XP Home OEM upgrade to XP Pro retail takes 6 hours already

[Geoff Brown]

Upgrading a reasonable new inexpensive Dell Inspiron 1100
laptop w/Win XP home OEM version to retail Win XP Pro.
All critical updates and service packs applied to Win XP
Home before upgrade. Upgrade is running VERY slow, with
6 hours so far. Now it says it is in the "installing
windows" section, "installing network" subsection, and
has said 32 minutes to go for 4 hours. Mouse works,
lights blink along bottom of screen, ads about Win XP
continue to change regularly, CD ejects and reads upon
reinsertion. Power and restart switches are inoperative,
Alt-Ctl-Del does nothing, esc does nothing. Looks like
the only way to stop it would be to unplug it and let the
battery run down!
Any idea what's wrong? Any probability it will finally
finish -- or at least bomb? Any suggestions what to do
if it hasn't advanced by morning?
Thanks!!
Geoff Brown

 

[Michael Stevens]

Upgrading a reasonable new inexpensive Dell Inspiron 1100
laptop w/Win XP home OEM version to retail Win XP Pro.
All critical updates and service packs applied to Win XP
Home before upgrade. Upgrade is running VERY slow, with
6 hours so far. Now it says it is in the "installing
windows" section, "installing network" subsection, and
has said 32 minutes to go for 4 hours. Mouse works,
lights blink along bottom of screen, ads about Win XP
continue to change regularly, CD ejects and reads upon
reinsertion. Power and restart switches are inoperative,
Alt-Ctl-Del does nothing, esc does nothing. Looks like
the only way to stop it would be to unplug it and let the
battery run down!
Any idea what's wrong? Any probability it will finally
finish -- or at least bomb? Any suggestions what to do
if it hasn't advanced by morning?
Thanks!!
Geoff Brown

Are you upgrading from Windows XP Home, or by booting the CD?
If upgrading from within Windows, something is wrong. There should be a
reset on the laptop where you use a paperclip to reset the laptop. Try
resetting and hope for the best. Usually an aborted setup will resume to at
least the same point, but usually will progress to a point where you will
either get an error message or will continue to completion.
Please post back with your resuts.
--

Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://michaelstevenstech.com
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