Vista - Vista installation hangs up

I'll hand in my report by Sunday night. I will
also be trying the upgrade install on another box.

However, my scenario will be different and may
serve as a contrast and compare.

My other machine has WinXP Pro SP2, newish
computer. Bare bones, nothing extra on it- not even
an AV. It does have Sygate Pro firewall, which is
now owned by Symantec. :-(

I haven't even put Office on it. I had been testing a
friend's theory that you don't need all sorts of security
software to have a secure uninfected computer. I've
seen others say the same. I run it in Limited User, I have
IE locked down tight, OE is locked down, and just practice
safe hex- which means, use dang common sense about what
you open, what you download and from where. I did put
Sygate on it. But, outbound protection isn't needed if you
don't ever get infected. Unless, you want to block things like
WGA from calling the mothership. A router and Windows firewall
is sufficient. And really, a NAT router with SPI is great protection,
you don't need another firewall on the OS. I hear users talk
about running two AVs in real-time, some two firewalls- Windows
and some third-party firewall, different spyware programs and
blah, blah, blah.

But other than Sygate, I haven't installed any extra software.

It is amazing how well XP runs when it isn't loaded down with
a bunch of crap. Many users probably don't even notice- over
time they have installed and uninstalled so much software they
don't realize how bogged down XP has become. I think those are
the users who swear Vista is "faster". Well, it just might be for
them, because it is a clean install with no extra crap and hardly
anything running in the systray.

I will let you guys know how it goes. I'm betting, my upgrade
install will go much smoother than Mark's.


-Michael


"Bernie" <bernie@nospam.org> wrote in message news:%236JGr9jsGHA.3264@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> I'll be watching this space.
>
>
> Mark D. VandenBerg wrote:
>>
>> I am going to, this weekend, on a testbox that I apparently hate,
>> install XP SP2 Home, some adware, some spyware, a bunch of IM clients,
>> three or four browsers, some old (Win95 era) software (kludge it up
>> nicely, maybe even a virus or two), then uninstall and reinstall some
>> stuff then install some things a few different times without
>> uninstalling them, and then "fix" the computer with some freebie
>> registry cleaner. Then I am going to pop in the DVD and let it rip and
>> see what comes out the other end. I believe that will approximate the
>> average user's experience. If nothing else, I perhaps will finally
>> experience some of the errors we are seeing.
>>

It will be interesting to compare.


MICHAEL wrote:
> I'll hand in my report by Sunday night. I will
> also be trying the upgrade install on another box.

"MICHAEL" <u158627_emr@dslr.net> wrote in message
news:OUe7cZksGHA.4264@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

<snip>

I'm betting, my upgrade
> install will go much smoother than Mark's.
>
> -Michael
>
>
<snip>

Ya think?

But I bet I learn more...

"Mark D. VandenBeg" <mvan103@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:uq$rqOlsGHA.3556@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>
> "MICHAEL" <u158627_emr@dslr.net> wrote in message
> news:OUe7cZksGHA.4264@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>
> <snip>
>
> I'm betting, my upgrade
>> install will go much smoother than Mark's.
>>
>> -Michael
>>
>>
> <snip>
>
> Ya think?
>
> But I bet I learn more...


Anger management? ;-)


-Michael

Profanity is the second language of beta testers.

"MICHAEL" <u158627_emr@dslr.net> wrote in message
news:eSeTMhlsGHA.1304@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> "Mark D. VandenBeg" <mvan103@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:uq$rqOlsGHA.3556@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>>
>> "MICHAEL" <u158627_emr@dslr.net> wrote in message
>> news:OUe7cZksGHA.4264@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>>
>> <snip>
>>
>> I'm betting, my upgrade
>>> install will go much smoother than Mark's.
>>>
>>> -Michael
>>>
>>>
>> <snip>
>>
>> Ya think?
>>
>> But I bet I learn more...
>
>
> Anger management? ;-)
>
>
> -Michael

Decided to start early:

First try, testbox and method as configured above:

Ignored all instruction. Files copy, expand and install. At second reboot,
system hangs after the welcome screen with no video (black screen) and no
mouse. Hard drive activity for approximately 20 minutes in this state, and
then silence. No error message and no BSOD. Hard reboot repeats the same
condition. I call no joy and am attempting second of 5-6 scenarios.

