Windows 7 RC upgrade failed and won't rollback to Vista!

[dorn78]

I never thought I would miss Vista, but here I am. Yesterday I tried to upgrade my wife's computer ( Compaq Presario CQ60-210US ) from Vista Home Premium to Windows 7 RC. The install seemed to go fine but during one of the automatic restarts near the end of the process, I got a Windows 7 screen that says the install failed and that it is rolling back to Vista. Then it restarts and gives me the same error screen again, and then it restarts and gives me the same error screen again, and, well, you get the picture. The Windows 7 forum is being deathly quiet and has not been able to offer suggestions of how to get my computer out of this loop of death. Her laptop did not come with a Vista dvd. I can get to a command line by hitting F8. Is it possible to restore from the D: recovery partition? Any other good ideas from HP?

[samschilling]

Most likely when you started the Windows 7 install your recovery partition was deleted.

You really should make your recovery media before making OS changes.

[dorn78]

Thanks, that was very helpful.

No, I did not delete my recovery partition.

[CherylG]

Tap the F11 key right after powering on_should hopefully boot into Recovery.You have to hit it quickly after power on,before it passes the HP logo screen.

Btw,If you get back into Vista_make your Recovery Disk set:

 http://tinyurl.com/2y4rub

If all else fails, order from HERE

Contact HP HERE

Message Edited by CherylG on 06-29-2009 09:43 PM

[dorn78]

Cheryl,

Thanks, that was a very helpful suggestion. The laptop is still under warranty so I called HP last night and he also suggested I try the F11 key. The laptop did not react to F11, even though it will react to F8, so the HP tech suggested that the restore partition was corrupted during the attempted upgrade. While I was on the phone I went ahead and ordered a restore dvd that I should receive before the weekend.

If I use the restore dvd, does that mean I have to lose all data on the disk? If so, I am wondering if I can take the hard drive out, put it in an enclosure and then copy the pics and docs off of it to another computer or drive. The I would reinstall the hard drive, restore the software and copy the pics and docs back to the old hard drive. Will that work or will I run in to some bizarre Vista permission issues?

Thanks again.

Terry

[JessicaD42]

Dorn78,

Pulling your hard drive out and putting it into an enclosure will work. However, if you had a password required login for Windows Vista you may have to take ownership of your files. To do so you would ensure that simple file sharing is disabled, right click on the folder you need access to and select the "security" tab. After that you would then look for owner and change the owner to the current computer you are accessing the files from.

For more support, Microsoft does have an official Windows Vista Support Forum located here  http://tinyurl.com/d5r9v3.  It is supported by product specialists as well as engineers and support teams. You may want to post your question there.

Jessica
Microsoft Windows Client Team

[SWY]

I would suggest trying a couple things:

First, try doing a clean install of Windows 7 from your DVD, but do not let it format the drive.  Installer errors happen and it may work just fine the second time.  The big thing though is that there are occasional issues with the "upgrade approach" and a clean install yields the best results.  As long as you don't do a format, all of your old files will be preserved under Windows.old, and if your machine uses Recovery Manager, it then will actually still run once Windows 7 is up and running.   

As an alternative, try hitting F8 at startup and then trying Safe Mode.  Not likely to work but worth a shot.  If you can get to a desktop and your system runs Recovery Manager, you can then try running it to restore the original working OS.  I have found that hitting F11 does not always work but if you start a restore from Recovery Manager, when it restarts it will then go to the restore partition.  I had to do this on my machine - might have still had to hit F11 at startup (after starting the restore from Recovery Manager) but I wasn't paying that much attention.  If you can get to the safe mode desktop and that utility is installed, try it both ways.

Of the two, your best option is the first, but you might want to re-download the RC iso first so that you know you have a clean copy.  Good luck....

