Vista Installation Problem - Upgrade

[Guest]

I am trying to install Vista RC1 on a Dell Dimension 8100 desktop. After
converting the drive from FAT32 to NTFS so that I could select the Upgrade
install option, the installation went as follows:

Copying Windows files
Gathering files
Expanding files
Installing features & updates

and then is stuck on:

Completing upgrade . . .

The 3 dots keep scrolling along, so the machine isn't frozen, but this has
been going on for over 3 days.

If I try to close out the window, I get the following message: "Setup cannot
be cancelled at this point. Doing so could leave your computer in a
potentially unstable state."

Does anyone know:

1) What to do with the computer at this point to avoid screwing it up?

2) What to do to install Vista as an Upgrade option?

 

[Frederick M Jenner]

Seems like you all ready have an unstable unworkable position, me I would
have rebooted and restarted the process long before the three day period (I
am willing to wait 20 minutes or so).
My intstallation did not go well either! I felt that a had to beat the Vista
beta and RC1 onto this machine. Keep trying and you will learn more about
your machine and Microsoft Vista then you will have ever wanted to know!

Good Luck

P.S. when it works it does work well, and there is more of a learning curve
to the security issues.

 

[Rock]

I am trying to install Vista RC1 on a Dell Dimension 8100 desktop. After
converting the drive from FAT32 to NTFS so that I could select the Upgrade
install option, the installation went as follows:

Copying Windows files
Gathering files
Expanding files
Installing features & updates

and then is stuck on:

Completing upgrade . . .

The 3 dots keep scrolling along, so the machine isn't frozen, but this has
been going on for over 3 days.

If I try to close out the window, I get the following message: "Setup
cannot
be cancelled at this point. Doing so could leave your computer in a
potentially unstable state."

Does anyone know:

1) What to do with the computer at this point to avoid screwing it up?

2) What to do to install Vista as an Upgrade option?

Sorry for talking about closing the barn door after the horse is out, but
Vista should only be installed on a test system, not a production machine or
primary home computer. You should be prepared for the possibility of a
botched install Hopefully you have some sort of backup and know how to
restore it to it's previous state such as by restoring an image or inserting
a cloned drive.

Maybe the recent conversion to NTFS was the issue? There is a gotcha to
watch out for in doing that conversion. See this link:
http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/ntfscvt.htm

It could also be hardware or software incompatibilities. Did you run the
Upgrade Advisor?

What is the system configuration?