Vista Anytime Upgrade -- 36 Hrs +

Hi,

I purchased an HP Pavillion with Vista Home Premium pre-installed. The
Are You Vista Ready Utility approved my computer with flying colours.
Then I purchased the Vista Anytime Upgrade for Vista Ultimate and got
the DVD in the mail. I inserted it, ran the "Upgrade" and now the
upgrade process has been stuck on "Completing Upgrade..." for over 24
Hrs now. Still the little dots are moving beside it and the hard drive
seems to be doing something every second or so.

Should I abort, roll back the install and try again, or should I wait
for another day or so? If so, what could be holding up the install?
The Home Premium version ran just beautifully, and I hadn't installed
any additional software.

Could I abort the install and perform a "clean install"? Does the
Upgrade Anytime DVD allow a clean install?

How long is this upgrade process supposed to last?

Is there a log file somewhere that I can check after to see what went
wrong?

Thanks,

Erwin

"Er" <> wrote in message
news: ups.com...
> Hi,
>
> I purchased an HP Pavillion with Vista Home Premium pre-installed. The
> Are You Vista Ready Utility approved my computer with flying colours.
> Then I purchased the Vista Anytime Upgrade for Vista Ultimate and got
> the DVD in the mail. I inserted it, ran the "Upgrade" and now the
> upgrade process has been stuck on "Completing Upgrade..." for over 24
> Hrs now. Still the little dots are moving beside it and the hard drive
> seems to be doing something every second or so.
>
> Should I abort, roll back the install and try again, or should I wait
> for another day or so? If so, what could be holding up the install?
> The Home Premium version ran just beautifully, and I hadn't installed
> any additional software.
>
> Could I abort the install and perform a "clean install"? Does the
> Upgrade Anytime DVD allow a clean install?
>
> How long is this upgrade process supposed to last?
>
> Is there a log file somewhere that I can check after to see what went
> wrong?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Erwin
>

Is anything connected to the computer? If yes, try disconnecting any
external device and note, you may need to start the upgrade process over
from the beginning but it's possible just disconnecting any external devices
will get things going.

Second, drivers, even those certified and approved tend to be unstable and
in need of more work when an OS is first released and can take a bit of time
before manufacturer's get fully up to speed. That said, despite the flying
colors you got from the advisor, drivers can still cause issues such as this
which is why I'm recommending disconnecting any external devices.

Likewise, software you've already installed can be an issue as well as these
can go through some changes before developers are fully up to speed with an
OS. As a result, before doing such an upgrade, you should always make sure
you have the latest Vista compatible drivers for your hardware, both
internal and external and you should try to do such upgrades on as clean a
setup as possible, one without any additional software installed.

--
Michael Solomon
Backup is a PC user's best friend
DTS-L.Org: http://www.dts-l.org/

On Aug 1, 4:21 pm, "Michael Solomon" <user@#notme.com> wrote:
>
> Is anything connected to the computer? If yes, try disconnecting any
> external device and note, you may need to start the upgrade process over
> from the beginning but it's possible just disconnecting any external devices
> will get things going.
>
> Second, drivers, even those certified and approved tend to be unstable and
> in need of more work when an OS is first released and can take a bit of time
> before manufacturer's get fully up to speed. That said, despite the flying
> colors you got from the advisor, drivers can still cause issues such as this
> which is why I'm recommending disconnecting any external devices.
>
> Likewise, software you've already installed can be an issue as well as these
> can go through some changes before developers are fully up to speed with an
> OS. As a result, before doing such an upgrade, you should always make sure
> you have the latest Vista compatible drivers for your hardware, both
> internal and external and you should try to do such upgrades on as clean a
> setup as possible, one without any additional software installed.
>
> --
> Michael Solomon
> Backup is a PC user's best friend
> DTS-L.Org:http://www.dts-l.org/- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Thanks for this. It was a brand new computer, with no software
installed (besides Vista) and nothing connected to the computer other
than keyboard/mouse/screen.

I finally gave up 'upgrading' and clean installed vista. Now, every
once in a while, Vista s l o w s down real slow to the point where the
harddrive light comes on every second or so, and the even the mouse
slows down, screen is mostly blank. Popping up the Task Manager takes
a whopping 20 minutes (yes, that is "minutes") but then shows nothing
out of the ordinary. I am sure some driver somewhere is slowing the
whole thing down. How do I find out what program is causing all this?
I have uninstalled all software and took off the one printer I hooked
up. I have no USB or Firewire devices.