--
Mark

My favourite so far: Unknown device has been correctly installed.

You wouldn't rather just go for a few beers then? It's gonna be a long
weekend...

Mark D. VandenBerg wrote:
> Decided to start early:
>
> First try, testbox and method as configured above:
>
> Ignored all instruction. Files copy, expand and install. At second
> reboot, system hangs after the welcome screen with no video (black
> screen) and no mouse. Hard drive activity for approximately 20 minutes
> in this state, and then silence. No error message and no BSOD. Hard
> reboot repeats the same condition. I call no joy and am attempting
> second of 5-6 scenarios.
>

Second try: same procedure with the exception of running Update Advisor. UA
recommended uninstalling AIM and Norton AV 2003. Uninstalled both, same
result. No Joy.

Third try: After uninstalling AIM and NAV, went through the registry
manually and cleaned out all Norton/Symantec/AOL references. Lo and Behold!
Vista running, but with some errors.

I started to track them down when the non-tech girlfriend reminded me it was
her birthday. Oops... (48 hour pause in testing)

Fourth Try: As above but also uninstalled Trillian before upgrade. Seemed
to be okay. No obvious errors, but the system was visibly choking on
something at shut down/"Sleep." Perhaps the AIM/MSN plug-ins for Trillian
are installation issues?

Fifth try: Clean install of Win XP Home SP2 with all updates and no other
applications. Smooth and slick.

Conclusions:

1. None of the problems were MSFT software-related. All were MSFT
procedure-related. I offer that 30-40 % of people upgrading will not use
UA. UA needs to be an automated part of the installation, slip-steamed in,
or MSFT is going to have busy phones.
2. Software vendors need to make their programs install and uninstall
better; way too many little bombs left behind It's almost inconceivable for
coders to plan for every combination for a good install. (This is not news,
unfortunately).
3. I need a PDA with a better calendar system!

I hope this helps somebody.

Mark:

I decided to follow your lead on trying to perform an
upgrade installation of Vista x86 over XPSP2. Luckily I had downloaded
Vista x86 also because I've been testing Vista x64. I have an AMD 2200+
tower that I haven't used in 2 years that needed to be formatted and setup
to give to a friend's son for school. The system specifications are AMD
2200+, GF440 video (64mb), NIT and modem with onboard sound, 512mb ram.
Before starting I installed all updates, performed a disk cleanup and
defragmentation. I uninstalled McAfee including the registry entries, Power
DVD and Nero. Then while running XPSP2 I performed an upgrade installation.
Vista basic x86 installed due to the system limitations and the installation
was clean. After the installation completed everything worked all programs
and files were accessible. Performing this type of upgrade from XPSP2 didn't
create a "Windows old" file so that there is no way to rollback the
installation or perform a repair installation, only a format and clean
installation of XPSP2. The conclusion reached by this successful upgrade
installation is to read all directions and remove incompatible programs
prior to performing the upgrade.



"Mark D. VandenBeg" <mvan103@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:ORo2vdEtGHA.1288@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> Second try: same procedure with the exception of running Update Advisor.
> UA recommended uninstalling AIM and Norton AV 2003. Uninstalled both,
> same result. No Joy.
>
> Third try: After uninstalling AIM and NAV, went through the registry
> manually and cleaned out all Norton/Symantec/AOL references. Lo and
> Behold! Vista running, but with some errors.
>
> I started to track them down when the non-tech girlfriend reminded me it
> was her birthday. Oops... (48 hour pause in testing)
>
> Fourth Try: As above but also uninstalled Trillian before upgrade.
> Seemed to be okay. No obvious errors, but the system was visibly choking
> on something at shut down/"Sleep." Perhaps the AIM/MSN plug-ins for
> Trillian are installation issues?
>
> Fifth try: Clean install of Win XP Home SP2 with all updates and no other
> applications. Smooth and slick.
>
> Conclusions:
>
> 1. None of the problems were MSFT software-related. All were MSFT
> procedure-related. I offer that 30-40 % of people upgrading will not use
> UA. UA needs to be an automated part of the installation, slip-steamed
> in, or MSFT is going to have busy phones.
> 2. Software vendors need to make their programs install and uninstall
> better; way too many little bombs left behind It's almost inconceivable
> for coders to plan for every combination for a good install. (This is not
> news, unfortunately).
> 3. I need a PDA with a better calendar system!
>
> I hope this helps somebody.
>

