Tried again last night taking John's recommendation not to go the 'update'
route while upgrading. Still no luck, upgrade halted and rolled back as
before. On to Plan C which engaged a process of elimination...
I uninstalled Realtek audio, Radeon video and printer configuration
applications, shut down the machine, opened up the box and pulled the modem
installed by the OEM and the video card that I had installed shortly after
purchase. Rebooted, entered the M/B BIOS setup and disabled the onboard USB,
IEEE1394a and Audio functions, and reset the primary Video as onboard PCI.
The system was configured back to the very basics...
Saved the configuration, reboot, login to Vista, confirm in Device Manager
that the system is 'bare bones', re-initiate the upgrade process, skip the
updates again per John's suggestion and finally, ... success!
Shut down, reinstall cards, restart, reconfigure M/B BIOS, save and restart,
Vista Ultimate loads and reconfigures for all the PnP stuff previously
disabled.
Activate the O/S, update the system with all the Vista patches and drivers
from Microsoft and I'm back in business.
I guess the lesson out of this remains that 'touched' systems still pose a
challenge when choosing the MS O/S upgrade path vs a clean install even if
the only hardware change is a video card. Another thing that may fact into
this is all of the PnP USB devices that can be plugged in and removed without
a second thought. The O/S installs drivers for these devices as well that may
not be caught by the compatibility utility...
Hope this helps,
-- Terry.
"Paul Randall" wrote:
> Hi, Ken
> 5 installs -- you seem to be quite determined to make it work.
> Hopefully someone will correct any errors in my recommendation.
>
> Perhaps you should try a clean install. Start by running your current
> system and create a CD or thumbdrive with all the drivers for your system.
> You might download them from the motherboard builder, or you might copy them
> from their current location in your current system to a similar folder
> structure on your CD. I've never tried this, but hopefully someone else
> will chime in with a procedure to get the exact driver arrangement
> transferred to a CD so they can be installed on the clean system. Print out
> a list of all the drivers so you can compare them when the clean system come
> up.
>
> Once you have your driver CD set up, remove the hard drive and replace it
> with a spare whose contents can be erased. Do a clean install of Vista
> using your upgrade cd, using the procedure here:
> http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase...rade_clean.asp. This
> gives you a 'free' 30-day trial, avoiding activation hassles if you have to
> reinstall a number of times as you are learning to get it right.
>
> Assuming this system runs, compare the drivers to your list. Do what you
> have to do to make them match the original system. It should run as well as
> the original system and you can expand your system in stages to get it the
> way you want it.
>
> -Paul Randall
>
> "KenP" <> wrote in message
> news
1F7AC87-0810-4C92-9B61-...
> >I am in the same situation. I purchased a new HP m8120n this weekend and I
> >am
> > also trying to Upgrade to Vista Ultimate with a brand new set of Vista
> > Ultimate Upgrade DVD's. I hope maybe I can offer a little more exact
> > information. I have repeated this upgrade attempt 5 times and always get
> > the
> > same result at exactly the same place in the upgrade installation process.
> > The installation goes well through the first 2 stages of the upgrade. The
> > problem starts at the last stage, "Completing Upgrade". Right at about 99%
> > complete an error message comes up stating "Installation Error Windows can
> > not configure a component" You click OK and the system restores itself to
> > Home Premium. It gives no information as to what component is the problem.
> > HP
> > has been of no help stating that because I am using a retail upgrade set
> > they
> > can not help. Hopefully this will help those of you with more extensive
> > knowledge an idea of what the problem could be. Please be advised that you
> > never get to the Ultimate start up screen at all, not even to the part
> > that
> > your desktop is being configured.
> >
> > "John Barnes" wrote:
> >
> >> Don't let it do any update. You should already be up to date and there
> >> are
> >> some bad drivers on WU. You didn't give any specs on your machine, but
> >> if
> >> it is an nVidia card, you might try uninstalling the drivers from control
> >> panel/uninstall a program. You are getting to the point where the nVidia
> >> drivers would begin to affect the GUI. If that doesn't work, on the last
> >> bootup (the one where you get to the welcome and logon), try hitting F8
> >> during the bootup and select safe mode. Others with more experience with
> >> the upgrade process may have other better ideas.
> >>
> >>
> >> "Terry" <> wrote in message
> >> news:AEA243B8-1A09-485A-98F4-...
> >> >I am also encountering the same problem though I am upgrading from Home
> >> > Premium after operating with it for a number of months.
> >> > The compatibility check identifies only one potential issue; an
> >> > uncertified
> >> > driver for the onboard Realtek sound card. Home Premium was able to
> >> > install
> >> > without issues when the new machine was configured 'out-of-the-box'.
> >> >
> >> > The upgrade process appears to run without problems through all of the
> >> > steps
> >> > including updates, restarts and runs through the text-based
> >> > 'configuration'
> >> > steps and then attempts to open the Vista login. A message indicating
> >> > that
> >> > Vista failed to install properly is displayed. Click OK, system rolls
> >> > back
> >> > to
> >> > Home Premium and announces that Ultimate was not able to install.
> >> >
> >> > I've tried a couple of more times after uninstalling the 'suspect'
> >> > sound
> >> > card device with the same result.
> >> >
> >> > Regards,
> >> > -- Terry.
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > "John Barnes" wrote:
> >> >
> >> >> If you have a new pc, why would you be running an upgrade, why not run
> >> >> a
> >> >> custom install. We have no idea what you mean by 'the end'. If you
> >> >> want
> >> >> help, be specific as to exactly what has happened up to that point.
> >> >> Has
> >> >> it
> >> >> rebooted once, twice, is this the third boot where it tells you it is
> >> >> starting for the first time, etc.
> >> >>
> >> >> "tito" <> wrote in message
> >> >> news:15CE4CCF-0127-42E0-9A3E-...
> >> >> >I bought a new hp pc with home primium and i have a new full version
> >> >> >of
> >> >> >vista
> >> >> > ultimate, when i do the upgrade it goes ok until it gets to the end.
> >> >> > then
> >> >> > it
> >> >> > will reboot and give the message the upgrade is not compleate and it
> >> >> > go
> >> >> > back
> >> >> > to vista premium.
> >> >> >
> >> >> >
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >>
> >>
>
>
>