Upgrade Uh-oh!

[mb2000inc]

Machine History (bought from Tiger Direct just a few short months ago... with
Xp Pro sp2...but came with a disk of Vista Home Basic as the recovery disk...)
I bought the Vista Ultimate Upgrade about a week ago, thinking that it would
be cool and nice to have.... oops.

While Upgrading from (originally) xp pro (sp2) to Vista Ultimate, I
encountered errors and the upgrade wouldn't take....

SO, since I couldn't downgrade and the computer wouldn't get past the
initial boot menu, I was forced to put a clean install of Vista Home
Basic.... (crap)

Now, the computer tells me that I don't have a genuine copy of windows on
this PC and I can't do anything but look at my background image and play a
few choice solitaire games...

So, I tried the upgrade again, to Vista Ultimate and it won't install
because, again, it thinks I don't have a genuine copy of Windows...

Any thoughts or suggestions?

I could really use the help.
(keep in mind that I'm a novice and I don't always know what I'm doing...
however, that isn't to say that I'm a complete ignorant moron. I do know SOME
things.)

 

[philo]

Machine History (bought from Tiger Direct just a few short months ago... with
Xp Pro sp2...but came with a disk of Vista Home Basic as the recovery disk...)
I bought the Vista Ultimate Upgrade about a week ago, thinking that it would
be cool and nice to have.... oops.

While Upgrading from (originally) xp pro (sp2) to Vista Ultimate, I
encountered errors and the upgrade wouldn't take....

<snip>

You need to contact the vendor at once and get the XP resore disk.

That's very important for several reasons.

First off, you can use the restore disk to at least give you a working OS.

You can then boot to XP and use your Vista upgrade disk from within XP.

Your Vista upgrade DVD will not work unless you have XP installed
or the cd from a qualifying product...

 

[Andre Da Costa[ActiveWin]]

Windows Vista upgrade licenses requires that you have a qualifying product
installed first before you can upgrade. What I would do is reinstall Windows
XP, download the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor and run a check on your
system to check the devices and software in your system that might or will
need upgrading or updating before you upgrade to Windows Vista.

If you fix the problems, then upgrade from Windows XP to Vista Home Basic or
Ultimate and still encounter activation issues, I recommend you trying doing
a phone activation and explain the situation to the customer representitive
and they should sort out the problem for you.

 

[mb2000inc]

Thanks for the quick replies....
I do have an XP pro (sp2) disk (bought it when I was taking classes at the
local college... and its a valid copy)... the machine won't read it during
boot time, though... I tried to do that already.... after my upgrade fiasco.

 

[Paul Riemerman]

It really sounds like you might have hardware problems -- if its only a few
months old, you might be able to get a trade in or system repair from Tiger
Direct.

Paul Riemerman

 

[philo]

Thanks for the quick replies....
I do have an XP pro (sp2) disk (bought it when I was taking classes at the
local college... and its a valid copy)... the machine won't read it during
boot time, though... I tried to do that already.... after my upgrade fiasco.

If you cannot boot from the XP disk...but it's still readable
you can at least perform a clean install of Vista and sue the XP disk
as a qualifying product.

If the XP disk is not readable at all...you will need to get it replaced

 

[CB]

Machine History (bought from Tiger Direct just a few short months ago... with
Xp Pro sp2...but came with a disk of Vista Home Basic as the recovery disk...)
I bought the Vista Ultimate Upgrade about a week ago, thinking that it would
be cool and nice to have.... oops.

While Upgrading from (originally) xp pro (sp2) to Vista Ultimate, I
encountered errors and the upgrade wouldn't take....

SO, since I couldn't downgrade and the computer wouldn't get past the
initial boot menu, I was forced to put a clean install of Vista Home
Basic.... (crap)

Now, the computer tells me that I don't have a genuine copy of windows on
this PC and I can't do anything but look at my background image and play a
few choice solitaire games...

So, I tried the upgrade again, to Vista Ultimate and it won't install
because, again, it thinks I don't have a genuine copy of Windows...

Any thoughts or suggestions?

I could really use the help.
(keep in mind that I'm a novice and I don't always know what I'm doing...
however, that isn't to say that I'm a complete ignorant moron. I do know SOME
things.)

mb2000inc,

Did your computer come with a free upgrade to Vista Basic? If so, this is
why you have a Vista Basic recovery disk. Does your computer have a recovery
partition with XP Pro? If so, you should be able to reinstall the XP Pro
from the recovery partition and upgrade to Vista Basic. You could then
upgrade the Basic to Ultimate.

Many of the computer vendors ship their products without an OS disk. They
usually put a recovery partition on the hard drive. I would never buy a
computer from a vendor unless they provided a recovery disk with the initial
purchase. If the company is too cheap to provide a disk I see no reason to do
business with them. A recovery partition will do you no good if you cannot
boot your computer. I do not expect to have to call them for a recovery disk.
Some will provide one and some will not, even after calling and explaining to
them why you need it (Duh').

I have entertained the thought of buying some hardware products from Tiger
Direct, but after reading about all the problems people have (many, many
people) with Tiger Direct I decided never to purchase anything from them. I
may be incorrect, but I think Tiger Direct is basically a company that
purchases excess inventory, bankrupt inventory and outdated hardware and
software, slapping everything together to make the products they sell. If
this is the case, and I don't really know, you are sure to have
incompatibility problems and conflicts.

I hope you solve your problem. In the future, I would suggest you contact
the vendor before purchasing a computer, and ask them if a recovery or full
installation disk comes with the computer. If not, I would take my business
elsewhere.

I am not trying to start an argument or be confrontational, but you get what
you pay for. When you pay a very low price for something there is always a
reason for the low or lower price as compared to the vendor's price or a
competitor's price for the same product. You will suffer in one of two ways:
the company's technical support will be terrible or nonexistent, or you will
be stuck with inferior or incompatible hardware.

Have a nice day.

C.B.

 

[fritz]

fritz hi reading all this very helpfull . very newbe
low price Emachine. 3 month warrenty just past
have messed up good. System dump memmory error files
and a lot more
getting ready to do System recovery
have Oper. Syst. Disc
Internet Explorer 7. when resetting?
some setting are deleted
some are reset
other settings and items that are maintaind like
like internet connection, proxy,VPN.default browser setting
Toolbar that are not restored
The settings that are maintaind
Where are the stored in my computer or Internet?

 

[Andre Da Costa[ActiveWin]]

I just realized you have an XP 'Professional' disk', which means you can
only upgrade to either Vista Business or Ultimate which you already own.