Thanks,

Erwin

Hi Er,
Did you ever go online, load other than reputable software, etc. Could be
that you caught a virus, trojan, malware. etc. Try running your AV followed
by a malware, spyware detector. SpyBot is free but I don't know whether the
current version is Vista compatible.

"Er" <> wrote in message
news: oups.com...
> On Aug 1, 4:21 pm, "Michael Solomon" <user@#notme.com> wrote:
>>
>> Is anything connected to the computer? If yes, try disconnecting any
>> external device and note, you may need to start the upgrade process over
>> from the beginning but it's possible just disconnecting any external
>> devices
>> will get things going.
>>
>> Second, drivers, even those certified and approved tend to be unstable
>> and
>> in need of more work when an OS is first released and can take a bit of
>> time
>> before manufacturer's get fully up to speed. That said, despite the
>> flying
>> colors you got from the advisor, drivers can still cause issues such as
>> this
>> which is why I'm recommending disconnecting any external devices.
>>
>> Likewise, software you've already installed can be an issue as well as
>> these
>> can go through some changes before developers are fully up to speed with
>> an
>> OS. As a result, before doing such an upgrade, you should always make
>> sure
>> you have the latest Vista compatible drivers for your hardware, both
>> internal and external and you should try to do such upgrades on as clean
>> a
>> setup as possible, one without any additional software installed.
>>
>> --
>> Michael Solomon
>> Backup is a PC user's best friend
>> DTS-L.Org:http://www.dts-l.org/- Hide quoted text -
>>
>> - Show quoted text -
>
> Thanks for this. It was a brand new computer, with no software
> installed (besides Vista) and nothing connected to the computer other
> than keyboard/mouse/screen.
>
> I finally gave up 'upgrading' and clean installed vista. Now, every
> once in a while, Vista s l o w s down real slow to the point where the
> harddrive light comes on every second or so, and the even the mouse
> slows down, screen is mostly blank. Popping up the Task Manager takes
> a whopping 20 minutes (yes, that is "minutes") but then shows nothing
> out of the ordinary. I am sure some driver somewhere is slowing the
> whole thing down. How do I find out what program is causing all this?
> I have uninstalled all software and took off the one printer I hooked
> up. I have no USB or Firewire devices.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Erwin
>

"Er" <> wrote in message
news: oups.com...
> On Aug 1, 4:21 pm, "Michael Solomon" <user@#notme.com> wrote:
>>
>> Is anything connected to the computer? If yes, try disconnecting any
>> external device and note, you may need to start the upgrade process over
>> from the beginning but it's possible just disconnecting any external
>> devices
>> will get things going.
>>
>> Second, drivers, even those certified and approved tend to be unstable
>> and
>> in need of more work when an OS is first released and can take a bit of
>> time
>> before manufacturer's get fully up to speed. That said, despite the
>> flying
>> colors you got from the advisor, drivers can still cause issues such as
>> this
>> which is why I'm recommending disconnecting any external devices.
>>
>> Likewise, software you've already installed can be an issue as well as
>> these
>> can go through some changes before developers are fully up to speed with
>> an
>> OS. As a result, before doing such an upgrade, you should always make
>> sure
>> you have the latest Vista compatible drivers for your hardware, both
>> internal and external and you should try to do such upgrades on as clean
>> a
>> setup as possible, one without any additional software installed.
>>
>> --
>> Michael Solomon
>> Backup is a PC user's best friend
>> DTS-L.Org:http://www.dts-l.org/- Hide quoted text -
>>
>> - Show quoted text -
>
> Thanks for this. It was a brand new computer, with no software
> installed (besides Vista) and nothing connected to the computer other
> than keyboard/mouse/screen.
>
> I finally gave up 'upgrading' and clean installed vista. Now, every
> once in a while, Vista s l o w s down real slow to the point where the
> harddrive light comes on every second or so, and the even the mouse
> slows down, screen is mostly blank. Popping up the Task Manager takes
> a whopping 20 minutes (yes, that is "minutes") but then shows nothing
> out of the ordinary. I am sure some driver somewhere is slowing the
> whole thing down. How do I find out what program is causing all this?
> I have uninstalled all software and took off the one printer I hooked
> up. I have no USB or Firewire devices.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Erwin
>
Well, they way you troubleshoot something like this is to remove things one
by one but only after you've scanned for any possible viruses or malware.
Once ruled out, you then remove things one by one until the problem goes
away thus isolating the item that caused the issue. But you've already
removed all software and some hardware.

