Upgrade from XP Home - SP2 to Vista Home Premium Failue

I am trying to upgrade my older PC's operating system from XP (Home Edition-
service Pack 2) to Vista Home Premium. I've run the Upgrade Advisor and
performed all Pre-installation tasks (removed Roxio, disabled virus
detection, etc.). The Advisor indicates that Vista will run on the system -
although the maximum memory is limited to 512MB.

The install / upgrade seemed to progress nomally - although it took several
hours - but following one of the system install reboots, all that was
displayed was a blank (black) screen with the white mouse pointer - nothing
else. After 8 hours of "waiting for something to happen", I concluded that
the install failed and restored XP(fortunately).

Any thoughts / suggestions as to what went wrong and how I might proceed?

Well, there is a delay at one point during the install where one sees just
the cursor on a blank, black screen. It takes some time to get through that
point but it does end, usually. With only 512mb of RAM, your computer would
probably take quite some time. I'm not sure I would load Vista on a machine
that was limited to only 512mb or RAM. Vista wants 1GB to work well.

"stevesl" wrote:

> I am trying to upgrade my older PC's operating system from XP (Home Edition-
> service Pack 2) to Vista Home Premium. I've run the Upgrade Advisor and
> performed all Pre-installation tasks (removed Roxio, disabled virus
> detection, etc.). The Advisor indicates that Vista will run on the system -
> although the maximum memory is limited to 512MB.
>
> The install / upgrade seemed to progress nomally - although it took several
> hours - but following one of the system install reboots, all that was
> displayed was a blank (black) screen with the white mouse pointer - nothing
> else. After 8 hours of "waiting for something to happen", I concluded that
> the install failed and restored XP(fortunately).
>
> Any thoughts / suggestions as to what went wrong and how I might proceed?
>
>

SOLVED!!

It appears that the UPGRADE / Installation process was disrupted by my
having external hard drives connected to the system. I have two USB external
hard drives (Western Digital Media (something) and a Maxtor (something))
connected to serve as external backup drives. I had the drives connected and
on during the "Advisor" process, and no problem was indicated. However - as
noted in my initial posting - the installation seemed to drag on for hours
(from 6 AM until 9 PM) until I finally gave up.

As I saw some references to problems encounter with external hard drives, I
decided to try the install / upgrade without the drives activated. The
process WORKED! The install took around 3.5 hours. The only OTHER problem was
that after the install, the NETWORK ADAPTER CARD (3-COM) WASN'T recognized
and so I couldn't access the internet any longer (curious since I upgraded
using the "via internet" process(!). I replaced the adapter with a new ~$15
Network Everywhere (Linksys?) adapter and immediately re-established
connectivity.

This upgrade was NOT simple, but it seems to be working after a bit of
messing around.

BTW - it DOESN'T appear that the WD external drive works with VISTA - WD
what's up?

"stevesl" wrote:

> I am trying to upgrade my older PC's operating system from XP (Home Edition-
> service Pack 2) to Vista Home Premium. I've run the Upgrade Advisor and
> performed all Pre-installation tasks (removed Roxio, disabled virus
> detection, etc.). The Advisor indicates that Vista will run on the system -
> although the maximum memory is limited to 512MB.
>
> The install / upgrade seemed to progress nomally - although it took several
> hours - but following one of the system install reboots, all that was
> displayed was a blank (black) screen with the white mouse pointer - nothing
> else. After 8 hours of "waiting for something to happen", I concluded that
> the install failed and restored XP(fortunately).
>
> Any thoughts / suggestions as to what went wrong and how I might proceed?
>
>

I have a couple of WD and Maxtor USB drives, they work fine.
Have you tried plugging them back in since the install?

As several of us have stated repeatedly in this forum,
unplug *any* USB devices during install. Then plug them
back in after the install has finished. If you have a USB mouse
and/or keyboard, they should be fine. But, maybe not.

I really believe, Microsoft should tell users this before
the install begins. I've heard about so many installs getting
stuck or failing because of peripheral devices. They should
also warn users, "Regardless of what our crappy advisor tells
you- please uninstall any AVs, firewalls, spyware protection,
turn off system restore- *anything* that monitors."


