So my Windows 8 RT Preview finally expired. Since I had the cheap Update deal, I went ahead and got the Windows 8 Update. However I wanted to test just how smooth the transition would be from a computer running Windows XP SP3, and because I wasn't sure if I could apply the update directly onto the Expired Windows 8 RT Preview version.
So I got a spare Hard drive, stuck in the machine and installed and updated Windows XP to SP3 over the next couple of days.
With that done, and with basically nothing on the XP installation I put the 32bit DVD of the Windows 8 Pro Update package in the drive and waited. (In retrospect, I should have put the 64 bit version, as this is an AMD64 Semprom. Yes, its a low line PC, but since I don't play top of the line games on it (that's what the Xbox is for), it works for home use fine.)
Anyway, the preparation stages went smoothly. Even the reboot went down without a hitch, but once the final setup was up, problems started arising.
The first one, it wanted to connect to MS servers to activate, and log me in to my "Microsoft Account". However the installation failed to recognize my wireless card. So it could not do that, I had to skip that part, and setup a local account. Once Windows started and was usable, I noticed, I was missing a few things from the Start screen. Namely, the Desktop tile. No biggie, I'll simply go to search and run Explorer to get at it, see if I can get the tile back later. I move the mouse to the side to get the charm bar, and nothing happens.
O.k I'll reboot, see if that helps things. The PC rebooted rather quickly, and lo and behold still no Desktop Tile. Fortunately the charm bar did come back. So I was able to get into Desktop mode by running explorer, and into control Panel all was looking good, until I tried clicking on Administrative Tools, I got a message saying the location was unavailable. Fine, I'll have to install my wireless card from the driver CD and do a bit of Googling to figure out what happened. So I go to install the drivers, and they appear to install o.k. However the card would connect and disconnect from my network every few seconds. Which made browsing quite difficult to say the least.
After wrangling for a couple of hours with the network card, I gave in, drove to BestBuy, and bought a cheap USB Wifi card. This one was detected immediately, and required no drivers. However, since XP was empty when I upgraded, I had to open IE and get to a suitable browser download.
So I wandered the forums, looking for solutions to problems I was having, and it all boiled down to either a Refresh, or a re-install. I really wasn't looking forward to a complete re-install having just upgraded, but after the refresh did nothing to alleviate the issues, I gave in, and just rebooted the machine with the DVD inside and proceeded to wipe out the partition. Windows again went through the setup process without a hitch, and when it booted into the final setup, the USB wifi card was picked up, and I was able to setup the Microsoft Account o.k. Once at the Start Screen,the Desktop Tile was back and functional, and yes Administrative tools was working again.
There were a few other glitches here and there, that seem to have been sorted by the full reinstallation. Some something went awry with the upgrade. Hopefully its not something very common among updates. But if it is, I suggest just biting the bullet, and performing a complete clean re-install.
Now that its up and running for a few days, I can say there are a few changes from the Preview versions to this one. Its working fine, though, but its given me a Blue screen of smiley face a couple times in regards to Memory Management. Guess I may need to check that RAM next, though the Preview versions did not have such issues.
----------------------------------
Phil AKA Vacunita
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.
Web & Tech
So I got a spare Hard drive, stuck in the machine and installed and updated Windows XP to SP3 over the next couple of days.
With that done, and with basically nothing on the XP installation I put the 32bit DVD of the Windows 8 Pro Update package in the drive and waited. (In retrospect, I should have put the 64 bit version, as this is an AMD64 Semprom. Yes, its a low line PC, but since I don't play top of the line games on it (that's what the Xbox is for), it works for home use fine.)
Anyway, the preparation stages went smoothly. Even the reboot went down without a hitch, but once the final setup was up, problems started arising.
The first one, it wanted to connect to MS servers to activate, and log me in to my "Microsoft Account". However the installation failed to recognize my wireless card. So it could not do that, I had to skip that part, and setup a local account. Once Windows started and was usable, I noticed, I was missing a few things from the Start screen. Namely, the Desktop tile. No biggie, I'll simply go to search and run Explorer to get at it, see if I can get the tile back later. I move the mouse to the side to get the charm bar, and nothing happens.
O.k I'll reboot, see if that helps things. The PC rebooted rather quickly, and lo and behold still no Desktop Tile. Fortunately the charm bar did come back. So I was able to get into Desktop mode by running explorer, and into control Panel all was looking good, until I tried clicking on Administrative Tools, I got a message saying the location was unavailable. Fine, I'll have to install my wireless card from the driver CD and do a bit of Googling to figure out what happened. So I go to install the drivers, and they appear to install o.k. However the card would connect and disconnect from my network every few seconds. Which made browsing quite difficult to say the least.
After wrangling for a couple of hours with the network card, I gave in, drove to BestBuy, and bought a cheap USB Wifi card. This one was detected immediately, and required no drivers. However, since XP was empty when I upgraded, I had to open IE and get to a suitable browser download.
So I wandered the forums, looking for solutions to problems I was having, and it all boiled down to either a Refresh, or a re-install. I really wasn't looking forward to a complete re-install having just upgraded, but after the refresh did nothing to alleviate the issues, I gave in, and just rebooted the machine with the DVD inside and proceeded to wipe out the partition. Windows again went through the setup process without a hitch, and when it booted into the final setup, the USB wifi card was picked up, and I was able to setup the Microsoft Account o.k. Once at the Start Screen,the Desktop Tile was back and functional, and yes Administrative tools was working again.
There were a few other glitches here and there, that seem to have been sorted by the full reinstallation. Some something went awry with the upgrade. Hopefully its not something very common among updates. But if it is, I suggest just biting the bullet, and performing a complete clean re-install.
Now that its up and running for a few days, I can say there are a few changes from the Preview versions to this one. Its working fine, though, but its given me a Blue screen of smiley face a couple times in regards to Memory Management. Guess I may need to check that RAM next, though the Preview versions did not have such issues.
----------------------------------
Phil AKA Vacunita
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.
Web & Tech