obsolete_power Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 (edited) Well my buddy and I are pretty disappointed so I will do the best I can without punching a whole right through my monitor!! My buddy had purchased Vista Home Premium Upgrade from Walmart last night and it has been nothing but pain! He installed it last night after the OS had wiped out one of his HDD that contained lots of sensitive and important data but this one I will let it slide and write it off as a user error (yeah right). It was upgraded from a fully patched / updated Windows XP Professional. This morning he tried to connect a removable hard drive to his hot-swappable bay and that didn't get recognized by Vista as a Basic drive just as a Dynamic drive. Bottom line, he couldn't use the drive in Vista. He called Windows support and basically after an hour and a half of talking to the guy and circling something which really didn't help at all and after he was put on hold 8 times for 5 mins or more each time the call drops....After 25 mins the guy calls back and starts talking and tells my buddy to do something that screws up the installation. He then installs windows xp pro again, but can't update it because Vista activations invalidate xp keys.... So he throws the Vista DVD in and leaves the computer to install Vista. He returns from dinner and finds a BSOD with the error pointing to some nf4 file (we think it's the nforce drivers). So he reboots, install his nforce 4 drivers, starts the installation again and now again, he gets a different BSOD at 68%. He calls activation service to try and get a new XP key and after 10 mins dealing with recorded bots he gets to talk to a guy that puts him on hold for a conference call with the activation department. He returns 15 mins later and tells my buddy that he can't get to the department due to high call volume....He asks if he can transfer manually to the department. So he puts him on hold and guess what? THE CALL GETS DROPPED AGAIN! He calls again from a different phone and finally gets to speak with a person and gets a new XP key. Now he is updating win XP and we will have to sit and wait to see if this will finally work. By the way, it has been just under 5 hours since him and I have been busting our balls trying to figure this out because Microsoft decides to complicate things with the XP key invalidation crap.....This is Microsoft and whether we want to or not, we have to accept them for who they are. You know, they say that they are constantly innovating and say they are designing better products that will make our lives much easier and yet we spend so much time debugging their products rather than actually using them. I will leave it at this and I will keep you guys updated with forthcoming events! They should also hire people that can actually speak english because my buddy was on for 5 mins trying to understand what he was asking him to do. UPDATE: Installation passed this time, YAY! I guess he has to fully update XP each time which is gonna be hard since everytime he has to re-install Vista he will have to call Activation Department because of the XP key invalidation crap. Edited January 31, 2007 by obsolete_power Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sprocket Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 I would attribute a lot of the problems to a "user error". Do not ever upgrade your OS, but rather do a clean install. If that is not possible than you have to get another HDD or make somehow room for it. And, most importantly, back up everything FIRST! But, never ever, upgrade an OS. I am not surprised at the call volume at MS. They're swamped and the low-level techs read from a script and are usually show more courtesy than knowledge. But I do agree with you that an upgrade should not be nightmare like this, because there are probably tens of thousands of users who are in a similar situation right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martym Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 That what I was saying in a earlier post. For the next 6 months getting tech support from microsoft is really going to be crazy. I aggree a clean install is the best as there is too much difference between xp and vista archeture Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obsolete_power Posted January 31, 2007 Author Share Posted January 31, 2007 Yes but there is also a $130 difference between the Upgrade version and the Full install Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I am Reid Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 I think everyone knows to make a good backup of the sensitive files that are important to you. You have no one to blame for the lost files except yourself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obsolete_power Posted January 31, 2007 Author Share Posted January 31, 2007 I think everyone knows to make a good backup of the sensitive files that are important to you. You have no one to blame for the lost files except yourself. Yea that's a very small part of the whole problem though...and has very little to do with Microsoft, I already stated that...sarcasn was used for effect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karl Sheldon Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Well I have twice ran both upgrade and clean install (Which just renames Windows to Windows.old) and following the default and recommended settings you can't and won't loose any files where ever you gave them, (my bet his were on the desktop, now hidden in a renamed folder with all his docs and