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

C

cyberia

Platinum Member
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.
 
Did you have any USB drives attached to the system when installing?
Do the ISO's from Technet have SP1 slipstreamed into them?
 
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?
 
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.
 
If you have more than 2GB ram installed, go down to 2GB. Install vista, update fully, then add ram back in.
 
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