Take care,

Michael

"stevesl" <stevesl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:9C247BDA-084C-45C7-9D5F-67044F5CB562@microsoft.com...
> SOLVED!!
>
> It appears that the UPGRADE / Installation process was disrupted by my
> having external hard drives connected to the system. I have two USB external
> hard drives (Western Digital Media (something) and a Maxtor (something))
> connected to serve as external backup drives. I had the drives connected and
> on during the "Advisor" process, and no problem was indicated. However - as
> noted in my initial posting - the installation seemed to drag on for hours
> (from 6 AM until 9 PM) until I finally gave up.
>
> As I saw some references to problems encounter with external hard drives, I
> decided to try the install / upgrade without the drives activated. The
> process WORKED! The install took around 3.5 hours. The only OTHER problem was
> that after the install, the NETWORK ADAPTER CARD (3-COM) WASN'T recognized
> and so I couldn't access the internet any longer (curious since I upgraded
> using the "via internet" process(!). I replaced the adapter with a new ~$15
> Network Everywhere (Linksys?) adapter and immediately re-established
> connectivity.
>
> This upgrade was NOT simple, but it seems to be working after a bit of
> messing around.
>
> BTW - it DOESN'T appear that the WD external drive works with VISTA - WD
> what's up?
>
> "stevesl" wrote:
>
>> I am trying to upgrade my older PC's operating system from XP (Home Edition-
>> service Pack 2) to Vista Home Premium. I've run the Upgrade Advisor and
>> performed all Pre-installation tasks (removed Roxio, disabled virus
>> detection, etc.). The Advisor indicates that Vista will run on the system -
>> although the maximum memory is limited to 512MB.
>>
>> The install / upgrade seemed to progress nomally - although it took several
>> hours - but following one of the system install reboots, all that was
>> displayed was a blank (black) screen with the white mouse pointer - nothing
>> else. After 8 hours of "waiting for something to happen", I concluded that
>> the install failed and restored XP(fortunately).
>>
>> Any thoughts / suggestions as to what went wrong and how I might proceed?
>>
>>

"stevesl" <stevesl@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote

> SOLVED!!
>
> It appears that the UPGRADE / Installation process was disrupted by my
> having external hard drives connected to the system. I have two USB
> external
> hard drives (Western Digital Media (something) and a Maxtor (something))
> connected to serve as external backup drives. I had the drives connected
> and
> on during the "Advisor" process, and no problem was indicated. However -
> as
> noted in my initial posting - the installation seemed to drag on for hours
> (from 6 AM until 9 PM) until I finally gave up.
>
> As I saw some references to problems encounter with external hard drives,
> I
> decided to try the install / upgrade without the drives activated. The
> process WORKED! The install took around 3.5 hours. The only OTHER problem
> was
> that after the install, the NETWORK ADAPTER CARD (3-COM) WASN'T recognized
> and so I couldn't access the internet any longer (curious since I upgraded
> using the "via internet" process(!). I replaced the adapter with a new
> ~$15
> Network Everywhere (Linksys?) adapter and immediately re-established
> connectivity.
>
> This upgrade was NOT simple, but it seems to be working after a bit of
> messing around.
>
> BTW - it DOESN'T appear that the WD external drive works with VISTA - WD
> what's up?
>
> "stevesl" wrote:
>
>> I am trying to upgrade my older PC's operating system from XP (Home
>> Edition-
>> service Pack 2) to Vista Home Premium. I've run the Upgrade Advisor and
>> performed all Pre-installation tasks (removed Roxio, disabled virus
>> detection, etc.). The Advisor indicates that Vista will run on the
>> system -
>> although the maximum memory is limited to 512MB.
>>
>> The install / upgrade seemed to progress nomally - although it took
>> several
>> hours - but following one of the system install reboots, all that was
>> displayed was a blank (black) screen with the white mouse pointer -
>> nothing
>> else. After 8 hours of "waiting for something to happen", I concluded
>> that
>> the install failed and restored XP(fortunately).
>>
>> Any thoughts / suggestions as to what went wrong and how I might proceed?


I have two WD external USB drives, both work. Try rebooting then plug them
in, see if it finds the drivers for them.

--
Rock [MVP - User/Shell]