settings, normally Desktop.name or similar) Both upgrades have worked fine, poss only diff I noticed with clean install is that some XP drivers get carried over from XP on an upgrade. This is most def 'User Error' or 'semi geek' trying to be over clever with the install either way I don't feel MS or Vista should carry the blame here. Some questions ? Did you back up files ? (Guess Not) Did you run the upgrade adviser and follow its advice (re drivers / programs etc )? (Prob Not) Did you un-install AntiVirus and such ? (Ok not always advised but sensible for new os install ) Was the XP system running fine (?) no issues met along its install / drivers etc ? (Pre awareness) Any way Vista is well worth the upgrade, not sure of the price value for money thing, but in comparison to XP well worth the change with a minimal amount of fuss, and compatibility issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sniper101 Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Can i add that the upgrade versions of vista are a nightmare ;) might i added again that OEM and Retail versions are not lol so to anyone getting vista NO Upgrade :p just retail or OEM lol i didnt encounter any problems when installing my OEM version :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hagjohn Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 I never "upgrade" a Windows OS. I always pull out the old disk and put in a new one. Transfer my data from the old drive to new OS and if it all works out, then I archive off the old drive. That way, you can put in your old drive if needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VipeNess Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Microsoft internal documentation reveals workaround for Vista Upgrade DVDs with no need for a previous version of Windows Now, however, this workaround allows users to perform a ?clean install.? The process is a bit tedious, but is not hard at all to complete. Users have to perform these simple steps to perform a clean install of Vista without a previous version of Windows installed with an upgrade DVD: 1. Boot from the Windows Vista Upgrade DVD and start the setup program. 2. When prompted to enter your product key, DO NOT enter it. Click "Next" and proceed with setup. This will install Windows Vista as a 30-day trial. 3. When prompted, select the edition of Vista which you have purchased and continue with setup. 4. Once setup has been completed and you have been brought to the desktop for the first time, run the install program from within Windows Vista. 5. This time, type in your product key when prompted. 6. When asked whether to perform an Upgrade or Custom (advanced) install, choose Custom (advanced) to perform a clean install of Vista. Yes, this means that you will have to install Vista for a second time. 7. Once setup has completed for the second time, you should be able to activate Windows Vista normally. You can also delete the Windows.old directory which contains information from the first Vista install. Enjoy the article http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=5932 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbie Ride Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 I think the best way to upgrade Windows XP to Windows Vista, it to back up your data to any other HDD either internal or external then disconnect the drive completely from the computer, then attempt upgrade again. If its a clean install that being performed then, pop in the DVD then once you have gotten past the part regarding the product key, your presented with the hard drive partitioning window, you will be that the upgrade option is disabled, click custom (advanced), select the drive that your gonna install vista on, click delete, then new, then format, if you motherboard needs drivers during installation click load drivers, then insert Floppy or CD, thenonce you have done that click next, installation will now begin. Tip before installing Windows Vista, if you computer has more that one internal HDD then go to my computer right click on your HDD's (other than the one being used for Vista) click properties and name the drives, then when you install Windows Vista in the drive partitioning window all your drive that you named are listed and you will see your primary drive listed but with no name, so its highly unlikely that you will format the wrong drive. I have done it this way since i started testing Windows Vista in December 05 and never had a problem. Try it and see what happens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VipeNess Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Hey power; this must have been the techie for all the calls... http://att.macrumors.com/attachment.php?at...mp;d=1169933913 I kid, I kid! I think the best way to upgrade Windows XP to Windows Vista, it to back up your data to any other HDD either internal or external then disconnect the drive completely from the computer, then attempt upgrade again. Yeah, don't store your backups on another partition too on the same hdd, disconnect that hdd with the backup and make sure to move it, but you might run into a dynamic drive offline issue when you plug hdd back in; who knows anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obsolete_power Posted February 2, 2007 Author Share Posted February 2, 2007 Hahaha that's so awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mycoolkim Posted February 2, 2007 Share Posted February 2, 2007 ok, iam not getting vista, no way man, heard to much time wasting cr@p... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts