[david1912]

I have a HP Pavilion media center TV/PC with Windows XP Media software on it and want to make it a dual boot syster with Vista and XP on it. When I got the computer it came with XP on it and HP sent me the upgrade software for Vista. When I run windows vista upgrade adivsor it tells me that I need to upgrade the Nvidia nforce networking controller, HP Photosmart C3180 printer software, Realtek high defintion audio. What I like to know do I upgrade these software drivers in just Vista after I install it and not in XP. HP had said that this cpmputer was all ready for Vista when I bought it but now tell me that there cpmputer are made to work with the OS that comes on them and putting on a new OS is not a goo Idea. because some of the parts in the computer were not made to work with a new OS and the computer may not work right with the new OS.

Is there anyone out there that has a HP M6476X Pavilion Media center computer and has upgraded it to Dual Boot with Vista and XP?

If so is there any problems that you had and if so what you did to fix it.

Thanks



David1912

[smax013]

The drivers for Vista are completely seperate from the drivers for XP. Thus, if you set it up to dual boot, you would not need to change anything with the XP setup but would apparently need to get some Vista drivers for some equipment. Here is a site that talks about setting up a dual boot system with XP and Vista. You should try to find the drivers that you need for the network adapter, printer and sound card BEFORE you install Vista.



FWIW, I have on my agenda to setup my new computer build as a dual boot with XP and Vista. I am not to that point yet. I still have the second optical drive, card reader, and some hard drives to install. I also still need to install some basic applications and then clone my drive as a SINGLE OS setup (in case I want to go back). I don't know how quickly I will get to it all. And it is not an HP computer.

[mphenterprises]

Hi David. Okay, I have a few points:

- I am sure HP did not say that your computer was Vista-ready within a Dual Boot configuration. Dual-Booting is not something that retail manufacturers recommend.

- If you computer was built with Windows XP and marked as "Vista-Ready," this only means that your computer has the minimum components to run Vista only.

- In any true Dual-Boot configuration, it is best to upgrade all the drivers before you create the Dual-Boot. Once you upgrade the drivers and run the Advisor again, you should see that your computer is now ready to run Vista, and essentially Dual-Boot

- As you can see by my signature, I am running a Pseudo Dual-Boot configuration using VMware with a major upgrade to come. VMware is a great application to test out an Operating System to see if 1) the components you have now will work within the new Operating System and 2) you actually like the new Operating System. Click here to learn more about VMware.

- Once you have decided that you truly want a Dual-Boot system and 1) have the necessary space and 2) have the necessary drivers, please follow this step-by-step installation tutorial that will help you create a Dual-Boot system.

[david1912]

The more I read about Visat and see how it works on friends computers also what it would take to make my computer a dual boot and then the problems that they have with Vista the more I think I will just wait and just use XP. Because a lot of the programs I have will not work with Vista and my computer is only 9 months old and works real good with the XP software with out any trouble at all. I have a friend who has Vista on his HP and has a lot of trouble with it all the time. It shouts down when he trys to run a progran and after it reboots it will run the same program. Then his printer stips working and he has to play with the settings to get it to work. Then to it is a lot harder to find things in Vista then in XP I just think I will wait and after they get all the bugs out of it maybe I will install Vista then.

Thakns for trying to help



David1912

[smax013]

I am certainly not ready to go to Vista full time. And that is precisely why I will set up a dual boot situation. I will undoubtedly use Windoze XP that vast majority of the time, but it will allow me to boot up into Vista and try it out on occasion. And it will allow me to have a computer running Vista in case friends or family who have no choice and are running Vista have questions...I will be able to use my setup to find stuff that they might need. That is kind of the point of setting up a dual boot machine with Vista...if you are not ready to use it full time, you can still try it out. Now, if you don't want to "mess" or "play" around with Vista, then there is no sense in going through the hassle of setting up a dual boot system and you should stick with XP.

[mphenterprises]

I know I am ready for Vista. I have had the 32bit Vista Ultimate sitting on my desk for a while now. I am just about ready to do my fully upgrade which would give me a multi-boot system (Ubuntu, Vista, and XP).

VMware lets me test Ubuntu and Vista and play around with both of them. David, if you are truly concerned about compatibility, Virtual workstations are the way to go. Smax turned me on to virtual workstations and I gravitated towards VMware.

[rgreen4]

David, would you please verify the model number of your machine - I tried to find the specs for your machine on the HP support site, and found nothing with a model number close to the numbers posted. Also, is this a US machine?

There is a white HP sticker on all PC's. The format is somewhat like this:

Line 1 - general line - example - I am currently using an HP zv5000 series laptop

Line 2 - serial number - never under any circumstances post a serial number on line

Line 3 - p/n or product number - mine is PL976UA#ABA

Line 4 - on the bottom edge of sticker the detailed model number - mine is zv5330us.

By the way, my desktop media center is an m7690y CTO. Since it was a CTO (custom to order, there is no fourth line on it, only the retail models).

I got hits in Google on my model, but not yours.

[smax013]

mphenterprises said:

I know I am ready for Vista. I have had the 32bit Vista Ultimate sitting on my desk for a while now. I am just about ready to do my fully upgrade which would give me a multi-boot system (Ubuntu, Vista, and XP).

VMware lets me test Ubuntu and Vista and play around with both of them. David, if you are truly concerned about compatibility, Virtual workstations are the way to go. Smax turned me on to virtual workstations and I gravitated towards VMware.

Just be aware that you will violate the Micro$oft Vista license if you run either Home Basic or Home Premium in a virtual machine (this is for others, not [~44270] since he is talking about Ultimate). In addition, VMware does NOT support Home Basic or Home Premium in their virtual environment (due to the EULA issues from Micro$oft). This is not to say that Home Basic and Home Premium will not run in a virtualization mode. You will just be violating the EULA and be completely unsupported.

[david1912]

HP nodel number M7664X media center pc

The thing is this HP sold these computers in 2006 I got it in Nov. 2006 and tehy were Vista ready they sent me a vista disk as part of the deal but what they didn't tell people is that some of the software in the computer will not work with Vista because of drivers and also just will not work with vista at all or not right. It was just a way to get people to go out and buy a new computer thinking that they would beable to install Vista and run it. But it may run and it may not run on this computer and if it does run who can say how good it will run. Then to I read that a lot of people are having trouble runing Vista on there computers that came with it installed on. I was going to try to do a dual boot setup and play with it just to see what it had to offer and maybe get it to work. But now that HP tell me that Vista was not made to run on my computer because of hard ware problems I may run into I don't know if I want to put it on and not have my computer no work at all. It works real good and doesn't give me any trouble maybe I should let it be.

[rgreen4]

David you are wrong. HP has supported the upgrade to Vista very well. First of all, the disc set you should have received would be two - one an upgrade assistant for the HP Pavilion PC/Compaq Presario PC with an enclosed instruction booklet. The second the Windows Vista Home Premium Experess Upgrade DVD. Now the DVD is a little unique in that it is an upgrade version of Vista but has an OEM COA sequence, so that when you read the COA in control panel it says OEM in the middle of it (after installation).
The drivers are on the DVD. If you have any driver problems or questions here is a link to the HP driver download page for Vista 32bit for your machine. Please note the date of the Realtek driver is January, 2007. Once I got the correct model number, the support page was very easy to find.
I used the provided upgade disc in May to to a clean install of Vista in May, 2007 and have had few problems with it except for getting used to the differences. This m7690y is my primary machine and when I go back to an XP machine, I have to think about where things are. I have had very few software issues. My Quicken 2006 lost the sound, but now that I have upgraded to the 2008 version, it's back. I update every two years anyway, and have for decades. The only problem I had in the upgrade was that the driver on the DVD for the wireless NIC wasn't quite right. It worked, but it wasn't as strong in its reception as under XP. I let Vista search out the new driver, and after it updated, the signal is as strong as under XP. BTW - when I say install on a new drive, I am a firm believer in that. My original HD with XP Media Center installed is sitting on the closet shelf in a plastic box. It has not been in my machine now for about six months, and in a few more months, I will need to decide what to do with it - I also have the original restore disc set that I burned with it. But I doubt very seriously that I would go back. Especially since that version still had Norton's Internet Security on it, and life is much better without NIC. After installation of Vista, download the free version of Avast, and Superantispyware. They are much better and don't interfere with the machine as much.
If you have a specific issue, please post it here or in the windows thread.
Here is a [document|d-1125] on going from XP to Vista. I would highly recommend you install the second drive on the bottom of your case and install Vista on that drive. While I switch between boot drives on my recent build by going into the BIOS and changing the boot drive designation, on my HP I just swap the SATA leads. I actually also have the third drive with the PMD 300GB.
One of the main problems in upgrading from XP to Vista, HP has taken care of for you on this machine. First the drivers should be on one of the two discs, and second, more recent updates are available on their website. This is a transition machine as I call them with ready availability of drivers for both XP and Vista.
My experience with Vista on this machine has been so good, I now have Vista on three machines.

