vista install woes revisited

Ordered and received the Vista DVD from Micorosft. Part number of DVD = X11-71068-02 (this is on the DVD), on the slip of paper in the DVD holder (the paper with the serial number) was part number = X11-71070-03). I am using an ECS RC410L/800-M motherboard with an 805-D CPU with 1 gig of Crucial 533Mhz memory. I am using the onboard ATI Radeon express 200 video adapter. I have tried to install Vista using an SATA drive of 300 gig, a PATA drive of 160gig, and a SCSI drive (using an Adaptec 39160 host) with a 36gig SCSI drive. As I tried each type of drive, they were all formatted NTFS and XP was installed and working properly. I tried doing a Clean install and an Upgrade from XP. I also tried booting from the DVD and doing the install in that manner. (Each type of hard drive was tested one at a time (not all of the listed hard drives were installed at the same time - I was trying to make the install hardware as "basic" as possible). The DVD drive was the only other storage device installed. There are no USB drives, no Fireware, nothing "extra". Each installation failed. The system would boot to XP, see the Vista DVD and start the installation. All of the files would copy with no errors, the files would then expand with no errors. The computer would then reboot to continue the install. The Vista boot screen would appear, and the install would restart. The screen goes black, and everything stops. No drive access, nothing. Letting the computer sit like this all night did not change anything. Doing a clean install or an upgrade produces the same results. Catching the boot loader and trying to boot into SAFE mode produces the same reults. The computer was connected to the Internet for all of the attempted installations. The Vista advisor says this computer is capable of running Vista, no extra drivers or hardware changes are required. Booting from the DVD does not work either. The screen shows the "file copying" bar across the bottom, then appears to reboot into the aforementioned "black screen of dispair". I have extracted the mass storage device drviers and placed them on a floppy. The initial Vista install sees the drivers and loads them. This does not change anything, still the black screen. After trying either a clean install or an upgrade, I can still boot back into XP. When doing a clean install, I am informed that my current XP setup will be renamed into a folder called Windows.Old. That folder is never created. I am also unable to find any substantial amount of files that should have been copied from the DVD. There are a lot of directories, but nothing that I can recognize as actual executable files that I would expect to see with the Vista installation. It appears to be mostly .ini files and a lot of empty directories. These directories are created: $Upgrade.~OS, $Windows.~BT, and a $Windows.~LS. Searching here and on Google shows a lot of people with this same issue, but no solutions. I am also concerned about getting the RC-1 of Vista. I read here somewhere that in order to get the RC-1, your copy of Vista B-2 must me activated. Since I cannot get it to install, I cannot activate. I am going to take a wild guess that the Vista B2 has a lot of problems with installation. I am also going to guess that these issues will be resolved by the time the RC-1 comes out. I cannot get the RC-1 without activating the B-2, so this is appears to be a "catch 22". Any advice will be welcome. Thank you in advance for any assistance you may be able to render.

I don't suppose the DVD drive that you're installing from is a NEC burner, is it?
"LarryH" wrote:

Ordered and received the Vista DVD from Micorosft. Part number of DVD = X11-71068-02 (this is on the DVD), on the slip of paper in the DVD holder (the paper with the serial number) was part number = X11-71070-03). I am using an ECS RC410L/800-M motherboard with an 805-D CPU with 1 gig of Crucial 533Mhz memory. I am using the onboard ATI Radeon express 200 video adapter. I have tried to install Vista using an SATA drive of 300 gig, a PATA drive of 160gig, and a SCSI drive (using an Adaptec 39160 host) with a 36gig SCSI drive. As I tried each type of drive, they were all formatted NTFS and XP was installed and working properly. I tried doing a Clean install and an Upgrade from XP. I also tried booting from the DVD and doing the install in that manner. (Each type of hard drive was tested one at a time (not all of the listed hard drives were installed at the same time - I was trying to make the install hardware as "basic" as possible). The DVD drive was the only other storage device installed. There are no USB drives, no Fireware, nothing "extra". Each installation failed. The system would boot to XP, see the Vista DVD and start the installation. All of the files would copy with no errors, the files would then expand with no errors. The computer would then reboot to continue the install. The Vista boot screen would appear, and the install would restart. The screen goes black, and everything stops. No drive access, nothing. Letting the computer sit like this all night did not change anything. Doing a clean install or an upgrade produces the same results. Catching the boot loader and trying to boot into SAFE mode produces the same reults. The computer was connected to the Internet for all of the attempted installations. The Vista advisor says this computer is capable of running Vista, no extra drivers or hardware changes are required. Booting from the DVD does not work either. The screen shows the "file copying" bar across the bottom, then appears to reboot into the aforementioned "black screen of dispair". I have extracted the mass storage device drviers and placed them on a floppy. The initial Vista install sees the drivers and loads them. This does not change anything, still the black screen. After trying either a clean install or an upgrade, I can still boot back into XP. When doing a clean install, I am informed that my current XP setup will be renamed into a folder called Windows.Old. That folder is never created. I am also unable to find any substantial amount of files that should have been copied from the DVD. There are a lot of directories, but nothing that I can recognize as actual executable files that I would expect to see with the Vista installation. It appears to be mostly .ini files and a lot of empty directories. These directories are created: $Upgrade.~OS, $Windows.~BT, and a $Windows.~LS. Searching here and on Google shows a lot of people with this same issue, but no solutions. I am also concerned about getting the RC-1 of Vista. I read here somewhere that in order to get the RC-1, your copy of Vista B-2 must me activated. Since I cannot get it to install, I cannot activate. I am going to take a wild guess that the Vista B2 has a lot of problems with installation. I am also going to guess that these issues will be resolved by the time the RC-1 comes out. I cannot get the RC-1 without activating the B-2, so this is appears to be a "catch 22". Any advice will be welcome. Thank you in advance for any assistance you may be able to render.

I suspect only those who downloaded Vista must activate to get RC-1. If you ordered, from what I understand, the price you paid for the DVDs also includes the cost to ship you RC-1 so you'd get it regardless. No doubt somebody knows more about it and can clarify.
"LarryH" wrote in message

Ordered and received the Vista DVD from Micorosft. Part number of DVD = X11-71068-02 (this is on the DVD), on the slip of paper in the DVD holder (the paper with the serial number) was part number = X11-71070-03). I am using an ECS RC410L/800-M motherboard with an 805-D CPU with 1 gig of Crucial 533Mhz memory. I am using the onboard ATI Radeon express 200 video adapter. I have tried to install Vista using an SATA drive of 300 gig, a PATA drive of 160gig, and a SCSI drive (using an Adaptec 39160 host) with a 36gig SCSI drive. As I tried each type of drive, they were all formatted NTFS and XP was installed and working properly. I tried doing a Clean install and an Upgrade from XP. I also tried booting from the DVD and doing the install in that manner. (Each type of hard drive was tested one at a time (not all of the listed hard drives were installed at the same time - I was trying to make the install hardware as "basic" as possible). The DVD drive was the only other storage device installed. There are no USB drives, no Fireware, nothing "extra". Each installation failed. The system would boot to XP, see the Vista DVD and start the installation. All of the files would copy with no errors, the files would then expand with no errors. The computer would then reboot to continue the install. The Vista boot screen would appear, and the install would restart. The screen goes black, and everything stops. No drive access, nothing. Letting the computer sit like this all night did not change anything. Doing a clean install or an upgrade produces the same results. Catching the boot loader and trying to boot into SAFE mode produces the same reults. The computer was connected to the Internet for all of the attempted installations. The Vista advisor says this computer is capable of running Vista, no extra drivers or hardware changes are required. Booting from the DVD does not work either. The screen shows the "file copying" bar across the bottom, then appears to reboot into the aforementioned "black screen of dispair". I have extracted the mass storage device drviers and placed them on a floppy. The initial Vista install sees the drivers and loads them. This does not change anything, still the black screen. After trying either a clean install or an upgrade, I can still boot back into XP. When doing a clean install, I am informed that my current XP setup will be renamed into a folder called Windows.Old. That folder is never created. I am also unable to find any substantial amount of files that should have been copied from the DVD. There are a lot of directories, but nothing that I can recognize as actual executable files that I would expect to see with the Vista installation. It appears to be mostly .ini files and a lot of empty directories. These directories are created: $Upgrade.~OS, $Windows.~BT, and a $Windows.~LS. Searching here and on Google shows a lot of people with this same issue, but no solutions. I am also concerned about getting the RC-1 of Vista. I read here somewhere that in order to get the RC-1, your copy of Vista B-2 must me activated. Since I cannot get it to install, I cannot activate. I am going to take a wild guess that the Vista B2 has a lot of problems with installation. I am also going to guess that these issues will be resolved by the time the RC-1 comes out. I cannot get the RC-1 without activating the B-2, so this is appears to be a "catch 22". Any advice will be welcome. Thank you in advance for any assistance you may be able to render.

