XPsp2 upgrade to Vista Ultimate RC1 fails during "Gathering files"

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After cloning my HD for the purpose, I attempted to upgrade my WinXP SP2 to
Vista Ultimate RC1. The process proceeds normally, entering the product key,
etc, and completes the "Copying Windows files" phase successfully. However,
about 32% of the way through the "Gathering files" phase, it throws up the
message, "Windows installation encountered an error and cannot continue,"
whereupon the process terminates and I'm back to my WinXP desktop. I went
through this twice, with the error occurring in the same place both times. So
I then reburned my RC1 DVD iso file (for which I've checked the hashes) and
tried upgrading my XPsp2 again, only to have exactly the same failure in the
same place during "Gathering files."

My system meets all of the criteria for Vista Capable, is in very good
running order and quite clean, and I had disabled my
antivirus (AVG) before attempting the upgrade.

What could be my problem here?
 
Upgrader:
Before doing an upgrade installation remove AV programs, Nero,
Power DVD, Win DVD, if applicable ATI control panel. These are known
conflicting programs that will hamper an upgrade. Running upgrade advisor
will list possible conflicts for an upgrade.
 
I need to *remove* my AVG program, rather than just disable it? And when I
initiate the upgrade, I am told that "Current versions of the following
programs will not work with Windows Vista" and listed are:
HP Director
IntelliType Pro 5.x
Partition Magic 8.0
Microsoft Powertoys for XP
ZoneAlarm 6
Sun Java Scheduler
PerfectDisk

So you are saying that, not only will these programs not work with Vista,
but they all must be *uninstalled* before upgrading?
 
Yes, in much the same way a rabid badger is not compatible with you, living
in the same house.
 
Mark:
I like your analogy. I didn't stress enough in my post that all
conflicting programs must be uninstalled before performing an upgrade.
 
With all that stuff being removed before the 'upgrade', it seems that the fastest way is to do a clean install and then re-install the applications.

William
Upgrader:
Before doing an upgrade installation remove AV programs, Nero,
Power DVD, Win DVD, if applicable ATI control panel. These are known
conflicting programs that will hamper an upgrade. Running upgrade advisor
will list possible conflicts for an upgrade.
 
And my 10th grade Lit. teacher wrote on a report card that I had no
creativity...
 
Upgrader said:
After cloning my HD for the purpose, I attempted to upgrade my WinXP SP2 to
Vista Ultimate RC1. The process proceeds normally, entering the product key,
etc, and completes the "Copying Windows files" phase successfully. However,
about 32% of the way through the "Gathering files" phase, it throws up the
message, "Windows installation encountered an error and cannot continue,"
whereupon the process terminates and I'm back to my WinXP desktop. I went
through this twice, with the error occurring in the same place both times. So
I then reburned my RC1 DVD iso file (for which I've checked the hashes) and
tried upgrading my XPsp2 again, only to have exactly the same failure in the
same place during "Gathering files."

My system meets all of the criteria for Vista Capable, is in very good
running order and quite clean, and I had disabled my
antivirus (AVG) before attempting the upgrade.

What could be my problem here?
Click to expand...

I have now not only uninstalled all of the programs that the Vista
Ultimate RC1 compatibility check said would not work after upgrading,
but I have also uninstalled many other programs, as well, but all to no
avail. Every time that I try to upgrade my WinXP SP2 to Vista Ultimate
RC1, I get the same error message in exactly the same spot (32%) during
the "Gathering files" phase.

Can anyone advise me as to what to try next to successfully complete the
upgrade?
 
(Editorial)

It seems, as I read through these posts, that most of the problems people
are having are in upgrade scenarios, not when performing clean installs.

(End Editorial)

Why not go down to your favorite computer equipment retailer, purchase a new
100GB hard drive, crack the case, take out your existing hard drive, install
the new hard drive, install Vista as a clean install, then reinstall your
existing hard drive, and use a third party boot manager to switch between
the two drives when you boot the system?
 
Mark said:
(Editorial)

It seems, as I read through these posts, that most of the problems people
are having are in upgrade scenarios, not when performing clean installs.

(End Editorial)

Why not go down to your favorite computer equipment retailer, purchase a new
100GB hard drive, crack the case, take out your existing hard drive, install
the new hard drive, install Vista as a clean install, then reinstall your
existing hard drive, and use a third party boot manager to switch between
the two drives when you boot the system?
Click to expand...

Because I am *not* interested in doing a clean install. My chosen
project is to do an upgrade from WinXP SP2, and I am asking for advice
regarding how to overcome my problem in completing an upgrade, not for
advice that I abandon my project in favor of an easier one. Microsoft
claims that this can be used to upgrade WinXP SP2 and I thought one of
things we were here for was to help find the bugs in RC1 and solve them.
Or am I wrong about that . . . ?
 
