MSDN Vista hangs on Dell E520

[parthafs]

Hi,

I have a Dell E520 machine which is Vista Capable. I tried to install
an MSDN version of Vista Ultimate on this machine but the installation
always hangs. I tried both of the following:

1. Clean Install -- formatted the partition that has Windows XP and
tried to install Vista. It hangs immediately after saying "Copying
files".

2. Upgrade -- tried to install from Windows XP. It hangs at "Expanding
files (27%)"

When this failed for the first time, I upgrded the drivers for
FlashBIOS, Chipset and Storage by downloading them from Dell's support
site. But this didn't change the install behavior in any way.

Has anybody figured out a way to get Vista to work on a Dell E520
machine.

Thanks,
Andy

 

[Ward Taylor]

Hi
Your download is corrupt, or the cd they sent you is bad. Try re
downloading and then burning the iso at the lowest possible speed setting
that your drive is capable of. Went through the same thing with one of the
rc's.
Cheers

 

[parthafs]

After many attempts I could finally get Vista to install on Dell E520.
This is what I had to do:

1. Install Windows XP (if it is not already installed) on the machine.
2. Update all the drivers including the FlashBIOS driver from
support.dell.com website.
3. Reboot the system and set the BIOS settings to "factory default
settings".
4. Boot into Windows XP and then "upgrade to Vista" from the CD.

This sequence worked for me and I am hoping it will for others as
well.

Andy