[david1912]

I did get two disk when I got the upgrade from HP but on there web page they tell you not to use the first disk "HP Upgrade Assistant" and only use yhe Mocrosoft Vista disk when making a Dual Boot. I didn't think all the drivers were on that Vista disk taht I need to update them for Vista and I know that they do have them on the HP web site. But what I'm having trouble with is when HP Teck. tells me that my computer may nit work the way is should after the install because the computer was not made to run this OS.and only made to run XP.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Here is what HP sent me on this!



Hello David,
Thank you for replying to HP Total Care.
I see from your mail that you get message from vista advisor that you need to update the drivers for few applications. I understand your concern.

As per HP Warranty Guidelines, HP does not recommend to upgrade or changing the operating system installed by the manufacturer since it might cause hardware and software conflicts. Also note that desktop would be compatible only with the operating system installed by the Original Equipment Manufacturer.

All HP desktop are shipped with an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) version of Operating System, although it carries the name of Microsoft.

I would like to mention you that these operating systems including drivers are altered by HP to suit HP hardware components only. Hence, when you do any upgrade or change in the operating system, some of the hardware components will not be able to get the required drivers from the new Operating system. Therefore these components may not function as desired.

It is also likely that the any driver given by HP for Windows XP may not work well with Windows Vista. Because the drivers are configured in such a way as to work with only those desktop that went with Windows XP as OEM installed.

[smax013]

david1912 said:

I did get two disk when I got the upgrade from HP but on there web page they tell you not to use the first disk "HP Upgrade Assistant" and only use yhe Mocrosoft Vista disk when making a Dual Boot. I didn't think all the drivers were on that Vista disk taht I need to update them for Vista and I know that they do have them on the HP web site. But what I'm having trouble with is when HP Teck. tells me that my computer may nit work the way is should after the install because the computer was not made to run this OS.and only made to run XP.



-----





Here is what HP sent me on this!






Hello David,

Thank you for replying to HP Total Care.

I see from your mail that you get message from vista advisor that you need to update the drivers for few applications. I understand your concern.


As per HP Warranty Guidelines, HP does not recommend to upgrade or changing the operating system installed by the manufacturer since it might cause hardware and software conflicts. Also note that desktop would be compatible only with the operating system installed by the Original Equipment Manufacturer.


All HP desktop are shipped with an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) version of Operating System, although it carries the name of Microsoft.


I would like to mention you that these operating systems including drivers are altered by HP to suit HP hardware components only. Hence, when you do any upgrade or change in the operating system, some of the hardware components will not be able to get the required drivers from the new Operating system. Therefore these components may not function as desired.


It is also likely that the any driver given by HP for Windows XP may not work well with Windows Vista. Because the drivers are configured in such a way as to work with only those desktop that went with Windows XP as OEM installed.

