Vista - vista NIGHTMARE!

Everything Im about to describe works flawlessy in XP.

Been running vista rtm for a while now at work and on my laptop. I held off
installing it at home because I was in the middle of building a new system.
Well this weekend all my parts are here and I've spent the entire time
trying to get Vista to install and boot.

I have always booted XP to a 15,000rpm Seagate Cheetah SCSI drive on an
Adaptec Ultra320 PCI SCSI controller. The first thing I did was go to the
adaptec site to see if a vista driver was available. I learned that there
WILL be a vista driver available to download soon but that a driver for my
card is already included on the vista rtm dvd.

OK... all systems go, boot to the vista dvd... get to the point where you
have to pick a drive to install on, vista sees the cheetah drive but says
something like "your computers hardware might not support booting to this
drive" (here we freakin go!)... i try creating a partition, no good... still
says the same thing. i try formatting the partition, same thing.. (doing all
this in the advanced menu of the vista setup). i find an MS KB article on
this error that says something ridiculous to me like "vista setup no longer
writes signatures to disk due to possible data loss. when you get this
error, boot to another windows cd (xp i assume), create a partition, thus
writing a signature, then boot back to the vista disk. huh?!?!? well i try
this... several times. one time out of the 10 i was able to get past that
screen and actually get all the way through the install... then when it
rebooted, it hung on "press any key to boot to dvd"... ok, lets try again.
this time when i choose the disk to install on i get "windows requires a
valid system volume for installation to continue"...

im really scratching my head thinking why the $%@& would MS so dramatically
change the way the installer works when it was fine before??? needlessly to
say when i boot to an xp cd i can install and everything is great.

where can i even start with this???

PS...

for testing, i installed XP on the problem hardware and it worked fine. i
also took the scsi card and drive out of the new system, put it in a
different one, and vista installed ok! wtf???

also, if i install vista on a SATA drive in the new system, it works fine
and once i boot to windows i can use the scsi drive just fine!! so what
could possibly be the issue here?



"Troy McClure" <j@w.com> wrote in message
news:O2NPepdMHHA.3552@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> Everything Im about to describe works flawlessy in XP.
>
> Been running vista rtm for a while now at work and on my laptop. I held
> off installing it at home because I was in the middle of building a new
> system. Well this weekend all my parts are here and I've spent the entire
> time trying to get Vista to install and boot.
>
> I have always booted XP to a 15,000rpm Seagate Cheetah SCSI drive on an
> Adaptec Ultra320 PCI SCSI controller. The first thing I did was go to the
> adaptec site to see if a vista driver was available. I learned that there
> WILL be a vista driver available to download soon but that a driver for my
> card is already included on the vista rtm dvd.
>
> OK... all systems go, boot to the vista dvd... get to the point where you
> have to pick a drive to install on, vista sees the cheetah drive but says
> something like "your computers hardware might not support booting to this
> drive" (here we freakin go!)... i try creating a partition, no good...
> still says the same thing. i try formatting the partition, same thing..
> (doing all this in the advanced menu of the vista setup). i find an MS KB
> article on this error that says something ridiculous to me like "vista
> setup no longer writes signatures to disk due to possible data loss. when
> you get this error, boot to another windows cd (xp i assume), create a
> partition, thus writing a signature, then boot back to the vista disk.
> huh?!?!? well i try this... several times. one time out of the 10 i was
> able to get past that screen and actually get all the way through the
> install... then when it rebooted, it hung on "press any key to boot to
> dvd"... ok, lets try again. this time when i choose the disk to install on
> i get "windows requires a valid system volume for installation to
> continue"...
>
> im really scratching my head thinking why the $%@& would MS so
> dramatically change the way the installer works when it was fine before???
> needlessly to say when i boot to an xp cd i can install and everything is
> great.
>
> where can i even start with this???
>
>

