RC1 install hangs at "Completing upgrade..."

I've been sitting here for quite a while. It's not completely hung - that is
the ... next to Completing upgrade keeps moving from . to .. to ... and back,
and i'm getting faint blips on the hard disk light, but it doesn't seem to be
progressing.

If I try to close the install with the X in the upper right, I get a message
that "Setup cannot be canceled at this point. Doing so could leave your
computer in a potentially unusable state." Irony is that my computer is now
in an unusable state... LOL

Any ideas?

 

Misery loves company. I'm experiencing the EXACT same thing. I have tried
twice to 'upgrade' and failed. Forced to reset. Computer is an HP A250N. I am
not willing to try a clean install. I wasted lots of time on this and ended
up with a new DVD coaster for my coffee. Bummer.

 

Mine eventually installed. I had an issue with my registry that I fixed and
completed. I have also installed build 5728
(http://download.windowsvista.com/preview/rc1/en/download-5728.htm) and I
have found this to be an improvement over RC1. However, you need to install
RC1 first before you can install this update.

 

Better yet, do a clean install of build 5728. I
did clean installs of both x86 and x64 without
any problems.

I also, contrary to popular advice, burned the
DVDs at 16x and had Nero verify the burn. I
also verified the .ISO files against the
published MD5 hash before burning.

I had done the burns previously at 8x, but I
picked up some new 16x blanks and used them just
to see if the "slow burn" advice was worth
anything. My experience is it's a bunch of hooey!

 

Lucky me. I successfully did the upgrade using 5728. It went without a hitch.
So far I feel impressed with the first few moments of Vista. Well thanks to
this forum for the help!!!!

 

This question is for Eric. I was wondering what you did to your computer to
get it out of the unusable state it was in. I am having the same problem and
I am affraid to close the program because it might leave my computer in an
unusable state. What should I do?