When talking with the HP tech, is he/she aware that you got Vista from HP? This seems like a "canned" response that assumes that "joe blow" user went out and bought a typical Vista upgrade and now wants to install it and is getting the messages from the upgrade advisor. I am betting that if the tech knew that it was HP that sent you the Vista disk and that it was "part" of your purchase (i.e. free upgrade to Vista from HP), then things might be a little different.

[rgreen4]

David - I have to agree with Smax on this. From the specification sheet on your machine on the HP website, the product was first released to the retail chain on Sept 5, 2006, and any sales after October 26 would be subject to the free Vista Upgrade. So it would be inconcievable to me that it would not be fully functional under Vista.

From the specifications listed on your machine - AMD Dual Core processor, 2GB of ram, 300GB HD, DL Lightscribe DVD burner, Realtec 888 chipset, integrated nVidia 6150LE video graphics chip, integrated network interface. Except for the processor (I have an Intel C2D), memory speed, wireless network card (not listed on yours) and the video (I have the nVidia 7300LE card), our systems are very similar. The only item in the list of specifications that I would normally be concered about is the video, but there is a Vista driver dated in February on the HP website.

The most interesting specification in the list is on page 4 (when printed)

Technologies
* Vista Capable
* AMD Live
* Vista Premium Ready

There is a page full of "free" and "trial" software, some of which may be beneficial, and some may not. The software may not be Vista capable. Most of this I have already blown away on my machines, it took me some time to clean up my new laptop because with a lot. The tech was right about one thing - XP drivers will not work with Vista. I inadvertently installed an XP nVidia driver on my Media Center after converting to Vista, and was greated with a black screen. The only way out was to reinstall completely - which I did several days later. I am an advocate of cloning, so since I had the clone drive in the case, all I did was force the machine to shut down, swapped the cables to the backup drive and reboot. This is also a reason I never keep my data on the boot (or system) drive.

If you have the resources to obtain a second hard drive, just simply install it in the case and do a clean install of Vista on that drive. If you order an OEM drive (sometimes referred to as a bare drive because it does not have cables, screws or install software), the only thing you will need to add is another SATA data cable and possible to find some screws. The Power supply should already have a spare power connector on one of the cables. If memory serves me right (I'm at work) there are at least 4 SATA power connectors on the wiring harness. Screws can be a problem if you haven't built up a supply over the years from previous machines. If you don't have any, drop me a Private Message, and I'll drop 4 in the mail to you. After 25 years of being around computers, I have a more than ample supply. As I said, the second hard drive mounts flat on the bottom of the case, with the screws coming up through the 4 holes in the bottom of the case to support the drive.

Simply swap the SATA data cable (the narrow red one) from the current boot drive (fastened to the PMD cage) to the new drive, and do a clean install.
In order to do a clean install follow the instructions in this article. It is how I did it, and it works well. If you have any problems, simply swap the cable back, and your back on your current XP installation.

I will be tied up this evening and all day Saturday, but Sunday afternoon while watching Football and the races, I will dabble a bit and see how the HP BIOS handles two separate boot drives in the case.

[david1912]

Hi Thanks for your Info. I think you are right about how to do the Vista install it seems like a better way then putting Vista and XP on one drive insase something goes wrong when doing the install. Now all I have to do is get a hard drive and put it in and go from there then if it doesn't work after I install Vista I can just go back to the XP drive and try to find out what I did wrong. :_|

Thanks for all the help on this I will let you know how it goes.



David1912

[rgreen4]

And in turn I will let you know how my experimentation goes over the weekend. One of my friends in the community (the one whose Avatar looks as if it escaped from the emoticon box) called it intellectual intrigue. I normally use my new build for these, but for this I'll have to use the HP MC because of the BIOS. I'll have to resurect the XP HD that came with the machine also as my older XP upgrade (2004) won't install on the HP MC (even though it came with XP MCE) because of the drive controller drivers (Intel 965). Those pesky drivers again.

[smax013]

rgreen4 said:

One of my friends in the community (the one whose Avatar looks as if it escaped from the emoticon box) called it intellectual intrigue.

Who me? :p



My ears where burning again! ;-)