Can't Install Vista Ultimate on Dell XPS 420 (BSOD)

[cyberia]

He-e-e-e-lp!

I am trying to do a fresh install of Vista Ultimate on an XPS 420. I got the OS as a download off TechNet. I first tried the 32bit version, and it kept crashing at the very end of the process with a BSOD. The BSOD complained about a USB[something].sys file. (It flashed too fast before rebooting to get all the details).

I figured I may have a corrupted ISO image. So, I re-installed Vista Home Premium with Dell's reinstallation DVD last night. It was successful. I re-downloaded Vista Ultimate off TechNet, opting for the 64bit version this time.

Guess what? The installation blue-screened again. I have not had a chance to see where it failed this time (and will not be able to rerun the installation until later tonight).

Has anyone else run into similar problems? How come I am able to install Home Premium but not Ultimate? On a related note, is there a tool to view memory dump files? It needs to be a non-Windows tools as I don't have a bootable Windows installation on the PC right now.

 

[Chadder007]

Did you have any USB drives attached to the system when installing?
Do the ISO's from Technet have SP1 slipstreamed into them?

 

[cyberia]

I did not have any USB peripherals attached. I disconnected all of them, including the printer, the scanner and the UPS.

The ISOs do have SP1 slipstreamed. Is that a concern in a clean install?

 

[cyberia]

I kind of had finally gotten Vista Ultimate to load but later ran into more problems. I may have downloaded a "wrong" image from TechNet originally. It was the Vista Ultimate Checked/Debug version. I guess I should have downloaded the plain-vanilla Vista ISO because it must include all the different flavors of Vista and will install a correct one based on the serial number you provide.

However, I later ran into more hardware problems with the PC (and even a blue screen when I once again reinstalled Dell's OEM copy of Vista). I am almost ready to stop buying Dell and going the DIY route.

 

[BigPoppa]

If you have more than 2GB ram installed, go down to 2GB. Install vista, update fully, then add ram back in.