Vista Ultimate Won't Install over XP Media :(

[evtide]

Hi: My system is a HP DV-9000 series notebook running XP Media
edition, 2 gigs of ram, Core 2 CPU @ 1.66 Gigs, 2 internal hard drives
with tons of free space, only a few months old, has the 'Windows Vista
Capable' insignia, passes the upgrade advisor test fine.

I'm trying to install Vista Ultimate, and when I get to the part where
it's 'expanding files' I get this error at about 20%: 'Windows could
not prepare the computer to boot into the next phase of installation.
To install Windows restart the installation." I do what it says,
restart the installation, and always get the same message at about the
same point. Any ideas out there? I've searched around looking for some
help but haven't come across anything that looks like it fits my
particular problem.

I really don't want to do full wipe and install, as I have lots of
programs that I use, including Office 2007 upgrade edition and don't
want to loose it on a fresh install by wiping traces any old versions
that may be needed. Thanks so much to anyone who can offer any help
here. I've tried going through Microsoft call support and will
probably just jump out the window if I have to go through that again.

One thing that may be tripping me up: I ran HP's Vista preparation
utility initially thinking I was doing the right thing, but the only
option (I discovered partway through) was to do a clean wipe / install
- definitely not the way I want to go and a big reason I got Ultimate
vs. the other editions. This utility did wipe the G: partition that
held the XP Media install files (HP put the install discs on the hard
drive vs. providing the customer with actual DVD's).

XP runs fine, the system survives the botched install fine, but I
really do want to give Vista a shot. I'd love to hear from anyone
who's successfully overcome this particular install issue. Assuming I
can't make this bird fly, any tips for returning opened software?

Much thanks,
Mike

 

[AJR]

Had related problem with DV55 HP laptop - solved by downloading BIOS
update - originally shipped with dual-core processor but BIOS had not been
updated.

 

[Adam Albright]

Hi: My system is a HP DV-9000 series notebook running XP Media
edition, 2 gigs of ram, Core 2 CPU @ 1.66 Gigs, 2 internal hard drives
with tons of free space, only a few months old, has the 'Windows Vista
Capable' insignia, passes the upgrade advisor test fine.

Yours is "the" issue. Many people report a hang around 21%. This is
the point Vista attempts to reboot for the first time, so something is
wrong. What EXACTLY do you mean by passed the Windows Vista Upgrade
Advisor "fine".

1. no errors or messages of any kind.

2. no errors, but mentions of some device drivers that "may" cause
problems, but suggest your system will support Vista.

3. Message some of your software "may" not work correctly.

Only item #1 works every time. Anything else, lots of luck. The
Advisor is crap and all but wortless.

Some logical assumptions. If you get as far as you did that should
mean that Vista was able to uncompress the main cab files the new OS
is stored in. It also should mean it can read from your CD/DVD player.

You could infer it also can write to your hard drive otherwise it
would not have got this far.

So you (others stuck here) are at the first hurdle. So far, if you are
doing a install in place and are running the Vista DVD from WITHIN XP
you've really still been running XP and Vista has been just another
application doing its thing. The next hurdle is to see if Vista can
boot using Vista specific drivers. If it tries and sees something it
don't like or understand it likely will throw a stop order and go to
the Blue Screen Of Death. If it does, unless you fix what's wrong,
you're stuck in a endless loop 99 times out of a 100.

The $64,000 question is of course why?

Well, what's different? Vista, not XP is attempting to initialize
your hardware. Common hangs are caused by not having Vista drivers.
Likely suspects would be Vista can't find your boot drive. This could
be caused by not having a Vista driver for the CD/DVD you are
attempting to read from, remember till this point XP was reading your
CD/DVD, now Vista will try to. More likely Vista is having trouble
with some IDE, USB or SATA Controller. These seem to be hanging up
lots of people. Could be the onboard audio driver, even your keyboard
or mouse or other pointing device.

Instead of going down the whole laundry list, what works for most
people is disable or remove absolutely everything you don't need to
boot.

That means for most people you need to miminize your system to
absolute basics.

1. a single hard drive, note that isn't the same as a single
partition, I'm talking about limiting yourself to 1 physical
drive.

2. a keyboard, mouse or trackball.

3. a video card.