Stephen

[here2alka]

Same frustrating problems installing Windows 7 RC on a6600f. I ran the Beta (Build 7000) for months and loved the OS. I ended up destroying my MBR as well and having to order Recovery Disks from HP. Now I'm stuck with Vista as Windows 7 will not even install as a clean install on a formatted partition. I've tried using other support forums and showing my logs left in $WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\Panther but nobody seems to be able to point me in the right direction. I thought of upgrading the BIOS, but read other posts on this forum back in November of horror stories of unsuccessful upgrades and having to have the mother board flashed. Maybe it has something to do with the SATA controller or I need to load a driver in the Windows 7 install?

Here is a link to my documented strife on Microsoft technet:

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7itproinstall/thread/8f8ae92c-617b-405f-9a75-b335d...

[USFbobFL]

I could not be more pissed off.  I just wasted 2.5 hours upgrading... everything seemed to be going smoothly. 

Here is my detailed log.

17:17:56 inserted 1st disk.  all 3 tests passed.  Clicked Next.  Says reboot needed.  Rebooted PC.
17:20:08 upon booted up, it ejected CD1 and prompted for CD2.  CD2 inserted.  Upgrade option recommened.
17:20:51 Windows 7 is being installed.... Windows 7 window comes up and prompts for Language.
17:22:11 I clicked English.  Selected English again.  Clicked "Install Now" ... copying temporary files...
17:23:53 Setup is starting...  option (recommended) to "Go Online" to get the latest updates.
17:24:46 I selected the recommended option.  Yes, they let you know that your computer will need to remain
             online throughout the installation process. 

Note: unless this process screws up my internet connection, I should be fine.  You would expect them
to download all of the necessary updates prior to changing anything critical related to networking.

17:26:05 Please wait...
17:26:26 "I accept the license terms"  check and click "Next"
17:26:57 selected "Upgrade" option.... checking compatibility...
Note: down at the bottom there is a timeline with 2 segments.
1. Collecting Information (about 10% of line)
2. Installing Windows (the other 90%)
17:357:45 compatibility check ends..
17:37:54 updating windows.. (copying files)
17:46:18 gathering file settings and programs (this step seems to take forever.. 54 minutes)
18:09:11 only 32% complete (yes, the more you have on your PC, the longer this will take).
              my laptop has only a 5400rpm hard drive.
18:40:07 Expanding Windows Files
18:44:14 AUTOMATIC REBOOT.... let it proceed... did not say to remove CD...
Starting Windows... (mostly black screen with cool windows logo)
19:01:34 still "Expanding Windows Files" (it has been on 18% for the last 15 minutes)
19:05:03 jumpted to 27%.. fyi, there are 3.963 GB to expand..
19:19:07 99%... to typical of Microsoft.. all MB fully copied..
19:20:33 Installing features and updates
19:23:26 restarting.. Starting Windows...
19:26:40 still says "Starting Windows"... not a very informative status... hard drive is active.
19:28:08 rebooting again... still on Windows 7 install... and "Starting Windows" again..
19:28:39 this time with the pretty logo again...
19:29:32 The upgrade was not successful.  Your previous version of Windows is being restored.
Are you *bleeping* kidding me?  What a HUGE PIECE OF GARBAGE.

[mikeac]

That is EXACTLY what happened to me, except I could not conect my computer online because I don't have an always on connection,  and after the 18% of Exoanding Windows Files part, the CD popped outta the tray and rebooted, I thought nothing was wrong, until it was stuck at 18% for ten minutes.  So I popped the CD back in, and another ten minutes later, BAM.  It is working.  Then it continues till the end, where it rolls back to Vista. Even AFTER I updated BIOS, it didn't work.  I think the CD ejects because my computer is retarded.  And when the HP case manager finally calls me, I will tell him/her to go to this EXACT forum and see how many complaining people have messed  up their computers cause of this. 

Hey USFbobFL, next time you try doing it, instead of backing up your data, hit skip.  It will update your BIOS.  It didn't work for my though, cause I already had the latest BIOS

I really don't trust HP anymore.  Their support was bad, it was stuff I already did.  Well, I will be expecting a call from the HP top guns, and hope he/she will helpme out.