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General discussion

Installing Vista

Aug 26, 2007 5:24AM PDT

I am trying to update from XP pro to Vista, I purchased a copy of Home Premium -- come to find out, can't update from XP Pro to home premium, -- I went out a purchased a copy of ultimate (I sold home premium to friend) anyway I have tried installing as upgrade and clean install. My first attempt was to install as upgrade ? everything was going good until Vista did its first reboot ? I get a black screen with Microsoft Corporation on bottom hardy visible ? nothing else happens ? the black screen is the only thing I see ? nothing else happens ? I?ve waited from 15 minutes to over a hour ? nothing happens ? I have to reboot ?every time I reboot I get the dual boot screen ? I can choose my original windows XP ?everything works fine, Second attempt was to do clean install ? same thing happens ? Vista will reboot to black screen ? nothing happens. Third attempt ? formatted hard drive ? did new install of windows X_ -- attempted to install Vista ? same thing happens get to 27% -- reboots & black screen comes up & nothing else. Fourth attempt was to do clean install with freshly install XP ? same results. Reformatted hard drive again ? attempted to install from CD without XP ? Vista will load files then lock up with black screen. I can?t seem to get pass the first reboot from Vista, I?ve run Vista upgrade advisor ? no conflicts. Here are my specs.
MSI 945P Neo3 Main Board
Model: MS-7236
CPU: Intel

Discussion is locked

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The only irregular thing ...
Aug 26, 2007 5:42AM PDT

seems to be all those hard drives. But there might be some devices you don't tell about. Disconnect as much as possible and try again. Keep c:, DVD, video, monitor, mouse, keyboard and that's all you need. Reset BIOS to 'safe defaults'.

Hope this helps.


Kees

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Clean install Vista
Aug 26, 2007 10:34AM PDT

to add to what Kees said, delete the c: partition using your XP Pro boot disk to remove any Vista hidden boot files. Start Xp as if doing install, when you get the screen to create or delete partition choose delete and then exit instalation.
Use your Vista boot DVD to run setup, choose custom, you can choose partition size if required, no need to format Vista will do it for you.
After instalation begins, when asked for Vista key do not enter it at this time, make sure to disable activation on completion.
Disable update files from internet, do not download any Windows updates at this time.
If all goes well and instalation is completed, install whatever drivers you need to get system working fully.
If all is well, insert your Vista DVD in Windows and now run the Vista update. You can now insert the Vista key when prompted, don't activate at this time, you have 30 days, so use some of it to make sure all is well before activating.
Now is the time to allow Vista updates.

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Vista Install
Aug 30, 2007 4:25AM PDT

I tried the format / partition option, but whenever I reboot to the Vista dvd basically the same thing happens, I get message saying vista is loading files , then the black screen appears again, I can not get pass the black screen -- I do not get the setup screen to install in partition , etc. black screen only --- I'm running NVIDIA GeForce 7900 video card --- thinking that may be my problem .
.

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Try this - it worked for me.
Sep 15, 2007 1:56AM PDT

SYSTEM
PENTIUM D 2.8GHZ X 2
ECS P4M900-T MOTHERBOARD
2 X 1 GIG CORSAIR 677 MEMORY STICKS
250 GIG MAXTOR SATA DRIVE
NVIDIA 7300 PCI EXPRESS GRAPHICS CARD (512MB)
18 X SONY DVD RE WRITER.
52 X CD RECORDER
WINDOWS VISTA HOME PREMIUM


Hi.
Found a solution for installing Vista.
I went through many installation attempts, getting different failures each time.
Sometimes it would not see my drive, then it would just freeze.
Then I would get allsorts of hardware failures.

This morning I succeeded in installing Home Premium.
This is how I did it.

I took out the graphics card and used the on board graphics.
Removed one of the memory sticks.
Set the SATA controller to RAID (in the BIOS).
Removed the CD Drive.
Installed Vista without any problems.
When up and running I then shut down.
Put everything back in, and rebooted.
No problems.
Downloaded the VISTA drivers for the Nvidia card and installed them.
Everything is now running sweet.

Hope this helps you.

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Vista Install
Sep 19, 2007 8:58AM PDT

My problems was my netgear WN311T wireless pci adapter. I removed the adapter , installed Vista, everything works fine. Now whenever I re install the adapter Vista will not boot up, unplug the adapter everything works fine. Looking for drivers to upgrade card to Vista , but so far no success.

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vista install problems
Sep 19, 2007 9:11AM PDT

Have you tried to install the netgear drivers before you inserted the card?

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Netgear is working on Vista drivers.
Sep 19, 2007 9:46AM PDT

Many many people are stuck with hard ware that cost a lot of money that won't work with Vista.

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Netgear is working on Vista drivers.
Sep 19, 2007 10:57PM PDT

I downloaded the drivers from netgear but Vista still will not boot up with the card installed. Thinking about buying d-links card & install that one -- see what happens -- Netgear card worked fine with XP installed -- so I don't think their is anything wrong with the card itself -- I also updated my mother board drivers -- still no good.

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I used to crash XP that way.
Sep 19, 2007 10:04AM PDT

It was a short lesson in never forgetting those motherboard drivers...

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I used to crash XP that way.
Sep 19, 2007 10:59PM PDT

I up-dated my motherboard drivers -- still will not boot with card installed

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If you go netgear's web site they will tell you.
Sep 20, 2007 12:24AM PDT

Your are out of luck...they have not got the hard ware updated to use with crapo Vista.