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Update from Windows XP to Windows Vista

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I use an Acer Aspire 1700 Series laptop (4 years old) running Windows XP Home SP2. I want to upgrade to Windows Vista Home Premium. I run Windows Upgrade Advisor : some minor problems, no major ones. I’m confident, buy the Vista upgrade and run it. Seems to work well … until – after about 1 hour – I see the “blue screen” with a STOP message. Can’t upgrade because the BIOS is not ACPI compatible. I think : no problem, the BIOS is 4 years old, has never been updated and now it’s the right time. So, I contact Acer’s customer service and ask for an updated BIOS. I receive a very short email saying that it’s unavailable for this particular model and therefore I can’t install Vista on my laptop ! Is’nt this great ? Were is the real problem ? With Acer who does even not provide some kind of workaround or with Microsoft who tries to make me buy an new computer (I did’nt find the ACPI requirement on the box when I bought the Vista upgrade). Can anybody help me ? My laptop is still in good shape and I’d like to continue using it.

Topic

Clarifications

In reply to Update from Windows XP to Windows Vista

Clarifications

You placed far too much faith in Upgrade Advisor…..

In reply to Update from Windows XP to Windows Vista

Not to mention the fact that you got lost in a dream-world, thinking that a FOUR year-old laptop would be compatible with an emerging operating system.

I feel for you, I really do – but any show of indignation on your part is misplaced unless it is aimed squarely at your own shoulders.

I suggest you reformat and reinstall XP.

ACPI Compliance

In reply to Update from Windows XP to Windows Vista

First off, I fully agree with MyCroft that one should not even consider upgrading old hardware to Vista. Personally, I have no plans to upgrade any of my systems to Vista. If I build a new system over the next few years, I will install XP on it.

As to ACPI compliance, you can rest assured that the BIOS on your laptop is ACPI compliant. It may not be Vista compliant, but it is ACPI compliant. I suspect that the error message was generated because of a hardware issue that Vista cannot deal with.

I am curious to know what “minor” problems the Vista Upgrade adviser found. I suspect that one of those “minor” issues is key to your installation problem.

Looking at the specifications for the Acer 1700 series, I suspect there may be a driver support problem for the SiS chip-set. SiS does not have much in the way of Vista driver downloads for the older chip-sets.

In addition, how much RAM do you have? I have a newer Acer that came with Vista. Maxing out the RAM to the full 2GB made a BIG difference in performance.

That leads me to another point. I always take Microsoft’s minimum system requirements and double them. Double the minimum is about where the system starts to function properly with a minimum of fuss and delays.

Chas

Disappointed

In reply to ACPI Compliance

Thanks for your reply Old Mycroft and TheChas.
However, I?m surprised when I read your replies. The fact that an average pc user cannot rely on the system requirements documented by Microsoft on their Vista upgrade box seems to be obvious for you! The fact that an average pc user cannot rely on the output of the Windows Upgrade Advisor seems to be normal for you! In both cases my laptop complies. But Vista won?t install! I?m disappointed by your answers because what you say is also what Acer and Microsoft say and what they are aiming at: be a nice consumer and buy a new pc, even if you don?t need it. That?s the bottom line and I don?t like it. Let?s try Linux or OS X. Maybe they treat their customers in a more respectful manner. I?ll find out soon.

Familiarity

In reply to Disappointed

It is unfortunate you can’t trust Microsoft on a lot of things. I bought a new laptop from HP and a few weeks later upgraded to XP (yes, I said upgraded) b/c Vista is not worth the bytes of space I just took up writing this post.

You’re not really getting any major feature upgrades with Vista that you don’t get with XP. As for switching operating systems, you lose much of the familiarity you keep with XP, but Linux would be the best next choice.

[Author]

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