Vista Upgrade - Oh Dear, Oh Dear, Oh Dear

[Guilbert]

I work in computers and know a lot about them. Did my first upgrade from XP
Pro to Vista Business today.

It was on a 15 month old PC that I built myself and that has run XP Pro with
no problems since I built it.

Ran Vista upgrade advisor and it said there were no problems.

Began the upgrade and it ran for about 2 hours and seemed to go fine.

On final reboot got blue screen of death with PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA

Blue screen disappeared so quickly could not read any more.

Got screen where you can reboot in various safe modes, would not work. Tried
doing repair, would not work.

Tried all sorts of other things, but could not get Vista to boot at all.

Got the blue screen quite a few times, BUT IN ALL CASES IT WENT SO QUICKLY I
COULD NOT SEE ANY MORE DETAILS OF THE ERROR. VERY ANNOYING !!!!

After trying for about an hour I gave up. Luckily this was a "spare" hard
disk (and I have XP backed up with Ghost anyway) so was able to recover.

I feel sorry for anyone who gets a problem like this and has now trashed
their working copy of XP.

I shall not touch Vista again and stick with XP until Microsoft "finish"
Vista.

Good job Microsoft are not designing the software for the Nasa space launch
!!!

 

[Frankster]

Luckily this was a "spare" hard disk

Luckily? Luckily? You should have planned it that way from the beginning.

I feel sorry for anyone who gets a problem like this and has now trashed
their working copy of XP.

Special news alert! Changing an operating system is a major risk and a major
task that should not normally be conducted by anyone that cannot afford a
crash.

I shall not touch Vista again and stick with XP until Microsoft "finish"
Vista.

Vista is finished. Some computers/software are not ready for Vista.
Especially "homebuilts".

Good job Microsoft are not designing the software for the Nasa space
launch !!!

If MS was designing software for NASA (what makes you think they are not?)
they would not allow it to be run on anything but thoroughly tested
hardware.

-Frank

 

[Kerry Brown]

Did you run the upgrade advisor before trying the upgrade?

To me it sounds like a RAM problem. Vista uses different areas of RAM from
XP and is much less tolerant of marginal RAM. Systems that seemed fine in XP
may have RAM errors in Vista. This is quite common. It could also be a
legacy driver or program left over from XP. Here is my standard
recommendations for performing an upgrade to Vista. It sounds like you did
the first 3 steps but maybe not the rest.

1) Backup your PC.
2) Back it up again.
3) Test your backups.

If you skip the above steps please don't whine that the upgrade trashed all
your files. Any process that involves this many changes to the file system
is fraught with danger. If you don't have full backup of your pc before
starting the upgrade you are an idiot and shouldn't really have a pc to
start with This may sound harsh but it is reality.

4) Run the latest version of the Upgrade Advisor and note anything it flags.
5) Uninstall (not disable) all antivirus, antispyware, firewall, disk
utility, and system utility programs even if the upgrade advisor doesn't
mention them. You will need to install Vista compatible versions after the
upgrade is finished.
6) Uninstall (not disable) all programs that the upgrade advisor flags as
possible problems. You will need to install Vista compatible versions after
the upgrade is finished.
7) If possible remove all hardware that the upgrade advisor flags as
incompatible.
8) Make sure you have Vista compatible drivers and software for all your
hardware devices burned to CD. Don't just look for drivers that the upgrade
advisor mentioned. If possible have drivers ready for everything.
9) Physically unplug any external devices like portable hard drives,
printers, card readers, flash drives, cameras, etc..
10) Run a chkdsk on all the partitions on all hard drives still connected.
11) Defrag the system and boot partitions.
12) Start the Vista upgrade process.

 

[ray]

I work in computers and know a lot about them. Did my first upgrade from XP
Pro to Vista Business today.

Why? Because it was there? Didn't you read this group for a while first?
There seem to be a LOT of issues. Most consultants advise not installing
vista until, at least, SP1.

I shall not touch Vista again and stick with XP until Microsoft "finish"
Vista.

Good job Microsoft are not designing the software for the Nasa space launch
!!!

Nasa and the scientific community in general usually has the good sense to
use something that works - *nix.

 

[Guest]

Basically, don't upgrade.
Clean install only.

Did you run the upgrade advisor before trying the upgrade?

To me it sounds like a RAM problem. Vista uses different areas of RAM from
XP and is much less tolerant of marginal RAM. Systems that seemed fine in XP
may have RAM errors in Vista. This is quite common. It could also be a
legacy driver or program left over from XP. Here is my standard
recommendations for performing an upgrade to Vista. It sounds like you did
the first 3 steps but maybe not the rest.

