[sandy99shook]

I have a compaq home computer and when I try to install vista home basic on it the windows boot manger comes up says that windows failed to start.

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Before buying Vista for self-install you should ideally first use the target PC (running an earlier version of Windows) to download and run the Microsoft "Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor" from here: http://www.microsoft...adeadvisor.mspx

It tells if your PC as it stands can run Vista, which version of Vista it can run, and what, if any, hardware or software currently installed is not compatible with Vista.

Excuse me saying so, but buying Vista Basic is largely a waste of money since it has none of the new visual effects of the Premium or Ultimate editions.
And, frankly, without these, Vista doesn't have much else to offer that XP can't already do. The Basic version of Vista only succeeds in gobbling up more of your computer's memory and forces you to update drivers (and maybe also some applications) with no benefit to you compared to XP.
These criticisms apply to all Vista versions, of course, but at least with the more expensive versions you do get the new visual effects if sufficient RAM is available. That doesn't appeal to me, however. I want a new version that can do more, and do it more easily --- not 'eye candy' -- and that's all Vista is mainly. Microsoft are a victim of their own success -- XP is a hard act to beat in any real, meaningful way. If it wasn't for that nuisance known as 'Product Activation', XP would be perfect as far as I and many of my acquaintances are concerned.

Edited by pip22, 17 November 2007 - 04:16 AM.

[pip22]

Before buying Vista for self-install you should ideally first use the target PC (running an earlier version of Windows) to download and run the Microsoft "Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor" from here: http://www.microsoft...adeadvisor.mspx

It tells if your PC as it stands can run Vista, which version of Vista it can run, and what, if any, hardware or software currently installed is not compatible with Vista.

Excuse me saying so, but buying Vista Basic is largely a waste of money since it has none of the new visual effects of the Premium or Ultimate editions.
And, frankly, without these, Vista doesn't have much else to offer that XP can't already do. The Basic version of Vista only succeeds in gobbling up more of your computer's memory and forces you to update drivers (and maybe also some applications) with no benefit to you compared to XP.
These criticisms apply to all Vista versions, of course, but at least with the more expensive versions you do get the new visual effects if sufficient RAM is available. That doesn't appeal to me, however. I want a new version that can do more, and do it more easily --- not 'eye candy' -- and that's all Vista is mainly. Microsoft are a victim of their own success -- XP is a hard act to beat in any real, meaningful way. If it wasn't for that nuisance known as 'Product Activation', XP would be perfect as far as I and many of my acquaintances are concerned.

Edited by pip22, 17 November 2007 - 04:16 AM.

[wannabe1]

Hi sandy99shook...

As pip22 pointed out, Vista Basic is a pretty stripped down version of Vista and does not support the eye candy, but it is still a good operating system in the way that it plays with software and hardware. I rarely see problems involving Vista Basic...though that may be because it's not as widely used. And it is a good idea to run the Upgrade Advisor.

That said, is your Vista disk an upgrade disk or a full version? It makes a big difference in how they are installed. How are you going about the install when you get the message?

wannabe1

[mazuk]

the min specs for home basic are:

-1ghz cpu
-20gb hdd with 15gb free
-512mb RAM
-dx9 gfx card 32mb

mins for home premium are:

-1ghz cpu
-40gb hdd with 15gb free
-1024mb RAM
-dx9 gfx card 128mb, 32 bits per pixel, pixel shader 2.0 and WDDM driver