Newsletter Archives

• Known problems installing/upgrading to Win7

  Posted on October 24, 2009 at 19:00 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  As expected, there’s a bunch of problems with Windows 7 upgrades and clean installs. I’m going to try to keep track of the most common ones in this posting.

  If you’re trying an in-place upgrade (as opposed to a “custom install” which is better known as a “clean install”) from Vista to Windows 7, the upgrade process may freeze at 62%. If that happens to you, be of good cheer: it’s a known problem with a relatively simple solution.

  If you’re trying an in-place upgrade from Vista to Windows 7, the upgrade may fail with the message “This version of Windows could not be installed, Your previous version of Windows has been restored, and you can continue to use it.” Then every time you re-boot the machine, the same thing happens. Fortunately, this, too, is a well-known problem and the solution isn’t too difficult.

  If you’re having trouble getting rid of Raxco PerfectDisk 9, and the Win7 refuses to run because of it, see KB 976552.

  If you’re trying to download Windows 7 from Digital River (“one of the most trusted names in E-commerce and Web-based technology”) and getting an error message that you’ve tried to download Win7 too many times, well, you aren’t alone. See the Microsoft Answers thread on the topic. UPDATE: there are more problems with the Digital River download, and more problems particularly with corrupt installation files, but they seem to be getting better.

  Can’t find your games? Steve Winograd has the answer.

  Looking for an HP DeskJet 4280 driver? So is most of the world. A lame excuse of an answer is here.

  Did you perform an in-place upgrade from Vista to Windows 7, and now the front panel icons on your HP Multi-function printer don’t work? Or are you running 64-bit Windows 7 and the HP Solution Center says “Device not found”? KB 976309 has a solution.

  If your in-place upgrade failed with a message saying the installer failed to complete, then you get a rollback, and the installer automatically jumps in and tries to install again – ad nauseum – there’s a tricky workaround.

  Are you trying an in-place upgrade and the installer tells you that you need to get rid of Avira – but you’ve already gotten rid of Avira? Easy solution: download the latest version of Avira, install it, then uninstall it.

  Reader HFP writes: Windows 7 Home premium 32 bit upgrade installed on Dell Dimension 9200 PC 2 1/2 year old with Sigma Tel High Def Audio CODEC Sound card therein. Sound now kaput. Enquires on Box indicates that Sigma Tel Inc taken over last year and no further support given nor it seems is there a driver for W7 to update Card. Seems a number of others have experienced the same problem.

  More to come.

  Windows News Digital River too many download attempts, HP DeskJet 4280 Win7 driver, KB 976309, Windows 7 games missing, Windows 7 HP multi-function printer problems, Windows 7 HP Solution Center Device not found, Windows 7 installation problem, Windows 7 Sigma Tel High Def Audio, Windows 7 upgrade Avira problems, Windows 7 upgrade problem, Windows 7 upgrade rollback