major vista install problems

drunkenmonkey

drunkenmonkey

drunkenmonkey

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I have bought Vista Ultimate OEM 32bit

Everytime I try to install it it gets to the same point and freezes (and I've even left it for 18 hours!), and that is when it ticks off its list of copying files, unpacking them etc, it does a reboot, the it says about it loading for the 1st time, then it goes back to the list and carries on with "completing installation" for around 30 seconds then nothing, it completely locks up

I've tried installing Vista close to 50 times now, below is a list of things I've tried, and I've usually done them in conjunction with other things on the list

Install from within XP to another HDD
Install by booting from the DVD
"Low level" format my HDD's (zero fill)
have nothing plugged into my PC (internal & external) except graphics card, monitor & keyboard
turn off most things in the BIOS (firewire, USB, audio, IDE (except the primary with the HDD and DVD drive), SATA, RAID etc)
tried loading the Vista 32 bit drivers for the intel chipset & my graphics card
tried various memory configurations with my DDR's
tried installing to 3 different HDD's with none of the others plugged in
tried 2 other PCI-e graphics cards (7300 & 7600) and even tried with no monito plugged in
tried 2 normal DVD-ROM drives
tried my bought DVD as well as downloading an ISO of the RTM from the web
updated the BIOS
tried rebooting after freezing and repairing and also tried booting into safe mode, both say that installation is not complete so cannot continue
tried installing without entering a licence key


my PC specs:
Foxconn 945P7AA-8EKRS2 motherboard (most up to date BIOS)
Pentium D 3.4Ghz
2x 512Mb DDR2 & 1x 1Gb DDR2 RAM
GeForce 7950GT 256Mb
onboard autio, 2x LAN, 8x USB 2.0 & Firewire
4x internal HDD's
Sony BWU-100A Blu-ray writer


any help or suggestions would be very greatly appreciated!
 
Is this a clean install or upgrade?

I had exactly the same problem with my last P4 PC. It just would NOT install Vista. I gave up in the end - it was only a Beta2 so no biggie.
 
It seems like the only things you haven't tried are a different motherboard, or different memory. You need to eliminate these - try installing on your friend's pc with just one of your HDDs plugged in. If it gets past your sticking point, then it's either the motherboard or memory.

I had to install three times myself. I had left all 4 hard drives plugged in, and installed on my nvidia raid stripe. It installed fine, but then wouldn't boot unless I had the Vista dvd in the drive! It boiled down to the fact that it was setting one of my other hdds as the system drive! It only worked the third time when I unplugged all other drives apart from the two in the raid stripe.

I was frustrated after 3 installs, so I don't know how you haven't snapped the vista dvd in half and stamped on it after 50 install attempts!!! :eek:
 
Your memory config could be the problem, you appear to be running in single channel mode with three sticks and that could be confusing Vista.

Try with only the 1Gb stick on the motherboard and also with just the pair of 512Mb onboard.
 
When I was putting vista back on again this happened to me. Left it for over half an hour and it hadnt finished. I checked the disc was ok, did it again and it worked fine. Do you have another dvd drive you could test it in?
 
No i get the same problem as well. First it used to freeze at the unpacking files stage. Now it copies all the files accross, reboots and just sits there with the grey bar going accross. Tried it a few times. Using Vista Ultimate.
 
I've had the same problems& am now about to try with a replacement Vista HP disc & a new hard drive. I'd be interested to hear if any of you solved your problems.
 
I tried to install Vista Ultiamte x64 on my main pc this morning. What a pain in the ... (I made sure I made a backup image of my xp install using acronis true image beforehand)

Basically, I had trouble installing vista when AHCI mode was set in the BIOS for my hard drives, even if I got it to install, it would loop at the first reboot after the installation at the "green bar loading" screen. I could only get it to install and boot properly when I set it to IDE mode in the BIOS. This is useless though, I need AHCI mode!

AHCI mode works perfectly in Windows XP. I have no problems whatsoever running Windows XP Pro with AHCI enabled.

It's obviously an issue with the ahci driver + vista + ich8r controller.

I've read on other forums and it may be because vista installs the boot code on the other hard drives installed. I'm going to try and install vista again one day with just one hard drive connected.

Here is the link to the topic: http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/co...81543e643ef&cat=&lang=en&cr=US&sloc=en-us&p=1

I'm on an ASUS P5B Deluxe, Core 2 Duo e6600. I set everything in the BIOS to defaults when installing vista.

Anyone else have any similar problems?
 
Yeah vista is a bit of a tricky one. When I installed it first it made my other hd that I told it to do absolutely nothing to my system drive so would not boot from my primary hd unless the vista disc was in at boot. If it wasnt then it would come up with an error saying cannot find bootmgr.

Its amazing how they have designed an OS that manages to install over 2 discs when I never gave any notion in the install process that the second hard drive had anything to do with the vista install.

My hard drive died a few days ago with vista on it and im taking this chance to go back to xp pro. My m-audio didnt work with vista and there was no evidence to indicate that I was likely to get drivers for it for a long time. Other software was also sketchy. Not worth it in my opinion at the moment. Stick to XP.
 
mctrials23 said:
Yeah vista is a bit of a tricky one. When I installed it first it made my other hd that I told it to do absolutely nothing to my system drive so would not boot from my primary hd unless the vista disc was in at boot. If it wasnt then it would come up with an error saying cannot find bootmgr.

Its amazing how they have designed an OS that manages to install over 2 discs when I never gave any notion in the install process that the second hard drive had anything to do with the vista install.

My hard drive died a few days ago with vista on it and im taking this chance to go back to xp pro. My m-audio didnt work with vista and there was no evidence to indicate that I was likely to get drivers for it for a long time. Other software was also sketchy. Not worth it in my opinion at the moment. Stick to XP.
Click to expand...

It's amazing how Microsoft failed to spot this installation bug with more than one hard drive installed. :rolleyes:

I restored my xp image and everything was back to normal.

It's a shame though, when I ran ultimate x64 in IDE mode, it seemed very fast and smooth, but too bad I couldn't get it to work in SATA AHCI mode. I just realised, what do I really need from vista? I only really liked the new aero glass theme, but XP does everything I want at the moment.
 
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drunkenmonkey said:
looks like loads of people are having problems like mine! and most seem to have intel systems!
Click to expand...

on that basis id guess its a problem with your motherboard

vista doesnt like it for some reason

what chipset is that mobo ?
 
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