1) Backup your PC.
2) Back it up again.
3) Test your backups.

If you skip the above steps please don't whine that the upgrade trashed all
your files. Any process that involves this many changes to the file system
is fraught with danger. If you don't have full backup of your pc before
starting the upgrade you are an idiot and shouldn't really have a pc to
start with This may sound harsh but it is reality.

4) Run the latest version of the Upgrade Advisor and note anything it flags.
5) Uninstall (not disable) all antivirus, antispyware, firewall, disk
utility, and system utility programs even if the upgrade advisor doesn't
mention them. You will need to install Vista compatible versions after the
upgrade is finished.
6) Uninstall (not disable) all programs that the upgrade advisor flags as
possible problems. You will need to install Vista compatible versions after
the upgrade is finished.
7) If possible remove all hardware that the upgrade advisor flags as
incompatible.
8) Make sure you have Vista compatible drivers and software for all your
hardware devices burned to CD. Don't just look for drivers that the upgrade
advisor mentioned. If possible have drivers ready for everything.
9) Physically unplug any external devices like portable hard drives,
printers, card readers, flash drives, cameras, etc..
10) Run a chkdsk on all the partitions on all hard drives still connected.
11) Defrag the system and boot partitions.
12) Start the Vista upgrade process.

 

[Zim Babwe]

Would YOU fly on a shuttle with software designed and thoroughly Tested by
Microsoft? I worked at Microsoft and I wouldn't get near the shuttle!

 

[Adam Albright]

Luckily? Luckily? You should have planned it that way from the beginning.


Special news alert! Changing an operating system is a major risk and a major
task that should not normally be conducted by anyone that cannot afford a
crash.


Vista is finished. Some computers/software are not ready for Vista.
Especially "homebuilts".


If MS was designing software for NASA (what makes you think they are not?)
they would not allow it to be run on anything but thoroughly tested
hardware.

-Frank

You trying to be as "smart" as Justin?

 

[HEMI-Powered]

Today, Guilbert made these interesting comments ...

I work in computers and know a lot about them. Did my first
upgrade from XP Pro to Vista Business today.

It was on a 15 month old PC that I built myself and that has
run XP Pro with no problems since I built it.

Ran Vista upgrade advisor and it said there were no problems.

Began the upgrade and it ran for about 2 hours and seemed to
go fine.

On final reboot got blue screen of death with
PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA

Blue screen disappeared so quickly could not read any more.

set your BIOS to stop on all errors, that way you'll at least be
able to see what it says, not that it is likely to be of much
help

Got screen where you can reboot in various safe modes, would
not work. Tried doing repair, would not work.

Tried all sorts of other things, but could not get Vista to
boot at all.

Got the blue screen quite a few times, BUT IN ALL CASES IT
WENT SO QUICKLY I COULD NOT SEE ANY MORE DETAILS OF THE ERROR.
VERY ANNOYING !!!!

After trying for about an hour I gave up. Luckily this was a
"spare" hard disk (and I have XP backed up with Ghost anyway)
so was able to recover.

I feel sorry for anyone who gets a problem like this and has
now trashed their working copy of XP.

I shall not touch Vista again and stick with XP until
Microsoft "finish" Vista.

Good job Microsoft are not designing the software for the Nasa
space launch !!!

if this is a retail product, why not call the friendly folks in
Redmond for help?

btw, what prompted you to upgrade a working XP system? were there
special features of Vista you were hoping to use?

 

[HEMI-Powered]

Today, Kerry Brown made these interesting comments ...

I would agree with all of this AND never do another "upgrade"
again, only a clean install even though that means reinstalling
all the apps. Besides a clean registry, you guarantee no legacy
crap left over as you talk about. Now, when it finally does get
done, one could find any number of things that may not load up
without an upgrade to a driver or other things, or so I've read
hereabouts.

Did you run the upgrade advisor before trying the upgrade?

To me it sounds like a RAM problem. Vista uses different areas
of RAM from XP and is much less tolerant of marginal RAM.
Systems that seemed fine in XP may have RAM errors in Vista.
This is quite common. It could also be a legacy driver or
program left over from XP. Here is my standard recommendations
for performing an upgrade to Vista. It sounds like you did the
first 3 steps but maybe not the rest.

1) Backup your PC.
2) Back it up again.
3) Test your backups.

If you skip the above steps please don't whine that the
upgrade trashed all your files. Any process that involves this
many changes to the file system is fraught with danger. If you
don't have full backup of your pc before starting the upgrade
you are an idiot and shouldn't really have a pc to start with
This may sound harsh but it is reality.

Maybe it should say this on the box:"warning, may trash your
entire system without warning! read EULA carefully"

 

[HEMI-Powered]

Today, =?Utf-8?B?bWhvbnplbGw=?= made these interesting comments
....