vista >NIGHTMARE



"Troy McClure" <j@j.com> wrote in message
news:u%23IDAheMHHA.3288@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> PS...
>
> for testing, i installed XP on the problem hardware and it worked fine. i
> also took the scsi card and drive out of the new system, put it in a
> different one, and vista installed ok! wtf???
>
> also, if i install vista on a SATA drive in the new system, it works fine
> and once i boot to windows i can use the scsi drive just fine!! so what
> could possibly be the issue here?
>
>
>
> "Troy McClure" <j@w.com> wrote in message
> news:O2NPepdMHHA.3552@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>> Everything Im about to describe works flawlessy in XP.
>>
>> Been running vista rtm for a while now at work and on my laptop. I held
>> off installing it at home because I was in the middle of building a new
>> system. Well this weekend all my parts are here and I've spent the entire
>> time trying to get Vista to install and boot.
>>
>> I have always booted XP to a 15,000rpm Seagate Cheetah SCSI drive on an
>> Adaptec Ultra320 PCI SCSI controller. The first thing I did was go to the
>> adaptec site to see if a vista driver was available. I learned that there
>> WILL be a vista driver available to download soon but that a driver for
>> my card is already included on the vista rtm dvd.
>>
>> OK... all systems go, boot to the vista dvd... get to the point where you
>> have to pick a drive to install on, vista sees the cheetah drive but says
>> something like "your computers hardware might not support booting to this
>> drive" (here we freakin go!)... i try creating a partition, no good...
>> still says the same thing. i try formatting the partition, same thing..
>> (doing all this in the advanced menu of the vista setup). i find an MS KB
>> article on this error that says something ridiculous to me like "vista
>> setup no longer writes signatures to disk due to possible data loss. when
>> you get this error, boot to another windows cd (xp i assume), create a
>> partition, thus writing a signature, then boot back to the vista disk.
>> huh?!?!? well i try this... several times. one time out of the 10 i was
>> able to get past that screen and actually get all the way through the
>> install... then when it rebooted, it hung on "press any key to boot to
>> dvd"... ok, lets try again. this time when i choose the disk to install
>> on i get "windows requires a valid system volume for installation to
>> continue"...
>>
>> im really scratching my head thinking why the $%@& would MS so
>> dramatically change the way the installer works when it was fine
>> before??? needlessly to say when i boot to an xp cd i can install and
>> everything is great.
>>
>> where can i even start with this???
>>
>>
>

On Sat, 6 Jan 2007 18:13:12 -0500, Troy McClure wrote:

> PS...
>
> for testing, i installed XP on the problem hardware and it worked fine. i
> also took the scsi card and drive out of the new system, put it in a
> different one, and vista installed ok! wtf???
>
> also, if i install vista on a SATA drive in the new system, it works fine
> and once i boot to windows i can use the scsi drive just fine!! so what
> could possibly be the issue here?

It sounds to me like a BIOS or Firmware problem, either the Adaptec card or
the computers bios. Check with Adaptec and see if you are using the latest
firmware for the card, also check that you have the latest bios for the
motherboard. Also, you may need to tweak the cards firmware settings.

Vista has changed it's entire boot process to be more in line with EFI
(though 32 bit vista doesn't officially support EFI). And uses a new boot
loader.

It sounds like either some subtle incompatibility between the SCSI card and
the motherboard or a chipset driver or BIOS problem.

--
Kerry Brown
Microsoft MVP - Shell/User
http://www.vistahelp.ca


"Troy McClure" <j@j.com> wrote in message
news:u%23IDAheMHHA.3288@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> PS...
>
> for testing, i installed XP on the problem hardware and it worked fine. i
> also took the scsi card and drive out of the new system, put it in a
> different one, and vista installed ok! wtf???
>
> also, if i install vista on a SATA drive in the new system, it works fine
> and once i boot to windows i can use the scsi drive just fine!! so what
> could possibly be the issue here?
>
>
>
> "Troy McClure" <j@w.com> wrote in message
> news:O2NPepdMHHA.3552@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>> Everything Im about to describe works flawlessy in XP.
>>
>> Been running vista rtm for a while now at work and on my laptop. I held
>> off installing it at home because I was in the middle of building a new
>> system. Well this weekend all my parts are here and I've spent the entire
>> time trying to get Vista to install and boot.
>>
>> I have always booted XP to a 15,000rpm Seagate Cheetah SCSI drive on an
>> Adaptec Ultra320 PCI SCSI controller. The first thing I did was go to the
>> adaptec site to see if a vista driver was available. I learned that there
>> WILL be a vista driver available to download soon but that a driver for
>> my card is already included on the vista rtm dvd.
>>
>> OK... all systems go, boot to the vista dvd... get to the point where you
>> have to pick a drive to install on, vista sees the cheetah drive but says
>> something like "your computers hardware might not support booting to this
>> drive" (here we freakin go!)... i try creating a partition, no good...
>> still says the same thing. i try formatting the partition, same thing..
>> (doing all this in the advanced menu of the vista setup). i find an MS KB
>> article on this error that says something ridiculous to me like "vista
>> setup no longer writes signatures to disk due to possible data loss. when
>> you get this error, boot to another windows cd (xp i assume), create a
>> partition, thus writing a signature, then boot back to the vista disk.
>> huh?!?!? well i try this... several times. one time out of the 10 i was
>> able to get past that screen and actually get all the way through the
>> install... then when it rebooted, it hung on "press any key to boot to
>> dvd"... ok, lets try again. this time when i choose the disk to install
>> on i get "windows requires a valid system volume for installation to
>> continue"...
>>
>> im really scratching my head thinking why the $%@& would MS so
>> dramatically change the way the installer works when it was fine
>> before??? needlessly to say when i boot to an xp cd i can install and
>> everything is great.
>>
>> where can i even start with this???
>>
>>
>

