Replies

Clint
Yes I am familiar with that screen, but with this one it puts up the missing driver window before it gets that far.
The progress bar only gets about half that far in the “collecting information” bar.

I got on the sea gate site and searched the s/n.
It said there is no available firmware update and to check with the oem for info.
I am at a complete loss.

rstew

Another discovery:
I tried another spare 750 gb sata drive in the new Win7 rig, and behold, there it was in “computer”, no problem.
Right after bootup windows showed that it found new hardware, and installed a driver for this drive.
This did not happen for the original 250 gb drive I took out of the Acer. Then I noticed on its label that it says “made by Seagate for OEM distribution.”

So now I am thinking that this drive is specific to Acer somehow, and that is what the missing driver business is all about. I guess Windows does not include the necessary driver for this OEM drive.
I of course don’t have the original Acer OEM Vista install disk, which would probably include all the specific hardware drivers needed.
Does this thought process make sense? And does anyone have an idea for a workaround to get the OEM drive working?

thanks,
rstew

Place the Vista DVD in the DVD/CD ROM drive then boot the system.
Provided the system has been setup to boot to DVD/CD ROM drive, you may then
proceed to format and install Vista.

Clint;
Thanks for your input.
The DVD drive is set to the first boot device, the HDD second.
I have tried an OEM Vista disk, as well as a newly aquired non-OEM 64 bit disk.
In both cases it opens up with a black screen saying its loading files.
Then it opens a green screen where you put in the language, the keyboard style, etc.
Then you click on an install button.
Once you click on that it starts loading files, but quickly stops with a window saying it needs a missing driver.

I have just tried fomatting the HDD in my new rig which runs Win7 x 64.
The bios shows the new drive, and it shows up in hardware under Win7, but not in disk management, or in “computer”
All that shows up is the original C: drive.
What do I have to do so Win7 can “find” the drive, so I can format it?
I can’t figure out why Win7 doesn’t automatically find new hardware???

rstew

If the HDD has truly been wiped Vista [and other versions of Windows] should prompt to start the formatting when booting to the disc.

I think what I’ll do is remove the drive and format it in another computer, then re-install it and see if the Vista dvd suggests formatting.
if it does, I’ll format it again.
That should work, right?

rstew

Are you installing Windows Vista from on top of Windows itself, or are you doing so by
booting the disk and performing a format & clean install?

I recommend installing the OS by format & clean install from the DVD while booting. Doing so by any other means
carries the risk compounding corruptions from the previous installation.

I am trying to install a non-oem version on what is supposed to be a wiped hdd. How can I format the hdd from the vista boot DVD?

Thanks
rstew

Rstew,

Welcome to the Lounge as a new poster. :cheers:

I’m assuming you meant to say you had XP 32 bit installed on the Gateway vs HP 32 Bit which would be Windows 7 HP 32 bit?

Here’s how I would tackle this.

STEP1: *** DO NOT SKIP *** Make an Image backup of the entire drive as it now stands using a Free or Paid utility like Macrium Reflect Free. Don’t forget to make the Recovery Boot Media preferably the Windows PE version.

STEP2: Download and install EasyBCD and iReboot.

STEP3: Repartition the drive using a Free or Paid utility like EaseUS Partition Master Free. Making 2 additional partitions one for the new install of Windows 7 and the other one for your data. Size the partitions as you see fit and of course this will involve shrinking the current partition first to make room.

STEP4: Using the MS approved method move your data to your new data partition. (I personally set this up as the G: drive). This will allow both OS versions to use the same data.

STEP5: Install Windows 7 in the partition created for it. It should become the default OS.

STEP6: Install EasyBCD and iReboot then use them to add your XP partition to the Boot Menu.

STEP7: Using the MS approved method (same as step 4 but you don’t have to actually move any data) point your data directories to the data partition.