My conclusion also, except that in addition to following the Upgrade
Advisor's advice, I found that I needed to gather the data from the
compatibility report at the start of Setup, exit Setup, remove the listed
software, reboot XP, and then run Setup. That produced a clean upgrade.
The wording of the compatibility report is too mild. Finding updates for
programs is problematical once the upgrade is done because there are many
cases where the update cannot be applied in Vista.

The info is there and is accurate. Folks getting into trouble are regarding
it too lightly or are mislead into thinking that they can just take care of
things later.


"Dennis Pack x64, v64 B2 (5384), O2007B2" <dennispack@nospamhotmail.com>
wrote in message news:erHXUGFtGHA.3324@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> Mark:
>
> I decided to follow your lead on trying to perform an
> upgrade installation of Vista x86 over XPSP2. Luckily I had downloaded
> Vista x86 also because I've been testing Vista x64. I have an AMD 2200+
> tower that I haven't used in 2 years that needed to be formatted and setup
> to give to a friend's son for school. The system specifications are AMD
> 2200+, GF440 video (64mb), NIT and modem with onboard sound, 512mb ram.
> Before starting I installed all updates, performed a disk cleanup and
> defragmentation. I uninstalled McAfee including the registry entries,
> Power DVD and Nero. Then while running XPSP2 I performed an upgrade
> installation. Vista basic x86 installed due to the system limitations and
> the installation was clean. After the installation completed everything
> worked all programs and files were accessible. Performing this type of
> upgrade from XPSP2 didn't create a "Windows old" file so that there is no
> way to rollback the installation or perform a repair installation, only a
> format and clean installation of XPSP2. The conclusion reached by this
> successful upgrade installation is to read all directions and remove
> incompatible programs prior to performing the upgrade.
>
>
>
> "Mark D. VandenBeg" <mvan103@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:ORo2vdEtGHA.1288@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>> Second try: same procedure with the exception of running Update Advisor.
>> UA recommended uninstalling AIM and Norton AV 2003. Uninstalled both,
>> same result. No Joy.
>>
>> Third try: After uninstalling AIM and NAV, went through the registry
>> manually and cleaned out all Norton/Symantec/AOL references. Lo and
>> Behold! Vista running, but with some errors.
>>
>> I started to track them down when the non-tech girlfriend reminded me it
>> was her birthday. Oops... (48 hour pause in testing)
>>
>> Fourth Try: As above but also uninstalled Trillian before upgrade.
>> Seemed to be okay. No obvious errors, but the system was visibly choking
>> on something at shut down/"Sleep." Perhaps the AIM/MSN plug-ins for
>> Trillian are installation issues?
>>
>> Fifth try: Clean install of Win XP Home SP2 with all updates and no other
>> applications. Smooth and slick.
>>
>> Conclusions:
>>
>> 1. None of the problems were MSFT software-related. All were MSFT
>> procedure-related. I offer that 30-40 % of people upgrading will not use
>> UA. UA needs to be an automated part of the installation, slip-steamed
>> in, or MSFT is going to have busy phones.
>> 2. Software vendors need to make their programs install and uninstall
>> better; way too many little bombs left behind It's almost inconceivable
>> for coders to plan for every combination for a good install. (This is
>> not news, unfortunately).
>> 3. I need a PDA with a better calendar system!
>>
>> I hope this helps somebody.
>>
>
>