[RESOLVED] Fallen at the first hurdle!

[SuperSparks]

At long, long last I was ready to install Vista 64-bit build 5342. So I booted from the CD, got "Loading files", then the animated progress bar for about 10 seconds, then after that a black screen with the HDD light on constanly, whereupon it stayed like that until I got fed up and did a hard reset. So I thought I'd try build 5308 just to see if it was a bad download or a bad burn and I got exactly the same thing.

Any ideas? I was so looking forward to trying 64-bit Vista on a dual core 64-bit PC.


AMD X2 4400+ CPU
Asus A8N-SLI Premium mobo
2GB Crucial PC3200 RAM
Gainward 7800GT graphics card

[SuperSparks]

I've found some mention on the beta newsgroups that it may be an installer bug that prevents installing on SATA drives, certainly I'm not the only one having this problem. I'm going to try installing WinXP x64 and then either run Vista setup from there or install Vista over the top.

I'll let you all know how I get on.

[judge john]

is this a specific problem with x64 version? as i have the x32 working fine on a sata HD.

[SuperSparks]

It wasn't very clear from the newsgroup posting, but I got the impression that is was affecting both versions. Of course, it may be a problem that only affects specific hardware, in which case not everyone would be affected.

[SuperSparks]

Well I'm still not doing very well. I installed WinXP x64 and ran the Vista Setup from that. No problems in running it, but after an hour and a half the progress bar hadn't even got past the "Installing" of "Installing Windows". At that rate I estimated it would take somewhere between 12 & 18 hours to install I had to give up in the end, but I've copied the files to the hard drive and I'll have another go when I can give it more time.

What is the usual installation time for installing Vista? How long did it take you Judge John?

[judge john]

don't have the best memory but i think it only lasted about an hour or so for me. it defiantly wasn't longer than 2 hours.

[SuperSparks]

Thanks JJ. I can't understand it then, there shouldn't be any problems with installing Vista on my hardware. I guess I'll hit the beta newsgroups again.

[judge john]

it's strange, do you have the x32 version to try? as i don't currently use the x64 one so cannot say if it would work for me either.

[SuperSparks]

I might have an early 32-bit version, but I don't really feel like doing another 7 hour download to get 5342. I've installed Windows MCE and Windows XP x64 on this same machine, and they both installed in record time, this really is a super quick PC. I just can't imagine what the problem with the Vista Setup can be

[SuperSparks]

I tried running Setup again after copying the files to the hard drive, and because I have a dual monitor system I had the Task Manager of WinXP x64 open. I got about 5 minutes of CPU and hard drive activity then over an hour of no hard drive activity and tiny bursts of activity on one CPU core every few seconds. It looked very much like an infinite loop, and indeed after the progress bar had moved all the way across, plus an extra half hour, when I went to cancel out of Setup Task Manager was reporting it as Nor Responding. I had to do a hard reset in the end.

Should I report this as a bug? Or is this because I'm trying to run setup from Windows on one partition and install to another?

So far Vista is proving to be totally uninstallable for me. To say I'm disappointed would be an understatement

[judge john]

well when i installed Vista i put it onto a DVD and installed it that way. so have you tried that? also strongly when i removed the XP installation i had on my Pc Vista no longer worked, so they may have some strange link between both OS's?
have you ever had Vista installed in any form on your computer?

[Steve R Jones]

I dual booted 5342 with XP...5342 does do a lot of black/blank windows during boot up and such.

Wouldn't hurt to launch the install again off the DVD and just let it run for longer than an hour.

[SuperSparks]

I've tried booting directly from the DVD, running Setup on the DVD from WinXP x64, and running Setup from XP x64 after copying the files to the hard drive. Booting from the DVD hangs almost immediately after "loading files", and running Setup from XP x64 has the identical result of hanging shortly after Setup starts.

I've reported it as a bug, and in line with the Beta Clent suggestions, sent them the Setupact.log and Setuperr.log files (Setuperr.log is empty). Setupact.log makes interesting reading though, the last entry is 1½ minutes after the first one, and that's after letting Setup run for 1hr 15 minutes.

JJ, I've never had Vista installed on this machine, which is newly built (with the specific intention of using Vista as the main OS on it when it goes gold ).

[SuperSparks]

Oh well, I'm downloading 5365 now, maybe that'll be better. I think I'll try upgrading the BIOS too, as there is a later version available for my mobo.

[SuperSparks]

Well I reflashed the BIOS, downloaded and burned build 3265, and it booted from the CD and ran Setup and then installed just fine. It took 1 hour exactly

I guess I'll never know whether they fixed the installer for this build or whether it was the BIOS flash that did it, but I'm a happy bunny now. At long, long, long last, I finally have Vista x64 to play with