HTH :cheers:

Thanks RTG;
The current OS is Vista HP 32 bit; sorry for the confusion.
I wanted to upgrade to Win 7 64 bit, but I wanted to keep Vista around in case there is some software that is not happy with Win7.
Looks like its going to be a little more complicated than what I thought.
I would love to put my data all in a separate partition; unforunately its scattered all over the place in various directories and folders.
So that would be time consuming to pull it all out.
If I just shrink the current partition size, leaving everything in it, then make a new partition for Win7, would it be able to point to all the files and programs in the main partition?
Or am I going to need to wipe the drive, re-partition it, and re-install both OS’s?

thanks,
rstew

Nothing new here but a niceconcise guide. HTH :cheers:

RTG; Thanks for posting. Very useful information!! :rolleyes:

rstew

The files are available for download. If you click the download button, you are taken to http://www.heidoc.net/joomla/technology-science/microsoft/57-windows-vista-direct-download-links

The links are there (scroll the page a bit). I tried the English files and all started downloading.

ruirib;
I went to the heidoc site per the link.
When I downloaded the three file, the .wim files had extra extensions on the end and the 14-6453 exe file downloaded under the name of WindowsInstaller —-. The site was not Digital River or Azure; it was something called —blob.core —-.
None of this looked right so I deleted the files and got out of there.
Maybe I am just paranoid, but I have been burned a couple of times downloading bogus files.

rstew

The Windows site does not include downloads for any version of Windows. Even if it did, Windows 8 excepted, you’d still need to burn the downloaded ISO into a DVD. You can create the installation media following the instructions here: How to Download a Vista ISO and Create an Installation DVD or USB.

Thanks for that help, but unfortunately those download files dont seem to be available at present.
Another question; are the COA sticker autehntication keys specific to one version only, or could say one key for a home version be used for a pro version for instance? Or could a 64 bit key be used for a 32 bit install?

Thanks,
Rod

So visual bee seems to be gone.
Just did another malware bytes scan and now there is something new called FLVMPlayer, or something like that.
Google shows it to be some sort of adware thing that pops ads up all the time. I have been seeing this for sure.
So I quarantined and removed it. Hope it’s gone.
Sure wish I knew where all this c*** comes from!

rstew

Don’t feel too bad. My Vista 32 bit rig usually takes 3 to 4 minutes for a cold boot-up.
Instead of shutting it down each day I usually just put it in sleep mode. Start up the next day is only about 15 seconds, including password login.

rstew

That sounds like a great deal for 70 bucks!
Let us know how it works out.

rstew

Looked around and found the Kingston memory at Tigerdirect, got it ordered.
Hopefully that will work.
Thanks to all for the help and suggestions!

rstew

UPDATE:
Well I am finally making some progress here.
Got the warranty replacement new MoBo back late July, then we were away nearly a month.
Tested the new board out yesterday, outside the case with only the bare essentials hooked up, including a speaker as suggested.
First I tested a Core 2 Duo cpu and a 2 GB stick of DDR2 800 with the FSB set at 1066, and it posted just fine. The monitor screen wakes up, and it is looking for a boot device.
So then I installed the Xeon X5450 (with the sticker mod) and the G.Slick 8 GB DDR3 (2 x 4GB) 1333 memory, and no go.
So then I switched the G.Slick sticks out for the 2 GB stick of DDR2 800; and it again posted fine. (It looks like the X5450 is happy in the board.)
So the problem is the G.Slick memory F3-10600CL9D-8GBNT appears to be incompatible with the board, as ProHandyman thouught it might be.

It looks like what I need is 2 x 4GB sticks of Kingston KVR1066D3N7/4G memory to make this thing work.
But in searching around for this I find it is not readily available.
Certainly none of the local computer parts suppliers indicate having it in stock. Guess maybe it is too old to be mainstream stock anymore.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to where I might source any of this memory?

Thanks for any ideas,
rstew

Thanks all for the great advice. This is a GREAT site! 🙂
I printed the list of processes runnning, then Googled the ones I could not easily recognize.
I found several that were not applicable, and a few that were optional that I don’t need.
So I went into the startup menu and unchecked them, and all is well so far.

Thanks all,
rstew