Where is my Windows VISTA Express upgrade? 1

[Gyula]

Last December I bought an Acer Aspire notebook running WinXP Media Edition. I qualified for a free upgrade to VISTA Home Premium. At the end of this February I applied for this upgrade and in a month or so received a not very clear e-mail stating that my upgrade request had been received and that I would be receiving a copy of VISTA--but no date or timeline. To date have received nothing further.

Yesterday I tried to reach the vendor hadnling the upgrade (a company called Moduslink), but I was not able to get an anwer to my query of when I should expect my upgrade. Their "800" number has been disconnected. They have a computer "read" and answer the e-mails I send and the answer I received, as with earlier e-mails, answered a completely different question. On their Website they have an "Order Status" form to fill out, but all I received back was basically the same information I had input into this form with the "Shipping Date" blank.

Anyone have an idea when--or even if--I will receive my upgrade?

Have any of you already received your upgrade?

Plus any advice for me to follow up with would be greatly appreciated.

 

[mrdenny]

I would call Acer and see what they say.

Denny
MCSA (2003) / MCDBA (SQL 2000)
MCTS (SQL 2005 / Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0: Configuration / Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007: Configuration)
MCITP Database Administrator (SQL 2005) / Database Developer (SQL 2005)

--Anything is possible. All it takes is a little research. (Me)

http://www.mrdenny.com

 

[linney]

Upgrade Redemption Website

https://upgradeweb.moduslink.com/Vi...d5vllqoik))/GlobalLandingPage.aspx?oem=&Lang=

Express Upgrade to Windows Vista™

http://global.acer.com/support/winvista/index.htm

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/buyorupgrade/expressupgrade.mspx

 

[tazuk]

Have any of you already received your upgrade?

I would expect Acer to tell you what Samsung told me ("We don't have anything to do with the upgrade process").

My upgrade (Vista Business 32bit) is currently in the post (dispatched 18th April according to their email). It has taken since 16th January to get to this point despite numerous phone calls and emails from me. My order was deleted off their system once, my credit cards failed to authorise twice (but no real authentication was done according to my bank) and then the order sat unatttended for 2 months (which they blamed Samsung for).

Phone calls to Moduslink generally don't accomplish much - Over the last 3 months I've spoken to Moduslink staff by phone all over the world. The only helpful ones were in Holland.

Once your initial order is accepted, you should be prompted to provide proof of purchase (which can be done by email although they don't tell you that). Once that is accepted shipping will then occur.

I found that my order stalled at each stage of the process, but was magically moved forward each time I emailed them requesting an update on status and giving the long and painful history of my journey through the upgrade minefield. Status was updated to shipping the day after I sent an email advising them of my legal qualifications and the fact that they had failed to meet their own service promises.


TazUk

Programmer An organism that turns coffee into software.
Unknown Author

 

[Circle9]

I would expect it to take 6 to 8 weeks. I know someone who bought an eMachine in December and sent in their form for their free copy of Vista. They have not received it yet.

 

[Gyula]

Well look what arrived today (May 3rd)! Received the following e-mail:

"Thank you for submitting your order for Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit CD/DVD OEM.
Your order has been shipped. You should receive your order within 3 weeks. If you do not receive your order, please contact us via email MSTUPVISTANA@moduslink.com by May 1, 2007, for English language versions of the product and June 1, 2007, for non-English language versions of the product so that we may research your request and ship your order."

It's the first communication with Moduslink that is both clear and easy to understand. I do worry that I received this e-mail on May 3rd telling me to contact them by May 1st if I do not receive my copy of VISTA. But hope springs eternal ...

Tazuk, did your copy ever arrive? Please let us know. I will also let you all know whether mine arrives or whether this three-month-long frustration continues.

Thank you three for your quick and helpful advice.

 

[tazuk]

Tazuk, did your copy ever arrive?

Not yet

I'm sat poised with my upgrade plan printed out, drivers and software patches downloaded and stashed on laptop in question.

Fingers crossed..

TazUk

Programmer An organism that turns coffee into software.
Unknown Author

 

[Gyula]

Tazuk,
==============================
I'm sat poised with my upgrade plan printed out, drivers and software patches downloaded
===============================

I'm sure that I'm not the only one who would greatly appreciate if you could go into greater detail about "drivers and software patches downloaded". Could you share with us? Please.

 

[tazuk]

Gyula

I'm going to be upgrading a Samsung Q35, so I've prepared by obtaining the latest drivers and manufacturer utilities (battery manager etc) from Samsung's uk support site. Based on some Google searches I ran I knew that this model had audio issues on upgrading to Vista, so I'd been keeping an eye on driver releases anyway.

I've also downloaded and run the Vista Upgrade Advisor. This produces a printable report of tasks to undertake before and after upgrading to Vista - for my model this related primarily to patches for Nero and Cyberlink's DVD playback and production package. In my case the upgrade advisor provided links to the relevant patches I'd need to apply after upgrading.

The advisor also provides an overall compatibility guide. I'm also intending to uninstall certain applications prior to upgrade, some as advised and some based on prior (bitter) experience - specifically security products. I run a third party firewall, AVG AntiVirus, Windows Defender, SpywareBlaster and Spybot. I will be uninstalling all of these prior to upgrade, then reinstalling any that are still required - Defender is (I believe) packaged as part of Vista, and the built-in firewall is supposed to be much more effective. Note that I'll be performing the upgrade whilst behind a secured and firewalled router so security shouldn't be an issue whilst upgrading.

I'd suggest searching for the experiences of others who've already upgraded your PC / laptop model to Vista, as well as grabbing any required driver upgrades now. As a minimum, it's always handy to have network card / wireless card drivers to hand on the local machine in case of lost connectivity. The rest can always be downloaded post upgrade.

