I was attempting to do a clean install with the upgrade disk. I ran the Vista Assistant DVD and upgraded my Bios. It is an Insperion E1505. All my documents are backed up. I can still boot to XP because the install did not finish. This happened after the first boot of Vista installing. I checked the error code with Microsoft and it states it is a driver issue. The only issue I had withthe Pre-setup was I could not get McAfee to uninstall. It stated my software is up to date according to McAfee but not according to the vista assistant.
There is a procedure on Windows Supersite (google it, I don't know the url off hand) for doing a clean install from an upgrade dvd using ONLY the Vista Media. This is what I did, and it seems to work better since you ensure a full wiping of XP in the process. Before attempting this, make sure you have the XP media Dell shipped with your system in case you want to get back to XP at any point.
I think that is where I made the mistake. I tried his method but I had used the Vista assitant DVD to update my Bios. Is that where I made the mistake? I followed the clean install he mentioned and got the blue screen right after that. It went through step 1 and 2 then rebooted and now blue screen. I can still boot to "an earlier version of Windows" to have access to my computer.
I am thinking I should do the following:
Reinstall Windows XP
Install Vista via the medi disk only
Then everything should work itself out.
Message Edited by Jacen_Solo on 05-16-2007 12:16 PM
How do you do that? Maybe that is what I am confused about. I see where it asks what partition to install Vista on. I have 3 partitions right now. I am really clueless about it how to wipe out the partitions. Thanks for all your help BTW. It can be very frustrating doing this.
Message Edited by Jacen_Solo on 05-16-2007 01:35 PM
I mean you should boot from your Vista DVD and completely wipe the NTFS partition. Then install without entering the key, and use the upgrade function after installing to register your product. If you can get into Windows (either flavor), uninstall and annihilate Norton.
I have a friend that is helping me also. He suggests going to the BIOS and changin the system to boot from disk first. Then I should put the Upgrade disk into the computer and that should reformat the hardb drive. Is this what you are suggesting?
It's possible. This is why, in my opinion, it is best to do a complet reformat and then install Vista. Then you won't have any issues with drivers causing unexpected behavior.
When I tried reinstalling xp it stopped sue to norton goback. That is what prompted me to thnk that might be the problem with Vista. Do you think that by using the upgrade dvd I might have messed up?
When you say a complete reformat, do yo mean I should Reinstall XP then do the clean install of Vista? Install Vista with no product key then upgrade vista to vista with the product key/
Yes, enter the BIOS by pressing F2 during startup, and select the "Boot sequence" option. Move the disc drive above the hard drive using the keyboard, then save and exit. Your computer will reboot and if the disc is in the drive (as it should be by now) you will have the option to "Press any key to boot from cd". Hit any key and get into the installer. From there, follow these instructions:
Got it up and running. Thanks for the help. The key way learning how to format the drive. It was nice considering I gained an extra 8 GB of harddrive just by getting rid of the Dell extras
If I had a computer that supported Vista, I would certainly choose to do a full format, remembering to check on the DELL Drivers site to make sure there are upgraded drivers for Vista. After checking to make sure the hardware I got is compatible, I would format and install a clean Vista install on the disk. Then once installed, I would download the drivers, install software and put documents back on. However, my old computer died after lasting 6 yrs - good old Dell. A few days ago, I bought a Dell Dimension E521 with Vista already on so no problems with the blue screen of death.
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Message Edited by Jacen_Solo on 05-16-2007 12:16 PM
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Message Edited by Jacen_Solo on 05-16-2007 01:35 PM
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