I think if your SCSI was the only drive in the system it may have worked.
But (apparently - if I read your messages right) you also have a SATA drive.
Just like SATA would take boot priority over an IDE, I betcha SATA takes
boot priority over the SCSI (with the Adaptec controller card). When you
were booting XP from the SCSI in your other system, did it have a SATA drive
installed too? I dunno...

-Frank

"Troy McClure" <j@w.com> wrote in message
news:O2NPepdMHHA.3552@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> Everything Im about to describe works flawlessy in XP.
>
> Been running vista rtm for a while now at work and on my laptop. I held
> off installing it at home because I was in the middle of building a new
> system. Well this weekend all my parts are here and I've spent the entire
> time trying to get Vista to install and boot.
>
> I have always booted XP to a 15,000rpm Seagate Cheetah SCSI drive on an
> Adaptec Ultra320 PCI SCSI controller. The first thing I did was go to the
> adaptec site to see if a vista driver was available. I learned that there
> WILL be a vista driver available to download soon but that a driver for my
> card is already included on the vista rtm dvd.
>
> OK... all systems go, boot to the vista dvd... get to the point where you
> have to pick a drive to install on, vista sees the cheetah drive but says
> something like "your computers hardware might not support booting to this
> drive" (here we freakin go!)... i try creating a partition, no good...
> still says the same thing. i try formatting the partition, same thing..
> (doing all this in the advanced menu of the vista setup). i find an MS KB
> article on this error that says something ridiculous to me like "vista
> setup no longer writes signatures to disk due to possible data loss. when
> you get this error, boot to another windows cd (xp i assume), create a
> partition, thus writing a signature, then boot back to the vista disk.
> huh?!?!? well i try this... several times. one time out of the 10 i was
> able to get past that screen and actually get all the way through the
> install... then when it rebooted, it hung on "press any key to boot to
> dvd"... ok, lets try again. this time when i choose the disk to install on
> i get "windows requires a valid system volume for installation to
> continue"...
>
> im really scratching my head thinking why the $%@& would MS so
> dramatically change the way the installer works when it was fine before???
> needlessly to say when i boot to an xp cd i can install and everything is
> great.
>
> where can i even start with this???
>
>

Oops... backwards... I meant IDE take boot priority over SATA. Anyway, I may
be wrong altogether.

-Frank

"Frankster" <Frank@spam2trash.com> wrote in message
news:gJudnS_XoL5Txj3YnZ2dnUVZ_sqdnZ2d@giganews.com...
>I think if your SCSI was the only drive in the system it may have worked.
>But (apparently - if I read your messages right) you also have a SATA
>drive. Just like SATA would take boot priority over an IDE, I betcha SATA
>takes boot priority over the SCSI (with the Adaptec controller card). When
>you were booting XP from the SCSI in your other system, did it have a SATA
>drive installed too? I dunno...
>
> -Frank
>
> "Troy McClure" <j@w.com> wrote in message
> news:O2NPepdMHHA.3552@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>> Everything Im about to describe works flawlessy in XP.
>>
>> Been running vista rtm for a while now at work and on my laptop. I held
>> off installing it at home because I was in the middle of building a new
>> system. Well this weekend all my parts are here and I've spent the entire
>> time trying to get Vista to install and boot.
>>
>> I have always booted XP to a 15,000rpm Seagate Cheetah SCSI drive on an
>> Adaptec Ultra320 PCI SCSI controller. The first thing I did was go to the
>> adaptec site to see if a vista driver was available. I learned that there
>> WILL be a vista driver available to download soon but that a driver for
>> my card is already included on the vista rtm dvd.
>>
>> OK... all systems go, boot to the vista dvd... get to the point where you
>> have to pick a drive to install on, vista sees the cheetah drive but says
>> something like "your computers hardware might not support booting to this
>> drive" (here we freakin go!)... i try creating a partition, no good...
>> still says the same thing. i try formatting the partition, same thing..
>> (doing all this in the advanced menu of the vista setup). i find an MS KB
>> article on this error that says something ridiculous to me like "vista
>> setup no longer writes signatures to disk due to possible data loss. when
>> you get this error, boot to another windows cd (xp i assume), create a
>> partition, thus writing a signature, then boot back to the vista disk.
>> huh?!?!? well i try this... several times. one time out of the 10 i was
>> able to get past that screen and actually get all the way through the
>> install... then when it rebooted, it hung on "press any key to boot to
>> dvd"... ok, lets try again. this time when i choose the disk to install
>> on i get "windows requires a valid system volume for installation to
>> continue"...
>>
>> im really scratching my head thinking why the $%@& would MS so
>> dramatically change the way the installer works when it was fine
>> before??? needlessly to say when i boot to an xp cd i can install and
>> everything is great.
>>
>> where can i even start with this???
>>
>>
>
>

