Vista Reinstall Hangs - SATA?

[Guest]

Hi,.

After a few software issues I decided to reinstall Vista. Thinking that this
was previously the easiest OS I had ever installed I thought I’d just start
from scratch. I booted up XP Pro off a secondary HDD, and formatted the
entire HDD that Vista was on (NTFS).

Now ready for the reinstall, I unplugged the XP drive, changed the BIOS to
load from CD and crossed my fingers. Unfortunately the installation of Vista
Home Premium on the completely formatted HDD stalls. I have tried at least 8
times and it hangs at different places. The closest I got was creating a user
profile before it stopped.

Vista was previously installed with no problems at all and was running fine
for a few months. I didn’t have to provide drivers, it just worked fine the
first time. I have not changed any hardware since then, and only changed a
few setting in BIOS whilst trying to sort out a Zonealarm problem. Changes
included the boot order (CD, HDD etc), and at one stage I disabled all the
HDD trying to boot only from CD.

Previous posts mention SATA drivers, would this be the problem here seeing
as it stalls at different places, and I had previously got up to creating a
user profile?

So prior to launching the computer through the window…does anyone have any
suggestions?

Pentium 4 3.0G, 1.2G RAM, nVidia 7600GT, 2xSATA HDD, Gigabyte MOBO…at work
atm can’t remember model

 

[C Smith]

It wouldn't be SATA drivers, Vista has them built in and understands SATA
natively.

Check the disk for dirt/scratches. Unplug peripherals during install, reset
the bios,
reformat the disk with the Vista dvd do a long format. Sometimes the install
will
hang let it sit for an hour or two.

It could be bad hardware, may have even caused the original software
problems.

Just a few thoughts.

 

[R. C. White]

Hi, Computer_Rage.

Please tell us if your Vista Home Premium is x86 or x64, and if it is a full
retail package, the update version or an OEM version. It might not matter,
but then, it might.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Live Mail beta in Vista Ultimate x64)

 

[Guest]

Hi, the version is x86 I think. It's an OEM version.

Also the MOBO is a Gigabyte GA-8I915P-G. The SATA drive was brand new on
initial installation.

 

[Guest]

ALL I CAN SAY IS STICK WITH IT!!!!! I tried nothing different, changed no
hardware/no drivers, just 3 DAYS of perseverence. Sometimes it crashed before
reaching the Choose Language screen, sometimes whilst creating a User....just
keep going. It finally worked, buggered if I know why.

Apparently computers work on 1's nd 0's....logic and all that stuff. Seems
to be a lot of 0.5's in all that.

 

[John Barnes]

Delete the partition and create the new partition and format (quick) using
the Vista DVD when you get to that point. There is a difference in the NTFS
format between Vista and XP.

 

[cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)]

On Sun, 24 Jun 2007 06:13:01 -0700, Computer_Rage

Apparently computers work on 1's nd 0's....logic and all that stuff. Seems
to be a lot of 0.5's in all that.

Ah, "digital systems are made from analog parts", hence today's analog
approx-0.5v "0" is tomorrow's approx-0.5v "1"

IOW, patternless stuff that makes no sense via digital logic may imply
the digital layer of abstraction has been eroded by analog issues.

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Trsut me, I won't make a mistake!