[sean M from NH]

Hello!

I have tried several times to upgrade my PC from Windows ME to Windows XP Pro. Each time, the install gets stuck on the final step with 22 minutes remaining. Any suggestions? I am not very tech savvy, so feel free to dumb down any suggestions you may have. Thank you!

Sean

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How do you mean "it gets stuck"?

[Neil Jones]

How do you mean "it gets stuck"?

[sean M from NH]

Neil,

Thanks for responding to my call for help. When you choose the option to upgrade from the XP Pro CD, it goes through a series of steps on the screen. Each step shows a countdown "60 minutes to go, 45 minutes to go" etc. On the final step, the counter gets down to 22 minutes, then never goes any further. I've even tried letting it run overnight, but in the morning, the counter is still at "22 minutes to go". I end up re-booting, and ME comes back. I've tried it with and without my dial-up cable connected, and with and without my router (surfboard SB3100) hooked up, but I always get the same result. Any ideas? Thank you.

Sean

[Neil Jones]

This'll mean there's some issue somewhere that's stopping the upgrade.

The timeline for XP installation reads (between 39mins to go and 13mins to go)

# Installs Devices
# Installs Network
# Installs Start Menu Items
# Registers Components (this continues through to about 9mins to go)

One has to assume therefore that there either is some issue with a device on the computer (maybe the device in question doesn't work under XP) or there's a serious flaw with your Windows ME installation that is stopping XP from completing the upgrade.

In all honesty, upgrades (especially from ME) are more trouble than they're worth; They will carry over any issues that you have in ME to XP.

You'd be better off writing your important documents and stuff to a CD or other computer, letting the XP CD wipe the computer (this'll test the hard drive if nothing else) and put a fresh copy on. Only caveat with this is you'd have to reinstall everything again.

[shard92]

Also are you sure your xp cd is an upgrade cd? If you boot to windows me and then put the disk in it should give you an option ( when the cd autoruns ) to test your computer for compatibility.....

[crunch]

shard, wouldn't the xp if full version offer to just go ahead and format and overwrite? Go in BIOS and boot from CD. A regular xp full or upgrade does seem to start at 39 minutes. That extended time doesn't seem right at all. If ME is still working ok, start checking what you can with its features. 1. run scan disk and repair, if you can't do start>run>cmd> black screen type chkdsk /f if c is showing as what drive you are checking, enter y then reboot. Then try removing the cover and blowing off the processor/fan and general blow out to remove dust. then confirm all ram and ribbon connections being well seated. Go to www.pcpitstop.com and run "full test" to check your systems hardware, hdd,ram, see how the harddrive does, that it will complete the test, some drives are bad enough to not complete the test, yet be fuctioning. The test should only take a few minutes total. Try installing without using a wireless mouse or keyboard or KVM switch either, do everything hardwired. If using a Dell, Gateway, HP version of XP there could be other conflicts. I've tried using Dell XP on a custom built to no avail.
During the install if it's right out of the box XP upgrade from WalMart or Staples, etc and does not work after these, it is probably hanging on recognizing and dealing with a piece of hardware, as previously mentioned above by someone else, some older dial-up modems are not on XP, So unplug everything but bare essentials, just have motherboard, one harddrive, and one cd drive, no sound card, etc, preferably onboard graphics, nothing else that draws any power or needs device installed. Install other devices later. I had one hang on 'starting windows" until I tried a different processor, then it worked fine after the install and cpu switched back. On another overwrite install I chose to format the long-thorough way, which creates much heat in the harddrive, best to keep it cool as possible. If you have a 95, 98, ME, or 2000 CD you could save everything you want to keep on CD disks or online storage then format the hdd, with a free DOS boot disc on a floppy from www.bootdisk.com , then the upgrade will ask for a older version cd to prove preexisting OS and not have ME carry over any problems. I suspect hot CPU or hot harddrive/drive failing. You do have required 500MHz CPU and 256 RAM, right? Good luck and keep asking!

Edited by crunch, 02 February 2007 - 10:05 PM.