M
Mikester71
I did a reinstall of his old XP Home 32 bit version instead before
trying Vista again.
I did a reinstall of his old XP Home 32 bit version instead before
trying Vista again.
M
Mikester71
I am pretty sure I did. It came up to the desktop and restarted a few
times and did some updates and that.
X
xfile
Hi,
If I understood correctly, you have tried twice but each time with XP
installed first?
If that's the case and you still wish to give it another chance, the
following article may help you:
How to Clean Install Windows Vista with Upgrade Media:
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/winvista_upgrade_clean.asp
I'd suggest to get device drivers (Vista version) ready before doing the
clean install and back up important data and files.
Hope this helps and good luck.
If I understood correctly, you have tried twice but each time with XP
installed first?
If that's the case and you still wish to give it another chance, the
following article may help you:
How to Clean Install Windows Vista with Upgrade Media:
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/winvista_upgrade_clean.asp
I'd suggest to get device drivers (Vista version) ready before doing the
clean install and back up important data and files.
Hope this helps and good luck.
M
Mikester71
..
Cool, will give that a try right now.
D
DP
So, you're saying your original installation of Vista was to upgrade from
64-bit XP to 32-bit Vista?
And when I say upgrade, I mean using the upgrade process. That could have
been the source of the original problem. And, as another poster pointed out,
don't upgrade. Just do a completely clean installation. There's no need to
install any flavor of XP first.
As I understand it from this newsgroup, you can still use the upgrade disk
to do a clean installation of Vista.
M
Mikester71
So, you're saying your original installation of Vista was to upgrade from
That is correct. His computer came with 64-bit XP Pro on it when I
bought it off this guy, but he didn't give me the original CD. The
computer worked fine for the last year that we have had it, until a
couple of days ago when he got this virus. When I originally loaded
Vista on his machine last night, it was as a clean install over the XP
Pro. This morning I did a reformat and installed a legal copy of XP
Home 32-bit and then put Vista in right away and did the upgrade this
time; same result.
So to sum it up, tried both upgrade and clean install both with the
same result. This is getting maddening as I have spent about 15 or
more hours now since last night on this and most of the time is just
sitting there waiting for it to let me do anything before the next
hangup.
Thanks again guys.
That is correct. His computer came with 64-bit XP Pro on it when I
bought it off this guy, but he didn't give me the original CD. The
computer worked fine for the last year that we have had it, until a
couple of days ago when he got this virus. When I originally loaded
Vista on his machine last night, it was as a clean install over the XP
Pro. This morning I did a reformat and installed a legal copy of XP
Home 32-bit and then put Vista in right away and did the upgrade this
time; same result.
So to sum it up, tried both upgrade and clean install both with the
same result. This is getting maddening as I have spent about 15 or
more hours now since last night on this and most of the time is just
sitting there waiting for it to let me do anything before the next
hangup.
Thanks again guys.
M
Mikester71
Talk about frustrating. It is a little after 1am right now and I am
still at a stand still with this stupid computer. I am almost
wondering if it isn't the hard drive or something else now. The only
headway I made all yesterday on the problem was that I managed to get
the conflicts in Device Manager solved. I loaded the Vista 32bit
drivers for the Radeon X1950 PCI-E video card and that took care of
that. But still having to wait after doing anything.
The reason I mentioned the hard drive is because when the computer
goes in this almost frozen state for almost 20 minutes to 30 minutes
now, the hard drive light on the front of his case does nothing the
whole time. Just before it is about to come back again, you can here
and see the light and hard drive start to do something. Like I said
earlier yesterday, I believe it is not a memory problem as I let Vista
do the Memory test on it and it checked out perfectly. Most of the
parts in his computer are only a few months to half a year old at
best, so I still think it is Vista related. Plus his computer ran okay
with XP installed on it for as long as he has had it (6 - 8 months).
I am going to TRY and get a virus scan done on it today and if that
checks back okay, I guess I might have to give Microsoft Support a
call or something. What a frustrating day and a half. Well, thanks
again for all the suggestions. If you think of ANYTHING else that I
could try, please fell free to post away. I'll try anything now. I
just feel SO bad for my son; he gets Vista and Halo 2 for his birthday
yesterday and is all excited (he's only 11 and loves computer gaming
more than console gaming) only to have to sit and watch his old dad
piss around on his machine for a day and a half (and counting).
Thanks,
Mike
still at a stand still with this stupid computer. I am almost
wondering if it isn't the hard drive or something else now. The only
headway I made all yesterday on the problem was that I managed to get
the conflicts in Device Manager solved. I loaded the Vista 32bit
drivers for the Radeon X1950 PCI-E video card and that took care of
that. But still having to wait after doing anything.
