Windows vista installation problems......HELP!!!!! ;-(

KINGDESTRUCTION

Hey guys. im running at present X.P home premium 32 bit and i have been trying to upgrade to Ultimate Vista 32 bit. Now the problem im getting is during the install process,when it gets to the section "expanding files", at around 21%,it cancels the install and says that it cant go to the next boot process and that the install is canceled. i look up google and found stuff for vista to win 7 but nothing about xp to vista. Now before some you say.....clean install it,i dont want to do that as i want to keep all my programs,files and settings hence going for the upgrade option. I tried changing memory sticks around to uninstalling virus kit to booting the install disc from post. i scoured google for ages but ii cant find a answer,not even a workng idea of any sorts. The way i see it is that someone must have had a simular thing happen like this when going from xp to vista. Can i really be the 1st to get ths. so any ideas???? So that being said,im now asking more of a questioning peeps OS knowledge. Can i upgrade from xp 32 to vista 64 and if so how?? is there a big difference in game graphics with going from xp to vista cus of it using Direct X 10(xp stuck at Direct X 9.0C} an onwards or performance issues ,or should i just stay with xp? Also how does windows tranfer work,does it transfer stuff from xp 32 to vista 64 or is it straight 32 to 32 bit OS? Once i have transfered to an external drive ,how do i go about reinstalling the stuff transfered, to a fresh new clean install of vista? Anyway,my systems no monster machne like some of you legends on here so please dont laugh at me too much hahaha I have the final socket 939 cpu the athlon fx 57 64,Asus a8v motherboard,4 gigg of memory and the final AGP lne of the HIS 4670 Radion ICE 1gigg graphics card,oh and over a 1 tb hard disc. Anyway,sorry for being a noob and going on and on, but i got to learn somewhere,that why i come to you guys. Hope you can help me solve my install prob cus its got me totally stumped and i dont want to have to do the whole transfer thing losng all my installed programs an games unless i really have no choice. Hope somebody can help. thanks for your time everybody,i look forward to some1 getting me out this mess lol T.C

rflair · *Last edited by rflair; 10-05-2012 at 02:25.*

XP 32bit can only be upgraded to Vista 32bit, Vista 64bit would require a fresh install.

Now is your copy of XP pirated? The reason I ask is that Vista does some checks on certain XP files integrity and also a BIOS check which is used in some hacks which would cause your install to fail the way you described.

Pill Monster · 10-05-2012, 02:33 | posts: 20,465 | Location: NZ

Whoah....great wall of text...

@OP with your specs you are MUCH better off sticking with XP.
Other than DX10 (which is nothing to get excited about) you will not benefit from installing Vista32, believe me....

KINGDESTRUCTION · 10-05-2012, 08:26 | posts: 12

Its not pirated,100 percent legit. so anyone figure this out? :-(

Pill Monster · 10-05-2012, 08:39 | posts: 20,465 | Location: NZ

I just remembered something - nF4 and older chipsets aren't supported by Vista so it's quite likely yours isn't supported either.
It's also possible there wasn't enough room on the HDD to expand the files.

Anyway as I said you're much better off sticking with XP....

btw DX10 will only give you better graphics if you have a game that uses DX10, otherwise you will see no difference.

Pill Monster · 10-05-2012, 08:53 | posts: 20,465 | Location: NZ

There is one other thing you could try; download and run Novicorp WinToFlash, it will automajically turn your USB flash drive into a boot disk and place Vista setup files onto it.

This allows you to install Vista from a USB drive.

KINGDESTRUCTION · 10-05-2012, 11:08 | posts: 12

Check that already,my board does support vista. wow,cant believe no one knows. insane! :-(

Pill Monster · 10-05-2012, 11:14 | posts: 20,465 | Location: NZ

Quote:

Originally Posted by KINGDESTRUCTION

Check that already,my board does support vista. wow,cant believe no one knows. insane! :-(

Why does that come as such a surprise? You prob wouldn't listen anyway...

And how can you be so sure your board supports Vista?

rflair · 10-05-2012, 12:57 | posts: 2,212 | Location: Canada

There is one more thing, if you have ever used a program to clean your hard drive of unneeded files and allowed it to remove backed up Windows files left from old service pack updates this will also cause the failure you are describing.

KINGDESTRUCTION · 10-05-2012, 14:49 | posts: 12

Of course i would listen,i very much appreciate everyones input an help. i take into account all answers and decide the best way forward from them. An to answer your question, i know it supports vista cus theres drivers on the boards asus page!! Thanks for trying anyway guys

Pill Monster · 10-05-2012, 14:52 | posts: 20,465 | Location: NZ

Quote:

Originally Posted by KINGDESTRUCTION

Of course i would listen,i very much appreciate everyones input an help. i take into account all answers and decide the best way forward from them. An to answer your question, i know it supports vista cus theres drivers on the boards asus page!! Thanks for trying anyway guys

Mate I just checked the ASUS site and there are no Vista drivers available for your board.

KINGDESTRUCTION · 10-06-2012, 01:04 | posts: 12

Well you need to check them reading Glasses of yours sir cus you didn't search long enough. So next time ,instead of making me look like im lying my ass off just to get so help,maybe your realise i was writing the truth. Heres the Page!!!!

http://support.asus.com/faq/detail.a...7-03BA18A59D66

Heck,all i was asking for help with an issue which other users on hear kindly have. Not have to defend myself just cus you seem to think im ignoring anyones advice! No issue with you but you could be a bit more kinder by just saying "No,sorry i dont know" !!!

