Now when I try to load again I get a blue screen with a message "WORKER_THREAD_RETURNED_AT_BAD_IRQL"  Anyone know what that means?

It might be an issue with raid.  I can't diagnose your problem but I can tell you that raid and MS Vista are not the best of friends right now, particularly when it comes to raid arrays.  Some people insist they're having no problem with Vista and raid but others have.  Talk a look at this thread and see if you think it applies to you:

 

http://www.dellcommunity.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=vista&thread.id=11581&view=by_date_ascending&page=1

Did you do a clean boot first?

When I turn the RAID to autodetect, Windows XP will not start and I get a BSOD.  When I go back and change it to RAID on, it goes away.  What can I do to avoid this?

Yep, it was a clean install.  That's the only way I do operating systems.  Mine is working fine now, but with Vista in autodetect mode (versus raid on).  Of course, no raid array either. 

Mike, it sounds like you may be experiencing a similar issue to what I had.  Are you attempting to create a dual boot system while leaving your XP configuration alone?

 

If that is your situation, it is understandable that you would be concerned that Win XP is not booting when you change the BIOS from raid on to autodetect.  The reason for that is the system shipped from the factory with Win XP (with a BIOS setting of "raid on". 

 

I don't fully understand the "why" part here.  But I can tell you that when you change the BIOS setting to autodetect, it will NOT allow you to boot into the existing XP configuration because it was created with BIOS setting of "raid on" (no matter whether you actually have a raid array or not).

 

This is what I dealt with and because I wanted a dual boot system and didn't have any other solutions at the time (beginning of February), I changed the BIOS to autodetect on my dell XPS410.  Vista then installed with no more IRQ erros and no more BSOD (blue screen of death).  However, the big downfall of it was the fact that I had to reinstall XP on my other hard drive.  Very time consuming.

 

If you are trying to create a dual boot system (and you don't want to reinstall your XP hard drive), then leave your BIOS setting as "raid on".  (You'll have to in order for it to boot in its current state).

Then go to the thread for ChandlerL on the Dell Forum here.  He gives specific instructions about extracting key files from the Intel Matrix Storage Manager. 

 

I have not tried it myself because I only learned of his instructions "after" I changed my BIOS setting.  However, if you can get his instructions to work, then you can leave your BIOS setting alone (in the raid on mode) and not have to worry about XP not loading.  Hope this makes sense.

 

P.S. If you read Chandler's thread, take a look at one of my comments near the end of the thread.  I have outlined the key files that he describes.....just for clarity for everyone.

Scott, Im just trying to Install Vista.  I do not need dual boot capabilities.  I bought this XPS 410 and now Im trying to install this upgrade (going on day 2) and getting very frustrated.  What is the easiest way of installing this upgrade?

I used the retail full version of Vista Home Premium versus the upgrade DVD that you are using.  In my case, I booted from the Vista DVD itself.

 

In your case with that upgrade DVD, it is my understanding that you can only install (upgrade to Vista) from the desktop of Win XP.  From what you've said, it appears that is what you've done but you are getting the BSOD :-(

 

Wow!  Sorry to hear that man.  To try to answer your question, I will give you an answer.  I cannot tell you with 100% certainty that what I am about to say is the best or most efficient solution but it should work.  (If you don't want to follow what I'm about to say, you can always call tech support).  Again, I didn't use the upgrade disk.

 

Okay, if you are willing to lose your files and settings (and do a clean install) which I really think is best anyway when you are changing operating systems.  Here is a work around for you.   Because you must install the upgrade DVD from the Win XP desktop and because you are experiencing the errors that you described, you could do the following:

 

Change your BIOS setting from raid on to autodetect (dont let those blues and grays fool you)

 

Then get your Win XP CD out and boot to this disk (I believe it is F12 to force your machine to boot one time to a DVD so start tapping that button once you've got the DVD in the rom drive and you have hit restart.  Go through the process of installing Win XP from scratch.  You wouldn't need any of the programs or anything extra on there, just the Win XP operating system up and running on your desktop.

 

Once that is done, obviously you would now have a bare bones copy of WIn XP on your machine with a BIOS setting of autodetect.  Next, insert your Vista upgrade DVD from the Win XP desktop and go through all the prompts.  When it asks you if you want to do an upgrade or clean install, choose clean install.

 

You should then be well on your way to being in Vista land.  This process that I have described "IS" time consuming.  Also, you obviously want to make sure you've backed up anything that is not saved before you start this process but it should work.  Good luck.

Regards,

Scott

P.S. You can try to boot your machine directly from the Vista upgrade DVD but from what I understand MS has changed things and won't let you do that.  However, you still have the option of a clean install of Vista from the WIn XP desktop.