The reason I mentioned the hard drive is because when the computer
goes in this almost frozen state for almost 20 minutes to 30 minutes
now, the hard drive light on the front of his case does nothing the
whole time. Just before it is about to come back again, you can here
and see the light and hard drive start to do something. Like I said
earlier yesterday, I believe it is not a memory problem as I let Vista
do the Memory test on it and it checked out perfectly. Most of the
parts in his computer are only a few months to half a year old at
best, so I still think it is Vista related. Plus his computer ran okay
with XP installed on it for as long as he has had it (6 - 8 months).
I am going to TRY and get a virus scan done on it today and if that
checks back okay, I guess I might have to give Microsoft Support a
call or something. What a frustrating day and a half. Well, thanks
again for all the suggestions. If you think of ANYTHING else that I
could try, please fell free to post away. I'll try anything now. I
just feel SO bad for my son; he gets Vista and Halo 2 for his birthday
yesterday and is all excited (he's only 11 and loves computer gaming
more than console gaming) only to have to sit and watch his old dad
piss around on his machine for a day and a half (and counting).
Thanks,
Mike
L
Lang Murphy
Mikester71 said:
Wow... sure the virus is gone? Just what was the stellar AV program your son
was running that let the virus in? Curious minds want to know so they can
avoid that AV program like the plague.
Lang
D
DanS
Sould be, after at least one format/fresh install that I saw.
D
DanR
Mikester71 said:
You mentioned that you reinstalled XP before reinstalling Vista. I think you
said you did this twice. Did XP run OK? Did you have the long delays?
Someone suggested that you use the Vista DVD to do a clean install. i.e....
do not install XP first. This can be done even if your license is for
upgrade. And I mean "clean". Begin by deleting the existing partition.
D
Daave
Mikester71 said:
What is the make and model of the PC? Are you absolutely *sure* you have
all the necessary Vista drivers? And did you check out the Windows Vista
Upgrade Advisor:
http://www.windowsvista.com/upgradeadvisor
Perform a *clean* install of Vista. That is, don't install XP first.
Yes, this can actually be done with an Upgrade Disk! And since you have
the license for XP, you are still in compliance with the Microsoft EULA.
You may find the instructions at:
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/winvista_upgrade_clean.asp
Actually you have thirty days to complete the process, so this should
give you enough time to sort things out.
M
Mikester71
XP wasn't hanging anyways. I didn't really fool around with it though
as I immediately installed Vista right after getting XP on there. I
also did a clean install of Vista earlier in the day with the same
results. That is why I figured starting from the beginning might have
been my best option.
M
Mikester71
Not 100% sure. I usually run AVG Free Edition on all my machines. The
problem is that the kids will shut it down, especially my son,
sometimes because he thinks it is slowing down his games and that. I
have never had a problem on my machine with AVG running for the past
3+ years.
C
cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)
Here's the deal; don't shut down the av unless:
- you are off ALL networks and Internet (including WiFi)
- you do not "open" any incoming files
As no network traffic should also speed up the game, this should not
be too hard a "sell" for your son's needs
Else, I'd say he's welcome to take whatever risks he likes... on his
own PC, and off any network that connects it to yours.
Tip Of The Day:
To disable the 'Tip of the Day' feature...
M
Mikester71
Okay guys, update to the problem. I figured it might have been his
hard drive. Something inside his machine had been sounding funny as of
late (even before the trojans), so I thought maybe it was crapping out
or that the trojan or virus had put the old scroogey to it. So I had
my wife pick me up a brand new 200gb WD hard drive today and installed
it and proceeded to do a clean install of Vista straight out of the
box (no XP pre-install like before). Looked like everything was going
okay until it came up to the part where it has you type in your
password before it prepares your desktop for loading. It hung up there
for 15mins before finally showing the black dots where the password
box is and then went to the screen that says "Preparing your
desktop..." and hung there for over 20mins.
So now I know it is not a virus or trojan that caused the Vista
installation to act up. Like I stated in another post, his memory
tested out okay during a memory test. So it has to be something else
in his system (mobo, etc.,) that isn't agreeing with Vista for some
reason. I am going to try and do some driver updates (if it will let
me anything at all without waiting 15 - 30 minutes between clicks) and
then maybe call Microsoft once tomorrow to see what they say. It is
looking more and more like they are going to get this piece of crap
product sent back to them though.
hard drive. Something inside his machine had been sounding funny as of
late (even before the trojans), so I thought maybe it was crapping out
or that the trojan or virus had put the old scroogey to it. So I had
my wife pick me up a brand new 200gb WD hard drive today and installed
it and proceeded to do a clean install of Vista straight out of the
box (no XP pre-install like before). Looked like everything was going
okay until it came up to the part where it has you type in your
password before it prepares your desktop for loading. It hung up there
for 15mins before finally showing the black dots where the password
box is and then went to the screen that says "Preparing your
desktop..." and hung there for over 20mins.
So now I know it is not a virus or trojan that caused the Vista
installation to act up. Like I stated in another post, his memory
tested out okay during a memory test. So it has to be something else
in his system (mobo, etc.,) that isn't agreeing with Vista for some
reason. I am going to try and do some driver updates (if it will let
me anything at all without waiting 15 - 30 minutes between clicks) and
then maybe call Microsoft once tomorrow to see what they say. It is
looking more and more like they are going to get this piece of crap
product sent back to them though.
D
DanR
Mikester71 said:
I could be wrong about this but I think you should have NOT entered the
password. (product code) When you are using a Vista upgrade (the code is for
the upgrade) the trick is to skip the part where you enter the product code.
(leave it blank) (uncheck install updates and activate) Install Vista and
then re-install Vista using the product code.
The fact that you entered a product code that is for upgrade only and you
were doing a totally clean install may have had some adverse effect.
There are many threads on this issue. (the trick)
M
Mikester71
Yeah, I read about the trick too. That is the way I did it. I also
formatted the drive and installed XP Home Edition and than loaded
Vista Upgrade too, but got the same results both ways.
It has to be something to do with his motherboard and Vista. He has an
MSI RC410M mobo and I have all the Vista drivers downloaded for it on
a thumb drive ready to go. Problem is it takes 30 minutes to open ANY
thing and it is taking me forever to try and load them all one by one.
I am hoping Microsoft can help shed some light on this problem for me
tomorrow when I call them (if need be).
J
Jack
Do what you want.
However a few days ago I advised you to disconnect your video card and plug
your monitor into motherboard.
Why are you so reluctant to do that?????
Jack
However a few days ago I advised you to disconnect your video card and plug
your monitor into motherboard.
Why are you so reluctant to do that?????
Jack
X
xfile
Hi,
With all the efforts you and your wife spent and kid is still waiting,
my advise is taking it to a local expert and have him/her do the job for
you. Or buy a new relatively inexpensive system. For memory, I know others
may say differently, but I'd recommend at leas 1GB - just a safe bet, that's
all.
If you wish to figure out what's wrong, you could stay there when the expert
is doing the job and you will know.
Good luck.
With all the efforts you and your wife spent and kid is still waiting,
my advise is taking it to a local expert and have him/her do the job for
you. Or buy a new relatively inexpensive system. For memory, I know others
may say differently, but I'd recommend at leas 1GB - just a safe bet, that's
all.
If you wish to figure out what's wrong, you could stay there when the expert
is doing the job and you will know.
Good luck.
D
Daave
Mikester71 said:
I can't help but wonder if it's possible you might be performing this
clean install correctly. Which password are you talking about? The one
in the User Name box where it says "Type a password (recommended)"? Or
is it earlier? Or is it later? Or is it the product key?
Speaking of the Product Key, do you know you are supposed to leave that
field blank? And then you deselect the option titled "Automatically
activate Windows when I'm online." Then answer "No" when Vista Setup
asks whether you would like to enter your Product Key before continuing.
And here's the rest, verbatim:
In the next Setup screen, you'll be presented with a list of the Windows
Vista product editions you can install. This list may vary from locale
to locale, but in the US, you'll see Vista Home Basic, Home Premium,
Business, Ultimate, and some N editions. Choose the product edition you
actually own. You'll be asked to verify that you've chosen the correct
version. Do so to continue past the End User License Agreement (EULA)
screen.
In the next screen, you select the type of install. Choose Custom
(Advanced) instead of Upgrade. Next, you choose the partition to which
to install Windows Vista. If you need to format the disk, select the
Drive options (advanced) option to do so and then continue.
(I hope you're formatting the disk!)
Now, Setup copies the Vista install image to your PC, expands it, and
installs Windows. This phase of Setup should take about 15 to 20 minutes
and trigger at least one reboot. When Vista is installed, you'll step
through the penultimate phase of Setup in which you enter, in
succession, your user name and password, computer name, and the date,
time, and time zone. Then Setup runs its final task, a performance test
that could take about 5 minutes. If everything goes well, and you're
running fairly modern hardware, you should hit the Welcome screen and,
after logging on, the new Vista desktop less than 30 minutes after you
began this process.
Complete instructions can be found at:
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/winvista_upgrade_clean.asp
I'm sorry if you've already done all these steps to the letter; I'm just
trying to be thorough. It really seems like something is amiss here...
Right. Assuming you're doing the clean install properly, it's logical to
assume a hardware problem of some sort. Have you tried Jack's suggestion
of disconnecting your video card yet?