Assuming you can still boot into XP after doing the above and also
disabling things you don't need in BIOS, like RAID, run the Advisor
again and see if it happy. That means NO mention of anything it don't
like, except for software, which probably won't cause issues during
the install at least not this early in the process.

If you got this far, find the 3 folders on your root drive where Vista
is attempting to install from. They should start with a $ sign. Rename
them by placing a X in front of folder name for each.

Now try again from scratch to install and see if you get past the
first bump. Remember to keep your fingers crossed.

Assuming can't make this bird fly, any tips for returning opened software?

Much thanks,

http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/productrefund/refund.asp

 

[BigJim]

what I did was to purchase a new hard drive, removed my old drive and did a
clean install.
Only took me five minutes to change drives in my notebook.

 

[evtide]

Yours is "the" issue. Many people report a hang around 21%. This is
the point Vista attempts to reboot for the first time, so something is
wrong. What EXACTLY do you mean by passed the Windows Vista Upgrade
Advisor "fine".

1. no errors or messages of any kind.

2. no errors, but mentions of some device drivers that "may" cause
problems, but suggest your system will support Vista.

3. Message some of your software "may" not work correctly.

Only item #1 works every time. Anything else, lots of luck. The
Advisor is crap and all but wortless.

Some logical assumptions. If you get as far as you did that should
mean that Vista was able to uncompress the main cab files the new OS
is stored in. It also should mean it can read from your CD/DVD player.

You could infer it also can write to your hard drive otherwise it
would not have got this far.

So you (others stuck here) are at the first hurdle. So far, if you are
doing a install in place and are running the Vista DVD from WITHIN XP
you've really still been running XP and Vista has been just another
application doing its thing. The next hurdle is to see if Vista can
boot using Vista specific drivers. If it tries and sees something it
don't like or understand it likely will throw a stop order and go to
the Blue Screen Of Death. If it does, unless you fix what's wrong,
you're stuck in a endless loop 99 times out of a 100.

The $64,000 question is of course why?

Well, what's different? Vista, not XP is attempting to initialize
your hardware. Common hangs are caused by not having Vista drivers.
Likely suspects would be Vista can't find your boot drive. This could
be caused by not having a Vista driver for the CD/DVD you are
attempting to read from, remember till this point XP was reading your
CD/DVD, now Vista will try to. More likely Vista is having trouble
with some IDE, USB or SATA Controller. These seem to be hanging up
lots of people. Could be the onboard audio driver, even your keyboard
or mouse or other pointing device.

Instead of going down the whole laundry list, what works for most
people is disable or remove absolutely everything you don't need to
boot.

That means for most people you need to miminize your system to
absolute basics.

1. a single hard drive, note that isn't the same as a single
partition, I'm talking about limiting yourself to 1 physical
drive.

2. a keyboard, mouse or trackball.

3. a video card.

Assuming you can still boot into XP after doing the above and also
disabling things you don't need in BIOS, like RAID, run the Advisor
again and see if it happy. That means NO mention of anything it don't
like, except for software, which probably won't cause issues during
the install at least not this early in the process.

If you got this far, find the 3 folders on your root drive where Vista
is attempting to install from. They should start with a $ sign. Rename
them by placing a X in front of folder name for each.

Now try again from scratch to install and see if you get past the
first bump. Remember to keep your fingers crossed.



http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/productrefund/refund.asp

Great info here and I'm going to dig in on that now. I do have 5
issues that 'may' cause problems but nothing critical is noted. One
thing listed is the video driver. I tried updating to the Vista
driver but the PC won't let me install it on XP. My virus software
also shows up even though I disabled it pre-install. Maybe I'll
remove it altogether and see what's what. Thanks again for taking the
time to pitch in here and I'll advise if and how I can work through
this frustrating process.

 

[evtide]

what I did was to purchase a new hard drive, removed my old drive and did a
clean install.

BigJim, as I seem to be striking out that may be the only option for
me, but I dread having to re-install, re-configure, etc. lots of
programs and files that I use and need, hence the primary desire to
upgrade over XP vs. a clean install. Back to what you did, did you do
that with an upgrade or a full version of Vista? I purchased Vista
Ultimate upgrade and don't know if that will install on a blank
drive. Thoughts?