Re: Can't install Vista (Resolved)

On Sun, 29 Jun 2008 13:15:13 -0400, "Jan :\)"
<abuse@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Ok.....after several attempts to install, and a number of hours of
troubleshooting, I finally found the culprit. It was my Antec external hard
drive.

<snip details>

Thank you all for your time and help. It was very much appreciated, and it
kept me plugging at it until I was able to nail the guilty party and get it
resolved. :-)

The guilty party is actually Microsoft, no surprise. I had a similar
experience. It seems that external drives especially if they are setup
as external ESATA can confuse Vista, even XP, probably because your
system didn't have a up today controller designed specifically for
Vista. So Vista being really, really stupid ends up trying to boot off
a non system disk, likely your external or just flat out refuses to
see the external unless and until your fool around with the order your
external drives are plugged into your MB or it might generate a Blue
Screen of Death, not booting at all.

Of course the moronic fanboy crowd with try to point their finger
exclusively at third party hardware makers. They always do. But
wait... AHCI specs were originally written way back in 2004! Long
before Vista was ever released.

Following is NOT an attempt to explain YOUR specific problem, rather
to expose Microsoft's way of doing business.

http://www.intel.com/technology/serialATA/index.htm

Learn more here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_ATA

Finally the wooden stake through the heart

http://www.answers.com/topic/advanced-host-controller-interface?cat=technology

Common problems switching to AHCI under Windows:

Enabling AHCI in a system BIOS will cause a 0x7B Blue Screen of Death
STOP error on installations of Windows XP where AHCI/RAID drivers for
that system's chipset are not installed. Switching to AHCI mode
requires installing new drivers before changing the BIOS settings.

When attempting to install Microsoft Windows XP or a previous version
on an AHCI-enabled system will cause the setup to fail with the error
message "set up could not detect hard disk drive...". This problem can
only be corrected by either using a floppy disk with the appropriate
drivers, by slipstreaming the appropriate drivers into the Windows XP
installation CD or by turning on IDE emulation in the BIOS settings if
available.

Enabling AHCI in a system BIOS with Windows Vista already installed
will result in a BSoD if SATA has been running in IDE mode during
Vista's installation. Before enabling AHCI in the BIOS, users must
first follow the instructions found at Microsoft Knowledge Base
article 922976.

Enabling AHCI in a system BIOS on installations of Windows XP or
Windows Vista, will cause SATA Optical drives to disappear. A Hotfix
for Windows Vista is available under the title: "SATA optical drives
are not available after you start a Windows Vista-based computer."[3]

Now why do I bring this all up? Simple. The Vista DVD COULD have and
should have come with a generic AHCI controller or minus that some
warning about ESATA drives and the problems you will likely run into.
But the idiots of Redmond said screw that... just like they said screw
making sure popular printers and scanners under Vista will support ALL
the features they did under XP.

Need proof? Check Adam Albright's revealing post documenting
confidential emails between various Microsoft big shots including
Ballmer that not only acknowledged these shortcoming, but try to hide
them... until it came out during Discovery during a court case.
Another reason Microsoft is often referred to as the Evil Empire.
They don't give a crap how much harm and grief they cause users by
taking shortcuts. In fact they go out of they way to get you to
upgrade to Vista allowing some MB makers to use a Vista Certified logo
when they got to know damn well the product was shipped without some
necessary drivers.

Of course the fanboy crowd rather bow down and blindly worship
Microsoft, no matter what facts get in the way that almost always
points to them being a big part of the problem.
.

Relevant Pages

  • Make the Most of Your New PC
    ... mint Windows Vista computer this holiday ... the Workgroup name is exactly the same for all the computers in the ... that doesn't support USB 2.0) and low-capacity portable hard drives. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.vista.general)
  • Re: Adding extra HD and worried about XP licence accepting it
    ... My own opinion is that there is a lot to be gained from keeping user data separate and distinct from OS and program files. ... But two instances of active installations of the same version of Windows sounds like a recipe to unpredictability IMHO. ... Second, because if you have large files, it's better to keep them on a large drive independent from the Windows files in case you need to reformat. ... drives with the same OS installed? ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support)
  • Vista possible bootloader problems HELP
    ... Windows 7, and tinkering around with it i decided to get back to Vista to ... noticed both my XP and Vista drives didn't have a drive letter and wasn't ... install must of some how messed with both my OS's and am stuck on getting ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.vista.installation_setup)
  • Re: Cant install Vista (Resolved)
    ... as external ESATA can confuse Vista, even XP, probably because your ... external drives are plugged into your MB or it might generate a Blue ... Common problems switching to AHCI under Windows: ... STOP error on installations of Windows XP where AHCI/RAID drivers for ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.vista.general)
  • Re: MULTI-BOOTING
    ... VMWare server is free for non commercial use. ... I multiboot 3 operating systems on my machine (Win XP, Vista and Ubuntu) ... Windows 95, Windows 98 SE, Windows 2000 Pro, ... my goal without disturbing these existing installations. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)