Basically, don't upgrade.
Clean install only.

That's my view on ANY Windows "upgrade"

[snip]

 

[Dustin Harper]

In a mission critical place like NASA and the shuttle, they wouldn't use
Windows. They would use a custom OS that was built for the hardware it was
running on, not for MILLIONS of hardware combinations from both past and
future, like Windows is built for.

--
Dustin Harper
(e-mail address removed)
http://www.vistarip.com

--

 

[Frankster]

It seems you fail to understand the professional IT methods of quality
control, integration, testing and configuration management. All of these
things go together on any important project and are thoroughly addressed.

On any important system integration project, every piece of hardware and
each piece of software would undergo vigorous testing for reliability and
compatibility in the desired configuration. Additionally, the system would
be designed for, whenever possible, auto-switchover redundancy. Or at least
"small-effort" redundancy. There are technologies for both of the major OSs
today to accomplish all of this. I've supported Unix (Solaris) and MS for
the last 15+ years. Either system can be rock solid stable if it is
configured properly. One of the most often made mistakes made on critical MS
systems is expecting one machine to do way too many things. Unix systems,
traditionally, have been relegated to a single task. For example, in most
important Unix implementations you'll see a Unix server dedicated to running
DNS only, or dedicated to being a file server only, or dedicated to being a
web server only, or dedicated to being a mail server only. Most (amateur) MS
implementations have one machine doing all these things. This introduces a
much larger chance for incompatibilities and problems to arise. Professional
MS implementations, on important systems, assign tasks to MS boxes on a
similar tasking level as Unix boxes. That results in MS systems being as
stable as Unix boxes. That's my experience.

-Frank

 

[Frankster]

Yes, what you say is true. Often there are firmware OSs as well.

However, I can also assure you that MS has made tremendous inroads into
government-military mission critical applications. I myself have integrated
such systems. MS even supplied "free" consultants during this time (they
want the mission critical business).

-Frank

 

[Dustin Harper]

Although for scientific or these types of software, I'm sure a lot of it
would be based on a very stable Unix derivative. Simple and sweet, proven to
be stable.

T minus 10.... 9.... 8.... 7.... 6.... 5.... 4.... 3.... 2.... What do you
mean I need permission to launch shuttle?!

--
Dustin Harper
(e-mail address removed)
http://www.vistarip.com

--

 

[john]

I work in computers and know a lot about them. Did my first upgrade from XP
Pro to Vista Business today.


Ran Vista upgrade advisor and it said there were no problems.

as many are discovering, UA is flawed, it's more of a marketing tool than
anything else.

 

[Zim Babwe]

Or 3 seconds into the launch, BSOD !

Although for scientific or these types of software, I'm sure a lot of it
would be based on a very stable Unix derivative. Simple and sweet, proven
to be stable.

T minus 10.... 9.... 8.... 7.... 6.... 5.... 4.... 3.... 2.... What do you
mean I need permission to launch shuttle?!

 

[Steve Thackery]

Good job Microsoft are not designing the software for the Nasa space

launch

Well, what a ridiculous comment. *Of course* I wouldn't rely on Microsoft
software for a NASA space launch, and neither would I rely on NASA for my
office automation software!!

I wouldn't rely on a screwdriver to tighten a nut, or paint my walls with a
spade.

What point are you making exactly?

(Incidentally, my Vista installation is great - no probs).

Thack

 

[Kerry Brown]

I can't argue with that. Upgrades can be done successfully but when you have
problems down the road you can never be sure if it's a result of the
upgrade. A clean install removes that doubt.

 

[Bill]

Yes, what you say is true. Often there are firmware OSs as well.

However, I can also assure you that MS has made tremendous inroads into
government-military mission critical applications. I myself have
integrated such systems. MS even supplied "free" consultants during this
time (they want the mission critical business).

-Frank

Now, that is real scary

 

[Bill]

Luckily? Luckily? You should have planned it that way from the
beginning.


Special news alert! Changing an operating system is a major risk and a
major task that should not normally be conducted by anyone that cannot
afford a crash.

I just booted from the PCLINUXOS live cd. Logged into KDE, checked my
hardware to see if it was all working and it was, and pressed the install
button. After setting up my partitions, the system was installed and I
was using it twenty minutes later. I installed the video drivers from
synaptic and all the extra programs that I like, while I was browsing the
net. I spent more time customizing my desktop and playing with the 3d
desktop, than I spent installing the system.

You might want to rephrase your statement:
Changing an operating system is a major risk, if the operating system is
made by microsoft and you dont have a live cd to check things out.