Hi all, I've been trying to install vista ultimate 32bit on a semi-old HP media centre with a Pentium D and system specs that I believe would easily run vista. I have gotten to the end of the installation I think (just after it says 'Preparing your desktop and shutting down') and then it constantly restarts itself without loading vista at all. I formatted my hard drive when I was installing vista. I have no idea what the problem could be. Help anyone?

"romancommander" <romancommander.37sn61@xxxxxx-mx.forums.net> wrote in message
news:romancommander.37sn61@xxxxxx-mx.forums.net...

>
> Hi all, I've been trying to install vista ultimate 32bit on a semi-old
> HP media centre with a Pentium D and system specs that I believe would
> easily run vista. I have gotten to the end of the installation I think
> (just after it says 'Preparing your desktop and shutting down') and then
> it constantly restarts itself without loading vista at all. I formatted
> my hard drive when I was installing vista. I have no idea what the
> problem could be. Help anyone?
>
>

As a precaution, run a RAM test and the harddrive manufacturer's diagnostic.

If RAM and HD are OK...then try the installation with a minimal hardware
configuration...
then if the installation is successful at components one item at a time to
see what is not compatable.

BTW: How much RAM does your machine have? I've noticed a few posts that
mentioned
during the installation only...the RAM had to be limited to 2 gigs

Weird, the peice of hardware that was causing the crashes was the RAM! I actually discovered I had only 1G of ram on two 512 sticks. After removing one of them, it worked!

"romancommander" <romancommander.37t800@xxxxxx-mx.forums.net> wrote in message
news:romancommander.37t800@xxxxxx-mx.forums.net...

>
> Weird, the peice of hardware that was causing the crashes was the RAM! I
> actually discovered I had only 1G of ram on two 512 sticks. After
> removing one of them, it worked!
>
>

Though I am sorry to hear you have some bad RAM...
glad that at least you've found the problem.

If you end up purchasing new RAM , I advise running Vista with 2 gigs (or
more if needed for your apps)


The pricing now is pretty good.

I just picked up 2 gigs of DDR for $80