Vista - I screwed up... bad

I bought the Vista Home Premium Upgrade and when I went to install it, I chose to do a fresh install.

When my PC restarted the screen was blank for a really long time, then the mouse arrow popped up and the screen was still blank. I checked the Hard Drive light and it wasn't blinking. I put my ear to my PC to see if I could hear it working and it was just running normally.

I turned my PC off and I can't install Vista now. It says to start the installation from XP with the key that I'm using.

The problem is that XP came with my PC in a partition of the hard drive. I can't access the partition anymore. I hate the fact that I didn't recieve a disk with the operating system that my PC came with, and I will never buy another PC with the restoration and installation files in a partition.

I can't even format my hard drive in BIOS because of the way it's set up.

Is there anything I can do other than calling the company to get an XP start up disk which I was told will cost me $40-$80?

Hi Kryogenic,

Welcome to Vista x64 Forum.

A upgrade version of Vista requires a different way to install it. Usually you have to install the upgrade Vista from within the old OS, but this will show you how to do a clean install with a upgrade version instead.

Clean Install From Upgrade Vista

Shawn

Yep, follow that method. I'm pretty sure that's why MS included it as a workaround, in spite of the obvious retail trickery it could provide.

My Win2k (saved it all these years tho I've been solely a Mac owner) won't run on my Macbook, but I used it as the qualifying upgrade (to have a legit upgrade). The install upon install method made this process possible.

This is great news, thanks.

I have another problem though. I followed the instructions, but the installation was canceled. It said windows could not update the registery.

I started over from scratch and deleted all partitions to just make one continuous drive so hopefully that will work.

How much RAM do you have installed? If it is over 3GB, you might remove the extra RAM temporarily until the Vista installation is complete, then reinstall them.

Shawn

I have 2 Gigs of RAM. What is the registery and why wouldn't it be able to be updated?

I noticed that in the FAQ that you linked for me that there is a step that I don't get. It dosn't ask me if I want to get the lasted install updates. Would that cause any problems?

I think something just messed up. While I was typing this post, I looked over and it had just finished expanding the files for the install and then it restarted. The screen is now blank, but the light is blinking like the computer is working on something.

It hasn't done this on any of the other tries so maybe it will work this time.

Kryogenic,

No, that would not cause any problems without the updates screen.

The screen is still blank and the hard drive light is a solid yellow. I haven't seen it blink in awhile.

Should I leave the PC alone for awhile or should I turn it off and try again?

This is getting pretty frustrating.

Can you hear the hard drive running?

If so, I would just wait a bit longer to see.

If not, then I would boot from the Vista DVD and start over and do a complete format and try reinstalling again.

SWEET!!! It's finishing up the first installation now. I hope my celebration isn't premature.