So Does anyone else know?

k1net1cs · 10-06-2012, 02:18 | posts: 3,327

It's Pill; you'll get used to his antics somehow.
Think of it as a part of being initiated in Guru3D forum.

Anyway, if the reason you're moving to Vista is solely for DX10, then it's better to stick to XP.
Not many games actually uses DX10; it's either DX9 or DX11, or both (with it being selectable between DX9 & DX11 rendering).

What exactly are the settings you want to preserve?
If it's game saves, you usually can just copy over the contents of your My Documents folder.
Or you can find the game's save/settings folder (not the game's installation folder) under either :

C:\Documents and Settings\<your username>\Application Data\

or

C:\Documents and Settings\<your username>\Local Settings\Application Data\

Please keep in mind that both locations are usually hidden by default, so you may want to set your Windows Explorer to be able to view hidden files/folders if you haven't done so already.
Some other games may put the game saves in their own installation folders in C:\Program Files\, so check there as well.

Personally, I prefer a clean install as well as some has suggested.
And like rflair has said, you can't upgrade your 32-bit WinXP to 64-bit Vista.
You can only upgrade to 32-bit Vista from 32-bit WinXP, otherwise you can only install 64-bit Vista with a clean installation.

As I haven't been using Vista installer DVD for a long time, wasn't there supposed to be some sort of utility to export your settings and whatnots from WinXP to Vista included in the DVD?
Or was that Win7 only?

Pill Monster · 10-06-2012, 04:16 | posts: 20,465 | Location: NZ

Quote:

Originally Posted by KINGDESTRUCTION

Well you need to check them reading Glasses of yours sir cus you didn't search long enough. So next time ,instead of making me look like im lying my ass off just to get so help,maybe your realise i was writing the truth. Heres the Page!!!!

http://support.asus.com/faq/detail.a...7-03BA18A59D66

Heck,all i was asking for help with an issue which other users on hear kindly have. Not have to defend myself just cus you seem to think im ignoring anyones advice! No issue with you but you could be a bit more kinder by just saying "No,sorry i dont know" !!!

So Does anyone else know?

Oh well - looks like I stand corrected....

And don't mind me...as Kinetics said I tend to be very blunt at times

sykozis · *Last edited by sykozis; 10-06-2012 at 04:28.*

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pill Monster

Oh well - looks like I stand corrected....

And don't mind me...as Kinetics said I tend to be very blunt at times

Actually, you were right. That page doesn't list drivers for Vista for his board...nor does Asus for that matter

The Asus A8V uses the VIA K8T800 Pro chipset.... The motherboard itself was never "Vista certified". He can get drivers directly from VIA though.

http://www.via.com.tw/en/support/drivers.jsp

KINGDESTRUCTION · 10-07-2012, 01:47 | posts: 12

Hey,Guys i think your all amazing and i think in this case we can safe say in theory we are both right,im totally cool about Pill. Heck,the guy is well superior, as most of you are, when it comes to PC's & Performance Rigs And the stuff that associated to it.
This is why i left my question on Guru Forums, cus i know from my past experiance, that Guru is where some of the Hardcore Performance Rig Builders are so where best to ask.
Back 10 years ago,i was as knowledgable as you guys at building a top PC that would blow others away,but i got bored of the whole tinker driver settings, and buying new hardware every month, and i got sucked into the console side of things in the end.
I really have only over the last month started learning new stuff but then if you asked me what the best Graphics cards are now and i wouldn't have a clue lol,heck i dont know even now ha ha ha.
I remember i went to the Gadget Show Live here in the UK earlyier this year, & i was blown away at how far PC's had come and how fricking big the cases, with multiple fans an coolers on them, had become too lol.
What i kinda Drooling onto here is that i respect all you guys for giving your time to help me out, and that i hope in the future, i can come back to these forums and feel i can post & ask questions & Advice on Trouble Shooting & helping me build up a new super Rig in the not so Distant future.

KINGDESTRUCTION · 10-07-2012, 02:14 | posts: 12

Anyway,to give you an Update,I researched trawling many forums for near four hours llooking for answers and that really was no Conclusive Answer. It was more of a combination of Answers in the End. After reading sykozis post,i checked again And there was a tool to preserve my settings,which i have now used,but it never saved my installed programs im afraid which i was kinder gutted about. I have since this evening installed a clean install of vista 64 bit. I use my panasonic 52 in HD 1080 P tv as my monitor so to see this on it is quite a difference. So far i have no problems,fingers crossed,and im in the middle of looking for various drivers but in all fairness,Even thou i have now maxed out the Memory for this ASUS board it sure does make a difference that my PC is finally able to fully use all 4 gigg of mem.....yes,yes,i know its not as much as you all but then i can't put no more in. Still,at least i can know aim at building at super kick ass PC and then once i've built it,just make a ghost image of my drives and tranfer them over :-)

k1net1cs · 10-07-2012, 04:22 | posts: 3,327

Yeah, most tools like that won't transfer over installed programs due to licensing problems with the programs, especially commercial ones.
Some programs are probably fine, but it's not really worth the risk skirting with the big companies.

sykozis · 10-07-2012, 04:39 | posts: 13,493 | Location: US East Coast

I actually own the K8V-X....which is a Socket 754 variant of the A8V. Neither board was "certified for Vista" because VIA had stopped producing the K8T800 chipset before Vista certification began. The chipset was replaced by the K8T890. In my experience, the drivers provided with Vista worked just fine though....but, as I said in my last post, you can obtain the Vista drivers from VIA directly by going to the link I posted.