Can't upgrade to Ulyimate although advisor says I can!

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I have a home built PC with an Intel 3Ghz Dual core processor, 2GB of ram and
an Nvidia graphics card with non shared 256Mb or ram with Windows XP SP2. I
eliminated the progs that the upgrade advisor told me would cause problems
(Nero and Norton) and also went through the registry to eliminate any mention
of Nero, Ahead, Symantec or Norton and followed this with a good registry
clean up utility. A second run of the advisor told me that I could safely
upgrade to premium ( although I would need a new driver for my Realtec audio
card) but reccommended Ultimate since I have office XP Pro installed so it
probably thinks it's a business machine. I have 4 300Gb internal Hard disks
(2 SATA and 2 IDE) with one having two partitions one for the OS and the
second for Data and the second HD stores all my progs. The other two HD's
are used for back-ups and storage since I do a lot of video editing.

However, whenever I try to ugrade to Ultimate, the upgrade option is greyed
out and it displays a message on the bottom saying that upograde is not
possible!

I have tried installing Vista on a spare internal hard drive and it installs
just fine but the easy transfer gizmo doesn't seem to work quite as it should
so I don't end up with a vista version of what I ran before which ideally is
what I want.

Why am I being told I can safely upgrade to Ultimate (the reason I went out
and bought it) when it doesn't allow me to when I try (and yes, I do try to
upgrade from inside Windows and not by booting from the DVD). Can anyone
please help - it's driving me mad and I have wasted so much time trying
different ways of getting it to work.

Thanks
Edward
 
Hi Edward,

For the best results, I would recommend a clean install of Vista. Before you
do that, you need to make sure that all your data is backed up safely. I
recommend that you use one of your SATA disks for both Vista and programs
(these will need to be reinstalled to ensure that they work properly) and
that you use the other disks for data storage. Once you have safely backed up
your data, you are ready to install Vista. Follow the instructions in my post
'Clean Install Windows Vista Using Upgrade Media', also in this newsgroup
(dated 9/21/2007). Please note that you may have to check the websites of
some of your programs for updates to enable them to run in Vista. I include
links for my post, Realtek and Nvidia for convenience.
Dwarf

http://www.microsoft.com/communitie...2be7&mid=c2e2a2bd-c0ed-4c78-ae89-5eb74dcf2be7

http://www.realtek.com.tw/

http://www.nvidia.com/page/home.html

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Note "...since I have office XP Pro installed so it
probably thinks it's a business machine...." has no bearing on Vista
Ultimate installation.

Booting from the Vista DVD will not (usually) offer an "uprade" option -
install Vista from with Windows to upgade.
 
Hi Dwarf - Thanks for your comprehensive reply - the reason I am avoiding a
clean install is because I already tried that to a different volume to see if
the transfer files and settings utility would work properly but it doesn't
and I end up with a much less than perfect system so that's why I was
desperately trying to upgrade my existing (and in perfect working order) Win
XP Pro. And before anyone asks why I should want to upgrade if XP is working
fine it's because Vista is fabulous for media applications and I do a lot of
video editing etc.
 
Thanks for replying AJR.
It was the upgrade advisor that suggested upgrading to Ultimate rather than
Premium and I can only guess it did that on what is essentially a "Home" PC
is because it found a copy of Office Pro which would normally only be found
on a business machine.

As I mentioned in my initial note, I have tried all the installations by
invoking the Vista installation from WITHIN windows and NOT by booting from
the DVD.

Edward
 
Hi Rick - thanks for replying.

It definitely says "Upgrade" on the box and Bill never lies!

Just for kicks, I tried it on an XP laptop that I had to hand without
completing the installation and it definitely offered to either upgrade or
clean install.

Back to the drawing board........
 
READ ALL of his post!!!!
He is NOT booting from the DVD!

I am sick and tired of you dopey idiots only 1/2 reading posts!
 
Thanks again Rick.

If there was something blocking the upgrade I would have hoped that the
upgrade advisor would have spotted it however, I'm going to take your advice
and go through the system with a fine tooth comb and disbale anything that
remotely looks as if it could interfere and try again, hoping for the best!
 
Here's some tips that will help with the upgrade. It is likely that
something in 5, 6, 7, or 9 is causing a problem.

1) Backup your PC.
2) Back it up again.
3) Test your backups.

If you skip the above steps please don't whine that the upgrade trashed all
your files. Any process that involves this many changes to the file system
is fraught with danger. If you don't have a full backup of your pc before
starting the upgrade you are an idiot and shouldn't really have a pc to
start with :-) This may sound harsh but it is reality.

4) Run the latest version of the Upgrade Advisor and note anything it flags.
5) Uninstall (not disable) all antivirus, antispyware, firewall, disk
utility, and system utility programs even if the upgrade advisor doesn't
mention them. You will need to install Vista compatible versions after the
upgrade is finished.
6) Uninstall (not disable) all programs that the upgrade advisor flags as
possible problems. You will need to install Vista compatible versions after
the upgrade is finished.
7) If possible remove all hardware that the upgrade advisor flags as
incompatible.
8) Make sure you have Vista compatible drivers and software for all your
hardware devices burned to CD. Don't just look for drivers that the upgrade
advisor mentioned. If possible have drivers ready for everything.
9) Physically unplug any external devices like portable hard drives,
printers, card readers, flash drives, cameras, etc..
10) Run a chkdsk on all the partitions on all hard drives still connected.
11) Defrag the system and boot partitions.
12) Start the Vista upgrade process.
 
Hi Kerry,

I'm 64 years old and have been working with PC's since they were invented
and have upgraded from DOS right through to every flavour of windows that
dear old Bill has invented so I could probably teach you a few tricks
regarding backing up before ugrades but thanks for reminding me anyway - I
might have forgotten :-)

I did use the word disable in my previous post but I did actually mean
uninstalled - sorry!

I have not tried removing the additional USB hard drives or the USB keyboard
and mouse because I didn't think they would matter but I will try that.

As I mentioned before, the only problem being highlighted by the upgrade
advisor is the fact that my Realtech Audio driver will need to be updated
after I install vista.

I have removed all anti-anything software and cleaned the registry several
times and with different cleaners - If I have to remove anything else I might
as well go for the clean install because there won't be anything useful left
but I hate being beaten by a b****y piece of software!

The only firewall I use is in my router so that should not effect the
upgrade and in any case I have also tried upgrading without an active network
connection.

Haven't tried the defrag or chkdsk but will try that when I have a week to
spare (1.2Tbytes takes ages!)

Thanks for the advice.
 
Thank you everybody for all the helpful replies but I'm afraid that nothing
worked so I gave up and did a clean install in the end - will I ever be able
to live this down.....beaten by a piece of software.....:-(

Edward
 
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