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Vista Install Issue on Emachines T3516A-----HELP


chrismeece

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Bought a new Emachines T3516A just prior to the Vista Launch in January. It came with the free Vista Express upgrade......which doesn't work. I tried to install the upgrade on my machine and got to the point where it rebooted the first time, then got a blue screen of death with a STOP error code.....I think it has to do with the bios. After hours on the phone with Emachines Tech Support(or lack of) I reformatted the hard drive with Windows XP Home. I am pretty much at a loss now as to what to do to get the Upgrade installed on that machine. Tried calling Microsoft tech support and was informed because the upgrade DVD came from the manufacturer they would not provide any support. I have it on my laptop and love it. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Chris

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I'd say install XP Home as clean as you can on your eMachines, and then run the Vista Upgrade Advisor on it first. The Upgrade Advisor will tell you what you need to upgrade, or uninstall and reinstall, before you should attempt to install Vista. Following the Upgrade Advisor's suggestions should keep your Vista upgrade a smooth one. Remember that OEMs like eMachines may have offered the Vista upgrades, but it doesn't mean their XP images were planned to work with it properly :).

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I tried that also. Formatted the hard drive and did a clean install of XP Home, Still get the same STOP error when installing Vista though. Ran the Vista Upgrade Advisor prior to installation, no issues detected. Even made sure all hardware drivers were the latest and compatible with Vista.

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I dont know, I havent tried that......didn't think I would be able to install Vista with a vista upgrade disk without first having XP installed.
You can do so, even with the upgrade DVD, by doing the following:

1. Install Vista in trial mode:

Boot the Vista Installer DVD. Select your language options and click on Install now. When prompted for a cd key, do not enter one. Instead leave the field blank and uncheck the option for activate automatically. (You will be asked to confirm proceeding without a serial and then told to select which version of Vista to install. Select the version your upgrade key is for - Basic, Premium, Business, Ultimate.) When prompted for the partition to install to, select it and then click on advanced disk options on the right. Select format to erase the partition you will be installing to. Follow through with the rest of the installation as normal.

2. Upgrade the trial version to the full version.

From the desktop, (re)insert the Vista install DVD. follow the procedures you used to upgrade XP to Vista.

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If you attempt this method and the first phase of installation fails, then there is a conflict between Vista's drivers and a hardware device on your system. In this case, you should remove any superflous expansion cards from your machine and use the bios to disable any ports you do not intend on using. Sometimes it is better to disable everything except the bare minimum to perform an installation (hard drive, dvd drive, video card, keyboard, mouse) and run the installer. After installation is complete, reenable those items which you will want - one item at a time - and let Vista install and test it's drivers. While this may seem cumbersome and is definitely time-consuming, you can find what device is causing the incompatability and either disable it or locate a compatable driver for it so it can be used without crashing the system.

Edited by nightthief
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  • 2 weeks later...

I also have an emachines t3516a and your bios does need upgraded i would suggest that you call tech support and describe the issue to them and they will have to advance the issue there advanced tech support that should email you will ask questions and they will also have RC410MBIOS which will flash your bios since it is not the same as a t3516 and that is the only way i know to get the bios upgrade for your machine so that it will upgrade to vista

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