If you are still having the issue, that points to hardware. You need to go
to the websites of all the manufacturer's of your various hardware, graphics
card, soundcard, Ethernet card, anything else installed and check for the
latest Vista compatible drivers for your hardware. If they don't exist for
a specific item, you start with that as the possible source.

--
Michael Solomon
Backup is a PC user's best friend
DTS-L.Org: http://www.dts-l.org/

On Aug 9, 2:59 pm, "Ed Forsythe" <EdNoSpamForsy...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Er,
> Did you ever go online, load other than reputable software, etc. Could be
> that you caught a virus, trojan, malware. etc. Try running your AV followed
> by a malware, spyware detector. SpyBot is free but I don't know whether the
> current version is Vista compatible.

Hi,

The problem seemed to lie with the graphics adapter driver. Seems like
Vista Ultimate, when it clean installed, used its own driver (for the
right nvidia card btw) which didn't seem to work correctly. I
downloaded the correct one from HP and installed it and it seems to
work better now (knock on wood).

Thanks for all your suggestions,

Erwin

Glad you worked it out Erwin :-)

"Er" <> wrote in message
news: oups.com...
> On Aug 9, 2:59 pm, "Ed Forsythe" <EdNoSpamForsy...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>> Hi Er,
>> Did you ever go online, load other than reputable software, etc. Could be
>> that you caught a virus, trojan, malware. etc. Try running your AV
>> followed
>> by a malware, spyware detector. SpyBot is free but I don't know whether
>> the
>> current version is Vista compatible.
>
> Hi,
>
> The problem seemed to lie with the graphics adapter driver. Seems like
> Vista Ultimate, when it clean installed, used its own driver (for the
> right nvidia card btw) which didn't seem to work correctly. I
> downloaded the correct one from HP and installed it and it seems to
> work better now (knock on wood).
>
> Thanks for all your suggestions,
>
> Erwin
>

On Aug 10, 12:03 pm, "Ed Forsythe" <EdNoSpamForsy...@hotmail.com>
wrote:
> Glad you worked it out Erwin :-)
>

One problem though... Vista keeps downloading a 'new and improved'
version of my graphics adapter driver every night and installs it and
it crashes the computer.... I have to keep reinstalling the old driver
from the Installation Disks that works much better.

How do I keep Vista from trying to download the latest driver that
just doesn't work?

I am about one day away form ditching Vista and reinstalling XP
PRO.... this has taken four weeks now and I am still not up and
running. Unless you buy a computer with a version of Vista and you're
willing to stick with that version, I'd say go ahead, but if you want
to upgrade to a different version of Vista, good luck! It's just not
worth the time and frustration. Maybe next year....

Erwin

Have Windows Update check for updates, right click on the driver update and
select Hide.

--
I Bleed Blue and Gold
GO BEARS!


"Er" <> wrote in message
news: oups.com...
> On Aug 10, 12:03 pm, "Ed Forsythe" <EdNoSpamForsy...@hotmail.com>
> wrote:
>> Glad you worked it out Erwin :-)
>>
>
> One problem though... Vista keeps downloading a 'new and improved'
> version of my graphics adapter driver every night and installs it and
> it crashes the computer.... I have to keep reinstalling the old driver
> from the Installation Disks that works much better.
>
> How do I keep Vista from trying to download the latest driver that
> just doesn't work?
>
> I am about one day away form ditching Vista and reinstalling XP
> PRO.... this has taken four weeks now and I am still not up and
> running. Unless you buy a computer with a version of Vista and you're
> willing to stick with that version, I'd say go ahead, but if you want
> to upgrade to a different version of Vista, good luck! It's just not
> worth the time and frustration. Maybe next year....
>
> Erwin
>