Troy McClure wrote:
> Everything Im about to describe works flawlessy in XP.
>
> Been running vista rtm for a while now at work and on my laptop. I held
> off installing it at home because I was in the middle of building a new
> system. Well this weekend all my parts are here and I've spent the
> entire time trying to get Vista to install and boot.
>
> I have always booted XP to a 15,000rpm Seagate Cheetah SCSI drive on an
> Adaptec Ultra320 PCI SCSI controller. The first thing I did was go to
> the adaptec site to see if a vista driver was available. I learned that
> there WILL be a vista driver available to download soon but that a
> driver for my card is already included on the vista rtm dvd.
>
> OK... all systems go, boot to the vista dvd... get to the point where
> you have to pick a drive to install on, vista sees the cheetah drive but
> says something like "your computers hardware might not support booting
> to this drive" (here we freakin go!)... i try creating a partition, no
> good... still says the same thing. i try formatting the partition, same
> thing.. (doing all this in the advanced menu of the vista setup). i find
> an MS KB article on this error that says something ridiculous to me like
> "vista setup no longer writes signatures to disk due to possible data
> loss. when you get this error, boot to another windows cd (xp i assume),
> create a partition, thus writing a signature, then boot back to the
> vista disk. huh?!?!? well i try this... several times. one time out of
> the 10 i was able to get past that screen and actually get all the way
> through the install... then when it rebooted, it hung on "press any key
> to boot to dvd"... ok, lets try again. this time when i choose the disk
> to install on i get "windows requires a valid system volume for
> installation to continue"...
>
> im really scratching my head thinking why the $%@& would MS so
> dramatically change the way the installer works when it was fine
> before??? needlessly to say when i boot to an xp cd i can install and
> everything is great.
>
> where can i even start with this???

I think the clue was when Vista said during install "your computers
hardware might not support booting to this drive" and your comment "I
learned that there WILL be a vista driver available to download soon but
that a driver for my card is already included on the vista rtm dvd."

I suspect that the driver in the RTM built doesn't support booting,
rather just supports basic stuff. When Adaptec release their driver,
you may find that one supports booting.

D

thanks everyone. yeah, ive tried everything you guys mentioned (even making
the scsi drive the only drive plugged in to the mobo) im going to contact
adaptec today and see if they have anthing to say.


"Troy McClure" <j@j.com> wrote in message
news:u%23IDAheMHHA.3288@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> PS...
>
> for testing, i installed XP on the problem hardware and it worked fine. i
> also took the scsi card and drive out of the new system, put it in a
> different one, and vista installed ok! wtf???
>
> also, if i install vista on a SATA drive in the new system, it works fine
> and once i boot to windows i can use the scsi drive just fine!! so what
> could possibly be the issue here?
>
>
>
> "Troy McClure" <j@w.com> wrote in message
> news:O2NPepdMHHA.3552@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>> Everything Im about to describe works flawlessy in XP.
>>
>> Been running vista rtm for a while now at work and on my laptop. I held
>> off installing it at home because I was in the middle of building a new
>> system. Well this weekend all my parts are here and I've spent the entire
>> time trying to get Vista to install and boot.
>>
>> I have always booted XP to a 15,000rpm Seagate Cheetah SCSI drive on an
>> Adaptec Ultra320 PCI SCSI controller. The first thing I did was go to the
>> adaptec site to see if a vista driver was available. I learned that there
>> WILL be a vista driver available to download soon but that a driver for
>> my card is already included on the vista rtm dvd.
>>
>> OK... all systems go, boot to the vista dvd... get to the point where you
>> have to pick a drive to install on, vista sees the cheetah drive but says
>> something like "your computers hardware might not support booting to this
>> drive" (here we freakin go!)... i try creating a partition, no good...
>> still says the same thing. i try formatting the partition, same thing..
>> (doing all this in the advanced menu of the vista setup). i find an MS KB
>> article on this error that says something ridiculous to me like "vista
>> setup no longer writes signatures to disk due to possible data loss. when
>> you get this error, boot to another windows cd (xp i assume), create a
>> partition, thus writing a signature, then boot back to the vista disk.
>> huh?!?!? well i try this... several times. one time out of the 10 i was
>> able to get past that screen and actually get all the way through the
>> install... then when it rebooted, it hung on "press any key to boot to
>> dvd"... ok, lets try again. this time when i choose the disk to install
>> on i get "windows requires a valid system volume for installation to
>> continue"...
>>
>> im really scratching my head thinking why the $%@& would MS so
>> dramatically change the way the installer works when it was fine
>> before??? needlessly to say when i boot to an xp cd i can install and
>> everything is great.
>>
>> where can i even start with this???
>>
>>
>

