Vista upgrade
Well I went and did it. I got a copy of Vista Business and installed it this week. I've got it running now and am typing to you from it. The install wasn't without its headaches however.
The first install attempt, I tried to upgrade my XP Pro partition (I have dual boot, one for gaming and one for everything else). Vista copied all the files and when it rebooted it bluescreened. Luckily, I had made a backup copy of XP before I attempted this. I restored the backup and things were back to normal.
After some further investigation, I discovered that I wasn't the only one having issues with the upgrade process. Evidently the recommended upgrade path is to use the File and Settings Transfer (FAST) wizard to back up your files and settings then do a clean install of Vista. Slight tangent here: Why can't Microsoft have designed the FAST wizard to handle multi-boot scenarios? FAST is an all or nothing backup. You don't get to choose which which partition or drive to backup, it scans them all...even if you dismount the drive.
Instead of using FAST, I used one of my other backup programs to backup only the files that I wanted. I then wiped the partition and did a clean install of Vista. The install went smoothly. After Vista was all installed, there were a few drivers that it hadn't set up yet. I had it grab the drivers from Windows Update. When it rebooted, I got the Blue Screen of Death. Evidently, the driver for my onboard sound, Realtek, that Windows Update had just installed caused the BSOD. I had Vista send in an error report, and it came back that there was a known issue with that driver. UMMM...Microsoft, why the fuck do you have a driver on Windows Update that has known issues with Vista? I went to the Realtek website and grabbed an updated, though not certified by Microsoft, driver which fixed the issue.
After all of that, Vista is working smoothly. I've been able to restore my files. The only downside is that I have to reinstall all my programs again. No biggie. I'll just do them as I have time.
I think I'll wait a while to upgrade my laptop until I'm sure that there are working drivers for it
The first install attempt, I tried to upgrade my XP Pro partition (I have dual boot, one for gaming and one for everything else). Vista copied all the files and when it rebooted it bluescreened. Luckily, I had made a backup copy of XP before I attempted this. I restored the backup and things were back to normal.
After some further investigation, I discovered that I wasn't the only one having issues with the upgrade process. Evidently the recommended upgrade path is to use the File and Settings Transfer (FAST) wizard to back up your files and settings then do a clean install of Vista. Slight tangent here: Why can't Microsoft have designed the FAST wizard to handle multi-boot scenarios? FAST is an all or nothing backup. You don't get to choose which which partition or drive to backup, it scans them all...even if you dismount the drive.
Instead of using FAST, I used one of my other backup programs to backup only the files that I wanted. I then wiped the partition and did a clean install of Vista. The install went smoothly. After Vista was all installed, there were a few drivers that it hadn't set up yet. I had it grab the drivers from Windows Update. When it rebooted, I got the Blue Screen of Death. Evidently, the driver for my onboard sound, Realtek, that Windows Update had just installed caused the BSOD. I had Vista send in an error report, and it came back that there was a known issue with that driver. UMMM...Microsoft, why the fuck do you have a driver on Windows Update that has known issues with Vista? I went to the Realtek website and grabbed an updated, though not certified by Microsoft, driver which fixed the issue.
After all of that, Vista is working smoothly. I've been able to restore my files. The only downside is that I have to reinstall all my programs again. No biggie. I'll just do them as I have time.
I think I'll wait a while to upgrade my laptop until I'm sure that there are working drivers for it