Upgrader said:
Because I am *not* interested in doing a clean install. My chosen project
is to do an upgrade from WinXP SP2, and I am asking for advice regarding
how to overcome my problem in completing an upgrade, not for advice that I
abandon my project in favor of an easier one. Microsoft claims that this
can be used to upgrade WinXP SP2 and I thought one of things we were here
for was to help find the bugs in RC1 and solve them. Or am I wrong about
that . . . ?
Click to expand...

No, you are not wrong at all. A little esoteric perhaps, but not wrong in
the least.

After re-reading through the entire post, twice, I can not find any
description of the hardware configuration of your computer, so I am going to
make a guess, and if I'm wrong, I'm wrong:

Do you have SATA hard drives? If you do, are you loading the drivers for
the SATA controller at the appropriate time during the installation process?
 
Upgrader:
I'm assuming that you removed the conflicting programs and AV
products. During the expanding files procedure there is a reboot at around
the 20% to 30% range, if the failure is in that time frame it may be that
the needed SATA or raid drivers are missing. Not knowing your exact system
specs so I'm guessing.
 
Mark said:
No, you are not wrong at all. A little esoteric perhaps, but not wrong in
the least.

After re-reading through the entire post, twice, I can not find any
description of the hardware configuration of your computer, so I am going to
make a guess, and if I'm wrong, I'm wrong:

Do you have SATA hard drives? If you do, are you loading the drivers for
the SATA controller at the appropriate time during the installation process?
Click to expand...

No. No SATA or RAID.


Ultra ATA
160GB Western Digital Cavier SE HD
512MB RAM
Pentium 4 1.8 GHz
NTFS
NVIDIA GeForce MX 440 (won't support Aero, but Vista capable)
 
Dennis said:
Upgrader:
I'm assuming that you removed the conflicting programs and AV
products. During the expanding files procedure there is a reboot at
around the 20% to 30% range, if the failure is in that time frame it may
be that the needed SATA or raid drivers are missing. Not knowing your
exact system specs so I'm guessing.
Click to expand...


No SATA or RAID. Ultra ATA only.

And as I clearly say in the subject of my post, as well as in the body
of my original post:

The error message always occurs exactly 32% of the way through the
"Gathering files" phase. I have never made it to the expanding files phase.
 
This one sounds like hardware, specifically the BIOS. How recent is the
BIOS version? What motherboard is in the box? If the mobo is more than a
year old (almost certainly) there may not be any more BIOS updates, but
check unless you are certain you have the latest. Do you have the Intel
Accelerator driver installed?
 
Colin said:
This one sounds like hardware, specifically the BIOS. How recent is the
BIOS version? What motherboard is in the box? If the mobo is more than a
year old (almost certainly) there may not be any more BIOS updates, but
check unless you are certain you have the latest. Do you have the Intel
Accelerator driver installed?
Click to expand...


Intel D845HV motherboard with the latest BIOS available, dated 5/25/2003;
and yes, the Intel Accelerator (v.2.3.0.2160) is installed.
 
Upgrader said:
No. No SATA or RAID.


Ultra ATA
160GB Western Digital Cavier SE HD
512MB RAM
Pentium 4 1.8 GHz
NTFS
NVIDIA GeForce MX 440 (won't support Aero, but Vista capable)
Click to expand...

When was the last time you did a full test on the system RAM? Vista seems
to be very picky with regards to memory errors, much more so than XP. As an
aside, Colin reported a while back that x64 is more stringent than x86. I
agree with Colin in that you seem to be having a hardware issue. Perhaps
starting with the basics like thoroughly testing the memory, checking the
drive for errors, that kind of thing, will shed some light.
 
Upgrader said:
I have now not only uninstalled all of the programs that the Vista
Ultimate RC1 compatibility check said would not work after upgrading, but
I have also uninstalled many other programs, as well, but all to no
avail. Every time that I try to upgrade my WinXP SP2 to Vista Ultimate
RC1, I get the same error message in exactly the same spot (32%) during
the "Gathering files" phase.

Can anyone advise me as to what to try next to successfully complete the
upgrade?
Click to expand...


Other hardware steps to take would be download a drive diagnostic utility
from the hard drive manufacturer's web site. That will create a bootable
floppy or CD. Boot from that and run the diagnostics.

Change out the video card with a different brand. Remove the sound card for
the initial install, and disconnect all USB devices and peripherals.
 
Then you may be up against an incompatible system. Have you customizeed the
BIOS settings (other than boot order and such)? Anything you can restore to
default and still boot your present system?
 
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