TazUk

Programmer An organism that turns coffee into software.
Unknown Author

 

[tazuk]

Oh and (stating the obvious) backup all your data just in case things go wrong.
I've read that the Vista upgrade process (from XP Pro at least) is a fairly smooth one, but no-one ever regretted having an extra backup..


TazUk

Programmer An organism that turns coffee into software.
Unknown Author

 

[tazuk]

Crossing my fingers seems to have done the trick.. The upgrade disks showed up this morning.

"your update may take several hours to complete.."

I'll post back later when the dust has settled with a bit more information.

TazUk

Programmer An organism that turns coffee into software.
Unknown Author

 

[Gyula]

HURRAH !!!!

 

[tazuk]

Well overall I'm pleasantly surprised..

The kit arrived this morning as 2 discs - 1 containing essential updates (drivers, bios update, software patches) and the other containing Vista itself.

I'd already upgraded the bios and so waded straight into the Vista install after uninstalling 3rd party firewall, AVG, Spybot, Windows Defender and disabling SpywareBlaster.

The install itself took some time so I left it alone and ran some errands - it did give me cause for concern with a disk error 5% into the file copying error but cancel let it continue without any further issue.

So after about 4 hours worth of fiddling I'm posting from a fully functional and configured Vista Business install, complete with all my original data and applications. I've reinstalled AVG and reactivated SpywareBlaster, Windows Defender was included in the Vista install anyway and for the moment I'm sticking with the built-in firewall which seems to be making all the right noises.

So far I've only had two issues:
1. the failure to register of a Spam add-on for Outlook 2003 which requires administrative access to complete - I've emailed the publisher's support team and will wait for them to assist.
2. Connecting to my Buffalo Linkstation NAS. This was an issue that related to LAN Manager Authentication level and was easily adjusted using secpol.msc with some guidance from Google.

TazUk

Programmer An organism that turns coffee into software.
Unknown Author

 

[Gyula]

TazUK,

Again thanks for quick update.

Now to fully demonstrate--and prove without any doubt--that NO kindness EVER goes unpunished, I have yet another question:

I don't understand about the second "updates" disk: Is this from Microsoft or from Samsung? Is it cut just for you and your specific hardware and software or all upgraders get the same disk?

Thanks again.

 

[tazuk]

The auxiliary disk was supplied by Samsung and contained all relevant updates for the specific laptop model ( - both the Samsung utilities and the drivers.
In the end I used the drivers I'd downloaded as I wanted to make sure I had the latest available.



TazUk

Programmer An organism that turns coffee into software.
Unknown Author

 

[Gyula]

Take a look at the critical article from pc_world.com (collected on MyYahoo) about the problems with getting the VISTA upgrade:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20070510/tc_pcworld/131722;_ylt=AqML3LgBVbVwoegjnnNgdgoE1vAI

Note that Moduslink is not the organization for all the U.S. upgrades--listed are about six computer companies (including my Acer) for who Moduslink handles the upgrade. Article doesn't say who is responsible for those who bought their upgrade-eligible computer from other manufacturers not handled by Moduslink.

Also note that there is a lengthy quote from the marketing director of Acer. Says the're right on the case helping their customers get the upgrade they were promised. This was certainly NOT the case when I turned to Acer for help. They basically washed their hands and turned me back to dealing with Modulink. Shame on them!!

Finally, as a long time subscriber to PC WORLD I plan to send themmy tale of woe (and will try to also refer them to this thread).

 

[Gyula]

Well more progress:

Just went to Modulink's "Upgrade Redemption Website" and typed in the necessary info about my expected upgrade and got back more information that previously:

"Shipping Date: May 2 '07
Carrier: Mail Express
AWB#: A series of letters & numbers"

Of course, the upgrade has not arrived yet. So 9 days after the supposed shipping date I still don't have my upgrade. But we're making progress (I guess).

"Don't worry about thing, sweetheart, the check's in the mail!!

 

[tazuk]

Based on my delivery time and numerous reports of slow mailings I'd expect it in about another 7 / 8 days then.

If it's any consolation, I'm enjoying the whole Vista experience and haven't run into any real problems apart from those listed above. I have noted some fairly heavy RAM usage without any apps running (59% usage of 1.25GB installed RAM), however I'm awaiting a 2GB stick that should help out. Generally however application performance is fine, which isn't bad when you bear in mind that I use my laptop for development and it is running SQL Express 2005 amongst other things.

I solved the AntiSpam add-in registration issue myself by running Outlook as administrator (once only) to enable proper saving of the registration key.

One small thing to bear in mind - if you use iTunes to purchase music you may want to de-authorise the machine before upgrading and then re-authorise. I failed to do this and had to re-authorise the laptop after the upgrade, incrementing my authorisations per account by one more than necessary.

TazUk

Programmer An organism that turns coffee into software.
Unknown Author

 

[Gyula]

TazK, thank you again for quick reply and useful info.

But now on to Lesson #2 of no kindness going unpunished: unless RAM prices are much, much higher in the U.K. as opposed to the U.S., you REALLY ought to buy some more RAM memory for your notebook.

 

[tazuk]

More RAM just fitted - about 15 minutes ago. I found a suitable 2gb DDR2 stick for around 70 GBP delivered which arrived this morning and has boosted application launch times by approximately 1/3.

The laptop now idles at about 31% usage, although it's made no real difference to my Vista experience rating of 2.0 which is limited by on board graphics.

TazUk

Programmer An organism that turns coffee into software.
Unknown Author