5308 install hangs

[Vista 5308 CTP 64 bit English] [Tyan s2895 MB, Nvidia NForce4 Pro 2200 chipset] [Brand new Seagate 160 gig barracuda SATA hard drive] [2 gigs ddr something ram] [2x246 AMD Operton processors] [Nvidia PCIE 6800 GT video card]
I have tried installing Vista with little success. I downloaded the 5308 64 bit build of Vista and put it on a DVD so I can install in on my computer, onto a new hard drive. Therefore I bought a new Seagate 160 Gig SATA hard drive (HD) to install Vista on last Friday. I installed the new unpartioned HD, booted up from a Seagate CD, and using seagate utilities, partioned and formatted the HD to about 80 gigs a piece. OK, cool.
// --++ ---------------------- Try #1 -------------------------++-- Inserted the Vista CD, and tried to install Vista by booting from the Vista CD. I got to the MS boot screens, and the logo's and progress bars proceeded tolerably well. Finally it BSOD'ed on me with a MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION, or error 0x9C. I know that my machine is in fine condition, because with the old SATA HD (WinXPx64) it has worked fabulously for almost a year. So that is frustrating.
// --++ ---------------------- Try #2 -------------------------++-- Installed my copy of WinXPx64. Inserted the CD, and booted and installed from the CD. (I could have just downloaded a suscribers copy of WinXPx64, but I was in a hurry). That was completely successful. I then took the motherboard manufactures CD and installed all the drivers and utilities that I needed for my system. Very good. Networking and everything else was up and running just fine. Now I put in the Vista 64 bit DVD, and tried installing on top of WinXPx64. Everything goes fine for a while: I enter in the 25 digit password, I then tell it to overwrite my present OS. That is fine because I have absolutely nothing on the system. So then it starts installing. A screen comes up with a dialog message telling me something to the effect that the installation will automaticly finish. Also a progress bar is displayed over the wavy background display. So the installation begins and progresses slowly but surely, until it stops, about over the letter 'D' in "installing windows" label. It let the installation / progress bar sit or hover over that letter 'D' in immense frustration for about 10-20 minutes before I canceled the installation. I would estimate it only got about 1 / 15th of the way toward total completetion. I tried this 4 times trying various installation options (i.e. do/don't connect to get updates etc...).
// --++ ---------------------- Try #3 -------------------------++-- I am going to try copying the contents of the DVD to the harddrive and installing from there and see what success I get.
// --++ ---------------------- Addednum #1 -------------------------++-- Where do I get higher numbered builds than 5308? Are there more than one level of subscription than just the one I have? i.e. My subscription is given to me through my work (very very large software company), so I'm not sure of all the details.
I hope Microsoft has some answers for this.
Chris Johnson

I would reinstall XP Pro x64 on the primary partition. Launch Vista setup from within XP Pro x64, select the 80 GB partition on which Vista will be installed. Only 5308 is available to MSDN subscribers at this time, the next milestone build (BETA 2) will be available to MSDN subscribers sometime this week, so thats something to look forward to. -- -- Andre Windows Connected | http://www.windowsconnected.com Extended64 | http://www.extended64.com Blog | http://www.extended64.com/blogs/andre http://spaces.msn.com/members/adacosta
"Chris" wrote in message

[Vista 5308 CTP 64 bit English] [Tyan s2895 MB, Nvidia NForce4 Pro 2200 chipset] [Brand new Seagate 160 gig barracuda SATA hard drive] [2 gigs ddr something ram] [2x246 AMD Operton processors] [Nvidia PCIE 6800 GT video card]
I have tried installing Vista with little success. I downloaded the 5308 64 bit build of Vista and put it on a DVD so I can install in on my computer, onto a new hard drive. Therefore I bought a new Seagate 160 Gig SATA hard drive (HD) to install Vista on last Friday. I installed the new unpartioned HD, booted up from a Seagate CD, and using seagate utilities, partioned and formatted the HD to about 80 gigs a piece. OK, cool.
// --++ ---------------------- Try #1 -------------------------++-- Inserted the Vista CD, and tried to install Vista by booting from the Vista CD. I got to the MS boot screens, and the logo's and progress bars proceeded tolerably well. Finally it BSOD'ed on me with a MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION, or error 0x9C. I know that my machine is in fine condition, because with the old SATA HD (WinXPx64) it has worked fabulously for almost a year. So that is frustrating.
// --++ ---------------------- Try #2 -------------------------++-- Installed my copy of WinXPx64. Inserted the CD, and booted and installed from the CD. (I could have just downloaded a suscribers copy of WinXPx64, but I was in a hurry). That was completely successful. I then took the motherboard manufactures CD and installed all the drivers and utilities that I needed for my system. Very good. Networking and everything else was up and running just fine. Now I put in the Vista 64 bit DVD, and tried installing on top of WinXPx64. Everything goes fine for a while: I enter in the 25 digit password, I then tell it to overwrite my present OS. That is fine because I have absolutely nothing on the system. So then it starts installing. A screen comes up with a dialog message telling me something to the effect that the installation will automaticly finish. Also a progress bar is displayed over the wavy background display. So the installation begins and progresses slowly but surely, until it stops, about over the letter 'D' in "installing windows" label. It let the installation / progress bar sit or hover over that letter 'D' in immense frustration for about 10-20 minutes before I canceled the installation. I would estimate it only got about 1 / 15th of the way toward total completetion. I tried this 4 times trying various installation options (i.e. do/don't connect to get updates etc...).
// --++ ---------------------- Try #3 -------------------------++-- I am going to try copying the contents of the DVD to the harddrive and installing from there and see what success I get.
// --++ ---------------------- Addednum #1 -------------------------++-- Where do I get higher numbered builds than 5308? Are there more than one level of subscription than just the one I have? i.e. My subscription is given to me through my work (very very large software company), so I'm not sure of all the details.
I hope Microsoft has some answers for this.
Chris Johnson