ok new clue!! i hope someone knows more about low level boot stuff than i
do...

i thought for a test i would try installing xp then upgrading to vista.
currently there are 4 drives in the system... 3 SATA and 1 SCSI, all empty
with no partitions defined. when i go to install xp on the scsi drive setup
says ok but to install xp on this partition we have to also write some
startup files to [the first SATA drive... disk 0 id 0 bus 0]

so... whats going on here? keep in mind i HAVE tried the scsi install of
vista when it was the ONLY drive attached.



"Troy McClure" <j@w.com> wrote in message
news:eTKbIrlMHHA.2236@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> thanks everyone. yeah, ive tried everything you guys mentioned (even
> making the scsi drive the only drive plugged in to the mobo) im going to
> contact adaptec today and see if they have anthing to say.
>
>
> "Troy McClure" <j@j.com> wrote in message
> news:u%23IDAheMHHA.3288@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>> PS...
>>
>> for testing, i installed XP on the problem hardware and it worked fine. i
>> also took the scsi card and drive out of the new system, put it in a
>> different one, and vista installed ok! wtf???
>>
>> also, if i install vista on a SATA drive in the new system, it works fine
>> and once i boot to windows i can use the scsi drive just fine!! so what
>> could possibly be the issue here?
>>
>>
>>
>> "Troy McClure" <j@w.com> wrote in message
>> news:O2NPepdMHHA.3552@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>>> Everything Im about to describe works flawlessy in XP.
>>>
>>> Been running vista rtm for a while now at work and on my laptop. I held
>>> off installing it at home because I was in the middle of building a new
>>> system. Well this weekend all my parts are here and I've spent the
>>> entire time trying to get Vista to install and boot.
>>>
>>> I have always booted XP to a 15,000rpm Seagate Cheetah SCSI drive on an
>>> Adaptec Ultra320 PCI SCSI controller. The first thing I did was go to
>>> the adaptec site to see if a vista driver was available. I learned that
>>> there WILL be a vista driver available to download soon but that a
>>> driver for my card is already included on the vista rtm dvd.
>>>
>>> OK... all systems go, boot to the vista dvd... get to the point where
>>> you have to pick a drive to install on, vista sees the cheetah drive but
>>> says something like "your computers hardware might not support booting
>>> to this drive" (here we freakin go!)... i try creating a partition, no
>>> good... still says the same thing. i try formatting the partition, same
>>> thing.. (doing all this in the advanced menu of the vista setup). i find
>>> an MS KB article on this error that says something ridiculous to me like
>>> "vista setup no longer writes signatures to disk due to possible data
>>> loss. when you get this error, boot to another windows cd (xp i assume),
>>> create a partition, thus writing a signature, then boot back to the
>>> vista disk. huh?!?!? well i try this... several times. one time out of
>>> the 10 i was able to get past that screen and actually get all the way
>>> through the install... then when it rebooted, it hung on "press any key
>>> to boot to dvd"... ok, lets try again. this time when i choose the disk
>>> to install on i get "windows requires a valid system volume for
>>> installation to continue"...
>>>
>>> im really scratching my head thinking why the $%@& would MS so
>>> dramatically change the way the installer works when it was fine
>>> before??? needlessly to say when i boot to an xp cd i can install and
>>> everything is great.
>>>
>>> where can i even start with this???
>>>
>>>
>>
>