Making the jump from XP Professional to Vista Ultimate

HoLeeChow

Hello all.

So, what should I know before I make the big jump?

I've been hearing I should consider a dual-boot.

Anyway, here are my system specs:

Intel Core2 CPU 6400 @ 2.13 GHz
3 GB of RAM DDR2
Nvidia GeForce 8600 GT
250 GB hard drive
Windows XP Professional with SP 2

I would try harder to find out what kind of a motherboard my computer has, but honestly, Vista Advisor has stated many times that my computer more than adequately meets the minimum requirements for a Vista installation.

This is my first time upgrading the OS, so I admit to being clueless as to what is the proper procedure. The Vista I have is a copy given to me by a friend of my mother who works at a business. It is a 32-bit Vista Ultimate. He only gave me very, very vague instructions of what to do. I tried once, and failed. So, I'm back to using XP with all of my files and data intact.

electrode49

Well, I did the EXACT same thing on my Fujitsu computer and was just as clueless as you are. In fact, I believe you're a little more computer saavy than I am as I didn't know anything about partitions. Anyway, I went from XP SP1 to Vista Ultimate 32-bit. All in all it was a pretty good transition however most of my Fujitsu drivers and services stopped working...such as the application panel located above the keyboard, the Fujitsu driver updates, and the integrated wireless adapater (Atheros AR5600X).

This didn't bother me. I never used the application panel anyway. And since it doesn't work now, I guess it doesn't need updating either. I actually tried for about a month to fix the wireless adapter and then decided it was just best to disable it in device manager and install a more modern and faster USB wireless adapter. The old Atheros AR5006X could do 802.11a/b/g while the new USB wireless adapter can do 802.11g and 802.11g(mimo). Eventually, I'll get one that can do 802.11n...and so on and so forth.

Actually, I'm using the Fujitsu computer right now to reply to your post. I really like Vista Ultimate. By the way, I don't have a super computer or anything like that...it is a Fujitsu A3040 with 1.5 GB RAM, a few USB ports, CD/DVD slot, PCMCIA, SD/xD/PRO/M slot, etc. (pretty standard stuff). It works fine and it does what I want it to do, so I am happy.

A piece of advice...back up ALL of your files somewhere safe just in case your computer crashes during the transition. Trust me on this one, it will save you a lot of headaches and time.

Good luck.

temeteus82

Well I would say that the easiest way is to make clean install of Vista, note that quick format of the XP drive is needed so remember to backup your files and other stuff you need to keep. On the driver front you are ok. nVidia has good Vista 32-bit driver for your gfx card.

HoLeeChow

Thank god I had the foresight to back up my hard drive before I attempted to install Vista. I have to admit, I didn't exactly "format" the XP or create a partition. For some reason, my mind blocked out the fact that Microsoft didn't exactly make Vista backwards-compatible.

Anyway, so, how do I go about to formatting XP and creating a partition?

Judas

best way to go about doing this... is to boot from the vista disc.... go through the steps.. until you hit the "select a partion to install to"

at which point select the partition (there usually is only one).... hit the "device options" and hit delete... which will delete the entire partition.. then hit next to continue (this will completely wipe everything off the drive).... it'll then format and continue to install vista.

temeteus82

You don't need to do that. Since when the select partition window appears it has the format choice so just click format and the drive will be formated.

Judas

That's the other option.. but i prefer to wipe the partition tables and such off the drive....

recreating the information is imo a bit better then just formating a pre excisting one...

HoLeeChow

So, I was able to install Vista Ultimate successfully on my computer. However, I cannot connect to the Internet. At all. The computer says it doesn't recognize the drivers and things like that, even though I've been using the Internet way before the Vista, and I'm still using the same everything. Everything is updated--I made sure of that before I made the jump to Vista.

So, I'm not quite sure of where to go next. I'm at a computer at my college's campus right now...

Judas

You may need to download an official driver for the network adapter...

HoLeeChow

Yeah, that's what my mom's friend just said. No worries. I'm on my own computer now--I found my old wireless adapter and it turns out it's Vista-comptabile, so I was able to get online and install drivers.

BiGBrOwNPimpsta

sometimes for old pieces of hardware, you can force in the older 2000 driver for Vista. From your setup, it sounds pretty recent and it should be pretty decent. A dual core system should have little problem running vista. You might find somethings here and there a little slower than XP (maybe viewing a folder) as it takes a hell of a lot more load on the CPU and ram. 3GB does make it fast though.

Some devices such as a printer which is a few years old might not have software available anymore, but the windows spool manager will handle it (unless you do high level photo printing, most of the manufacturer software is just prettier GUIs than the basic stuff). You should find organizing your folders a lot easier though, I find myself making less retarded folders for stuff.

HoLeeChow

I'm enjoying Vista so far, but I do have a problem. Used to be when I was able to figure it out but nothing I do seems to work. See, my monitor has crappy customization options, I use nTune to do the work for me.

Well, it had all of the options after Vista, but today, it doesn't. I can't customize the 3-D settings or the desktop colours and so forth. It's really irking me. Right now, the colours on the desktop are really obnoxiously bright and my monitor's brightness option only either worsens or does nothing at all.

Okay, I just found out nTune isn't a very good program. So, are there any good programs out there that will help me calibrate the monitor's settings and desktop colours? Yeah, I know Vista has a very basic one, but I prefer to do some advanced customization.

BiGBrOwNPimpsta

what video card and monitor do you have?

OldBuzzard

One thing that WILL help performance if you are a bit 'light' on memory is the READYBOOST option.

Right now I only have 2 gig of memory (gonna bump it to 8 when the tax refund gets back), and I've found that there is a DEFINATE increase in performance if I plugin a 4 gig USB Ram drive, and allow Vista to use all of it for READYBOOST.

BiGBrOwNPimpsta

but on 32bit more than 3.5 gigs will not be read with readyboost. but it does help what I heard. its a neat bonus.

OldBuzzard

Well...it will help the guy with 1.5 gig in his system.

I've been on XP x64 and now Vista 64 for so long that I've almost forgotten that people still use ancient technology like 32-bit Operating Systems

PangingJr

Vista 32-bit
3.5GB RAM (4GB installed) + 3584MB ReadyBoost.