Okay, I fixed it:
Updated the Bios...
It wasn't that easy.
First: I had to buy a floppy drive. i.e. I left mine 2000 miles away from home when I moved. Second: Find some software to make a boot disk that will fit on one, and only one floppy disk. I suggest bootdisk.com. Third: I only have, to my name, two floppy disks that I scrounged up in my basement: All the rest I threw in the garbage long ago. Fourth, continually swap the floppy from computer A to computer B to test and finally install.
My lesson? 1. Don't throw away floppy drives or disks. 2. Work on my computer system more than once a year. 3. Keep a repository of low level software tools. 4. You cannot perform normal DOS operations on your floppy disk when booted from the windows installation CD. 5. Keep the BIOS current.
Need I say more?
Chris J.
"Andre Da Costa [Extended64]" wrote in message

I would reinstall XP Pro x64 on the primary partition. Launch Vista setup from within XP Pro x64, select the 80 GB partition on which Vista will be installed. Only 5308 is available to MSDN subscribers at this time, the next milestone build (BETA 2) will be available to MSDN subscribers sometime this week, so thats something to look forward to. -- -- Andre Windows Connected | http://www.windowsconnected.com Extended64 | http://www.extended64.com Blog | http://www.extended64.com/blogs/andre http://spaces.msn.com/members/adacosta
"Chris" wrote in message [Vista 5308 CTP 64 bit English] [Tyan s2895 MB, Nvidia NForce4 Pro 2200 chipset] [Brand new Seagate 160 gig barracuda SATA hard drive] [2 gigs ddr something ram] [2x246 AMD Operton processors] [Nvidia PCIE 6800 GT video card]
I have tried installing Vista with little success. I downloaded the 5308 64 bit build of Vista and put it on a DVD so I can install in on my computer, onto a new hard drive. Therefore I bought a new Seagate 160 Gig SATA hard drive (HD) to install Vista on last Friday. I installed the new unpartioned HD, booted up from a Seagate CD, and using seagate utilities, partioned and formatted the HD to about 80 gigs a piece. OK, cool.
// --++ ---------------------- Try #1 -------------------------++-- Inserted the Vista CD, and tried to install Vista by booting from the Vista CD. I got to the MS boot screens, and the logo's and progress bars proceeded tolerably well. Finally it BSOD'ed on me with a MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION, or error 0x9C. I know that my machine is in fine condition, because with the old SATA HD (WinXPx64) it has worked fabulously for almost a year. So that is frustrating.
// --++ ---------------------- Try #2 -------------------------++-- Installed my copy of WinXPx64. Inserted the CD, and booted and installed from the CD. (I could have just downloaded a suscribers copy of WinXPx64, but I was in a hurry). That was completely successful. I then took the motherboard manufactures CD and installed all the drivers and utilities that I needed for my system. Very good. Networking and everything else was up and running just fine. Now I put in the Vista 64 bit DVD, and tried installing on top of WinXPx64. Everything goes fine for a while: I enter in the 25 digit password, I then tell it to overwrite my present OS. That is fine because I have absolutely nothing on the system. So then it starts installing. A screen comes up with a dialog message telling me something to the effect that the installation will automaticly finish. Also a progress bar is displayed over the wavy background display. So the installation begins and progresses slowly but surely, until it stops, about over the letter 'D' in "installing windows" label. It let the installation / progress bar sit or hover over that letter 'D' in immense frustration for about 10-20 minutes before I canceled the installation. I would estimate it only got about 1 / 15th of the way toward total completetion. I tried this 4 times trying various installation options (i.e. do/don't connect to get updates etc...).
// --++ ---------------------- Try #3 -------------------------++-- I am going to try copying the contents of the DVD to the harddrive and installing from there and see what success I get.
// --++ ---------------------- Addednum #1 -------------------------++-- Where do I get higher numbered builds than 5308? Are there more than one level of subscription than just the one I have? i.e. My subscription is given to me through my work (very very large software company), so I'm not sure of all the details.
I hope Microsoft has some answers for this.
Chris Johnson

I have an A8V with Athlon 3000 64 512 RAM I have a SATA drive as the main drive and partitioned in CDEF I have a PATA drive V labeled Vista I have Windows Enterprise 2003 64 OS on the D partition and it is my main boot up OS.
I attempted to install Vista 64 from the 2003 Server OS to the V drive and it copies the files to the C drive. The copy proceds ok but unable to do the next step which is expansion of the files from the C drive to the V drive. This is when I get the machine_check_exception error.
I attempted to load the Vista OS from the DVD to the V drive and it copied it ok. this is when I get the Winload.exe error.
I did install the Via Raid drivers during the install and have the latest bios.
My graphics card is NVidia GeForce MX440 and I have the latest 2003 server drivers but not the Vista drivers. Could that be a problem. How can I load the vista drivers if unable to install the os
I would appreciate any thoughts or help.
"Chris" wrote:

Okay, I fixed it:
Updated the Bios...
It wasn't that easy.
First: I had to buy a floppy drive. i.e. I left mine 2000 miles away from home when I moved. Second: Find some software to make a boot disk that will fit on one, and only one floppy disk. I suggest bootdisk.com. Third: I only have, to my name, two floppy disks that I scrounged up in my basement: All the rest I threw in the garbage long ago. Fourth, continually swap the floppy from computer A to computer B to test and finally install.
My lesson? 1. Don't throw away floppy drives or disks. 2. Work on my computer system more than once a year. 3. Keep a repository of low level software tools. 4. You cannot perform normal DOS operations on your floppy disk when booted from the windows installation CD. 5. Keep the BIOS current.
Need I say more?
Chris J.
"Andre Da Costa [Extended64]" wrote in message I would reinstall XP Pro x64 on the primary partition. Launch Vista setup from within XP Pro x64, select the 80 GB partition on which Vista will be installed. Only 5308 is available to MSDN subscribers at this time, the next milestone build (BETA 2) will be available to MSDN subscribers sometime this week, so thats something to look forward to. -- -- Andre Windows Connected | http://www.windowsconnected.com Extended64 | http://www.extended64.com Blog | http://www.extended64.com/blogs/andre http://spaces.msn.com/members/adacosta
"Chris" wrote in message [Vista 5308 CTP 64 bit English] [Tyan s2895 MB, Nvidia NForce4 Pro 2200 chipset] [Brand new Seagate 160 gig barracuda SATA hard drive] [2 gigs ddr something ram] [2x246 AMD Operton processors] [Nvidia PCIE 6800 GT video card]
I have tried installing Vista with little success. I downloaded the 5308 64 bit build of Vista and put it on a DVD so I can install in on my computer, onto a new hard drive. Therefore I bought a new Seagate 160 Gig SATA hard drive (HD) to install Vista on last Friday. I installed the new unpartioned HD, booted up from a Seagate CD, and using seagate utilities, partioned and formatted the HD to about 80 gigs a piece. OK, cool.
// --++ ---------------------- Try #1 -------------------------++-- Inserted the Vista CD, and tried to install Vista by booting from the Vista CD. I got to the MS boot screens, and the logo's and progress bars proceeded tolerably well. Finally it BSOD'ed on me with a MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION, or error 0x9C. I know that my machine is in fine condition, because with the old SATA HD (WinXPx64) it has worked fabulously for almost a year. So that is frustrating.
// --++ ---------------------- Try #2 -------------------------++-- Installed my copy of WinXPx64. Inserted the CD, and booted and installed from the CD. (I could have just downloaded a suscribers copy of WinXPx64, but I was in a hurry). That was completely successful. I then took the motherboard manufactures CD and installed all the drivers and utilities that I needed for my system. Very good. Networking and everything else was up and running just fine. Now I put in the Vista 64 bit DVD, and tried installing on top of WinXPx64. Everything goes fine for a while: I enter in the 25 digit password, I then tell it to overwrite my present OS. That is fine because I have absolutely nothing on the system. So then it starts installing. A screen comes up with a dialog message telling me something to the effect that the installation will automaticly finish. Also a progress bar is displayed over the wavy background display. So the installation begins and progresses slowly but surely, until it stops, about over the letter 'D' in "installing windows" label. It let the installation / progress bar sit or hover over that letter 'D' in immense frustration for about 10-20 minutes before I canceled the installation. I would estimate it only got about 1 / 15th of the way toward total completetion. I tried this 4 times trying various installation options (i.e. do/don't connect to get updates etc...).
// --++ ---------------------- Try #3 -------------------------++-- I am going to try copying the contents of the DVD to the harddrive and installing from there and see what success I get.
// --++ ---------------------- Addednum #1 -------------------------++-- Where do I get higher numbered builds than 5308? Are there more than one level of subscription than just the one I have? i.e. My subscription is given to me through my work (very very large software company), so I'm not sure of all the details.
I hope Microsoft has some answers for this.
Chris Johnson