No...not an NEC. I have an Emprex, a Sony, and an HP. Tried each one in turn, still no difference. Even copied the DVD to the local hard drive and ran the install form there... still no joy (sigh).
"Dave" wrote:

I don't suppose the DVD drive that you're installing from is a NEC burner, is it?
"LarryH" wrote:
Ordered and received the Vista DVD from Micorosft. Part number of DVD = X11-71068-02 (this is on the DVD), on the slip of paper in the DVD holder (the paper with the serial number) was part number = X11-71070-03). I am using an ECS RC410L/800-M motherboard with an 805-D CPU with 1 gig of Crucial 533Mhz memory. I am using the onboard ATI Radeon express 200 video adapter. I have tried to install Vista using an SATA drive of 300 gig, a PATA drive of 160gig, and a SCSI drive (using an Adaptec 39160 host) with a 36gig SCSI drive. As I tried each type of drive, they were all formatted NTFS and XP was installed and working properly. I tried doing a Clean install and an Upgrade from XP. I also tried booting from the DVD and doing the install in that manner. (Each type of hard drive was tested one at a time (not all of the listed hard drives were installed at the same time - I was trying to make the install hardware as "basic" as possible). The DVD drive was the only other storage device installed. There are no USB drives, no Fireware, nothing "extra". Each installation failed. The system would boot to XP, see the Vista DVD and start the installation. All of the files would copy with no errors, the files would then expand with no errors. The computer would then reboot to continue the install. The Vista boot screen would appear, and the install would restart. The screen goes black, and everything stops. No drive access, nothing. Letting the computer sit like this all night did not change anything. Doing a clean install or an upgrade produces the same results. Catching the boot loader and trying to boot into SAFE mode produces the same reults. The computer was connected to the Internet for all of the attempted installations. The Vista advisor says this computer is capable of running Vista, no extra drivers or hardware changes are required. Booting from the DVD does not work either. The screen shows the "file copying" bar across the bottom, then appears to reboot into the aforementioned "black screen of dispair". I have extracted the mass storage device drviers and placed them on a floppy. The initial Vista install sees the drivers and loads them. This does not change anything, still the black screen. After trying either a clean install or an upgrade, I can still boot back into XP. When doing a clean install, I am informed that my current XP setup will be renamed into a folder called Windows.Old. That folder is never created. I am also unable to find any substantial amount of files that should have been copied from the DVD. There are a lot of directories, but nothing that I can recognize as actual executable files that I would expect to see with the Vista installation. It appears to be mostly .ini files and a lot of empty directories. These directories are created: $Upgrade.~OS, $Windows.~BT, and a $Windows.~LS. Searching here and on Google shows a lot of people with this same issue, but no solutions. I am also concerned about getting the RC-1 of Vista. I read here somewhere that in order to get the RC-1, your copy of Vista B-2 must me activated. Since I cannot get it to install, I cannot activate. I am going to take a wild guess that the Vista B2 has a lot of problems with installation. I am also going to guess that these issues will be resolved by the time the RC-1 comes out. I cannot get the RC-1 without activating the B-2, so this is appears to be a "catch 22". Any advice will be welcome. Thank you in advance for any assistance you may be able to render.