Problems installing Windows Vista RC1

[wWooDd]

I'm trying to install Windows Vista RC1 x64 and I'm having a couple issues. It seems that I can install to an empty partition just fine right up until the install is going through its "Finalizing Install" phase right at the very end. This happens after I get a message stating the OS is booting for the first time leading to the install window showing the progress bar & install info. There is about 3-4 minutes of nothing (as I find the norm for the install) before a variant of the BSoD appears with what seems two errors and does a memory dump (I cannot be sure, the screen is there for 1/2 a second) - the system restarts and the process repeats over & over again (Windows loads, BSoD, crash). If I try safe mode I get a message saying the install cannot finish in safe mode. I tried this with two different harddrives and several different partitions & reformats.

I also tried upgrading an existing version of windows but all I get is an error stating "Setup can not run on this version of the Operating System. To install Windows please try booting from the install media." I have a fresh install of XP with any/all updates.

Now, while I don't expect things to be flawless with betas & release candidates I cannot say much if I cannot even get the OS to run in the first place. Are there any suggestions that I can try?

*edit* After some research I read that X64 is naturally a pain in the rear to install even if the hardware is up to par or beyond. An upgrade was especially iffy but I should still be able to do a clean install, shouldn't I?

 

[niji1875]

u can install 32bit RC2 to see if there is any problem.

 

[wWooDd]

Any suggestions on how to get x64 to run? Im going to try x32 here in a couple days but I'm getting respsonses from friends that their x64 versions install and run just fine.

 

[thehstrybean]

I never got x64 to work. Same problem. I think it's just a pain period. I got 32bit RC2 to run first try...

 

[wWooDd]

Well, the crash always moved so fast I could never tell what the crash error was - originally I was getting a system_service_exception error when I was crashing. Out of curiosity I used Vista's memory test utility once and after that I no longer crash right away upon trying to boot to Vista - instead it takes about 2 minutes until I get a "page_fault_in_nonpaged_area" error. I still cannot get into safemode because the instal is not finished leading to a restart (not a crash).

After some searching page_fault_in_nonpaged_area is a pretty common error and not a predominate one with the Vista installs - I read only a case after a specific update for Vista where as this is a fresh install. Since I cannot even get into safemode are there any suggestions? Is it because Vista is installed on a logical drive with XP on the main partition?

I have X32 ready to burn but if I'm getting errors not relating to a specific version then I have to figure that out first.

 

[wWooDd]

Ah, I finally figured it out. Turns out the Vista provided Nvidia drivers are causing a real mess leading to a detour to manually install fresh drivers prior to Vista starting up for the first time - at least this issue is for any 7950gx2's out there. Even then I'm still running only 1 GPU due to Vista's lack of SLI compatability :/ I'm currently running X86 but I'm sure I can hammer out X64 here in a day or two.