++ MVP]]

Try burning the ISO also with a different brand media, or even
reattempt the install, if you have not. I got a failed install on the
first attemtp, second try it installed without a hitch. I use TDK or
Verbatim DVD Blanks. --

I've tried several times with this disc with identical results - and there's
no indication at all that reading from the DVD is in any way related. But
just in case - I've downloaded a new ISO image, verified the SHA1 hash of
that ISO and will burn a new DVD tomorrow and try again.

Any theories besides media issues? Is there anything resembling a
comprehensive list of supported hardware for build 5308?

-cd

 

[Peter Foldes]

Try the install in Safe Mode. If it goes then start looking for the culprit (Hardware)

--
Peter

Please Reply to Newsgroup for the benefit of others
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[Carl Daniel [VC++ MVP]]

Try the install in Safe Mode. If it goes then start looking for the
culprit (Hardware)

If I got to the point where the install gives me any option, that sounds
like a fine idea - but it's hanging before the first opportunity to
interact, at least as far as I can tell - unless there are secret silent
options that can be invoked during the early part of the setup....?

-cd

 

[Andre Da Costa [Extended64]]

I notice that the product key used can also cause failure, if you have
access to another product key try that. As Peter mentioned, it could be a
hardware issue, if you have external devices such as USB Printers, scanners
or external drives connected, remove them and reattempt the setup.
--
--
Andre
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Blog | http://www.extended64.com/blogs/andre
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[Carl Daniel [VC++ MVP]]

I notice that the product key used can also cause failure, if you have
access to another product key try that. As Peter mentioned, it could
be a hardware issue, if you have external devices such as USB
Printers, scanners or external drives connected, remove them and
reattempt the setup. --

It fails before getting anywhere near the point that I can enter a product
key. There's no hardware connected other than what I listed in the original
post.

-cd

 

[AJR]

Just a thought - are you, or have you tried, installing within XP?

 

[Carl Daniel [VC++ MVP]]

Just a thought - are you, or have you tried, installing within XP?

No and No. The machine is currently not bootable (no OS) - but I could try
installing XP on it and then installing Vista over that. Perhaps I'll try
that if my newly made DVD fails like the first does.

-cd

 

[AJR]

Reason I asked is that it was the only way I could install Vista (but not
"over" XP -on another drive- resulted in dual boot).

 

[Carl Daniel [VC++ MVP]]

Reason I asked is that it was the only way I could install Vista (but
not "over" XP -on another drive- resulted in dual boot).

That worked for me as well. A new, slowly burned, SHA-1 verified DVD made
no difference, so I installed XP on the machine and then installed Vista
from XP. It did take a awfully long time (~2 hours) to install, but in the
end, it did work.

So far, I'm extremely unimpressed - the performance is beyond terrible and
the OS is so buggy that it's not even funny - even for a pre-Beta 2 CTP it's
bad.

-cd

 

[Zack Whittaker]

Actually 5342 and above addresses the performance quite nicely )
It even runs relatively well with Glass on my 256MB RAM machine ;o)

--
Zack Whittaker
» ZackNET Enterprises: www.zacknet.co.uk
» MSBlog on ResDev: www.msblog.org
» Vista Knowledge Base: www.vistabase.co.uk
» This mailing is provided "as is" with no warranties, and confers no
rights. All opinions expressed are those of myself unless stated so, and not
of my employer, best friend, Ghandi, my mother or my cat. Glad we cleared
that up!

--: Original message follows :--

 

[Carl Daniel [VC++ MVP]]

Actually 5342 and above addresses the performance quite nicely )
It even runs relatively well with Glass on my 256MB RAM machine ;o)

Cool. I'm downloading 5365 from the Connect site right now. Can I do WinFX
development on that build? I was under the impression that the current
WinFX/SDK bits were specific for 5308, which is why I installed that build.

Finally, should I expect a 5308 -> 5365 upgrade install to work, or am I
looking at scraping the machine down to bare metal and starting over?

-cd

 

[Andre Da Costa [Extended64]]

WinFX is installed by default, the WDK is available on Connect Page also.
Clean install only, no upgrade from 5308 to 5365.
--
--
Andre
Windows Connected | http://www.windowsconnected.com
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Blog | http://www.extended64.com/blogs/andre
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[Carl Daniel [VC++ MVP]]

WinFX is installed by default, the WDK is available on Connect Page
also. Clean install only, no upgrade from 5308 to 5365.

The WDK is for driver deveopment only - it's the Windows SDK and the Visual
Studio Orcas CTP that I'm concerned about. I guess I'm just going to have
to try it as 5308 is unusable.

I'll be burning a dvd of 5365 this afternoon - maybe this one will install
right off the DVD without installing XP first.

-cd

 

[Andre Da Costa [Extended64]]

The SDK is only synched with CTP releases, not interim releases, so you will
have use 5308 if you want access to the latest SDK available to Vista.
--
--
Andre
Windows Connected | http://www.windowsconnected.com
Extended64 | http://www.extended64.com
Blog | http://www.extended64.com/blogs/andre
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[Carl Daniel [VC++ MVP]]

The SDK is only synched with CTP releases, not interim releases, so
you will have use 5308 if you want access to the latest SDK available
to Vista. --

That's what I was afraid of. I may not actually need the SDK - as long as
the WinFX bits are there and the Orcas CTP works. I think I'll give it a
try - it's either that, or wait for the next sync'd release 'cause 5308 is
unusable.

-cd

 

[Carl Daniel [VC++ MVP]]

That's what I was afraid of. I may not actually need the SDK - as
long as the WinFX bits are there and the Orcas CTP works. I think I'll
give it a try - it's either that, or wait for the next sync'd
release 'cause 5308 is unusable.

Well, I must say - 5365 is a gigantic improvement over 5308. Still rough in
places, but getting there. Hopefully I can get enough dev bits to work on
this build to make some progress on the project that started all this!

Thanks for the help, all who responded!

-cd