When You Have Problems Upgrading or Reinstalling Your Operating System

If you take the time and effort to poll most computer users of any type, you’ll probably find that problems upgrading or reinstalling your operating system ranks as one of the top frustrations. Some have called this PC purgatory. Invariably, you have to solve the problem you’re having just to get back to the point where you can use your PC; doing this is often easier said than done.

Much of the hands-on type of work involved in stabilizing your operating system for an upgrade or proper installation is covered in Chapter 9, “Stabilizing Your Operating System.” But let’s look at some quick issues not discussed there.

The Myth of Curative Reinstalling

One common myth with operating systems is that no matter what may go wrong with your PC, reinstalling the operating system will fix it. Wrong! While there are times when reinstalling Windows may help (for a large number of missing or corrupted files, for example), it won’t solve most issues. In fact, at best, it may roll you back to old hardware and software drivers and pre-fix versions of Windows updates as if you had never applied updates at all. At worst, it can take a system that was working and turn it into one that doesn’t.

In addition, there’s a tendency among less experienced users to think, “If the first reinstall didn’t work, maybe the fourth or fifth will.” Well, if it was going to fix the problem, it probably would have done it the first time.

This isn’t to say that you can’t reinstall Windows or that reinstalling Windows isn’t sometimes necessary. In fact, you’ll find situations in this book when I recommend it. But don’t think of reinstalling Windows as a magic pill for all that ails your PC. Sometimes that pill can taste pretty bitter.

Note 

Windows XP limits the number of times you can reinstall this version of Windows on your system without actually calling Microsoft support for assistance (registered XP users get two support calls only). Some applications now also limit the number of times you can reinstall the product. Much of this effort is based in anti-piracy measures to prevent endless unauthorized copies, creating untold numbers of pirated installations.

Common Causes of These Problems

An unbelievable number of factors can contribute to nasty, system-affecting moments while trying to upgrade or reinstall Windows—from hardware to drivers to applications to a silly glitch on your desktop before you start the upgrade or reinstall the operating system.

How You Upgrade

Absolutely nothing else should be running on your desktop—either directly or in the background—when you begin an operating system upgrade or reinstall. It’s also wise to restart your PC before you start the upgrade or reinstall to be sure nothing is left in memory that might be compromised or that may affect the setup process.

Remember in Chapter 7, “Restarting a Problem PC,” learning about how you can clean boot Windows? If you run into problems trying to run Setup from the Windows install CD, consider clean booting and then running Setup. Upgrading Windows may be possible once certain device drivers and extraneous features have been temporarily disabled, as they are with clean booting.

Articles available in the Microsoft Knowledge Base (http://search.support.microsoft.com) can be invaluable when you’re troubleshooting a problem upgrading or reinstalling Windows. For example, if you search on article number 310064, you’ll discover a thorough article with suggestions for working through difficulties upgrading to Windows XP Home Edition from Windows Millennium or from Windows 98. Article 307551 provides an excellent overview on what to do if your PC stops responding during the Windows XP Setup process.

Outdated BIOS

An older BIOS, particularly one that is dated two or more years before the release of an operating system upgrade, can prevent your operating system upgrade entirely or disable features and devices that previously worked.

Incompatible Hardware

Hardware compatibility has forever been an issue with upgrading an operating system, as well as with Windows stability and performance, as we first talked about in Chapter 2. Without a device driver specifically written with a particular version of Windows in mind, you may be locked out of certain features of that device, or you may be unable to use it at all. But incompatibility can extend to performance issues a device simply doesn’t achieve the speed it did under a previous version of Windows, for example. You may also increase the likelihood Windows will either not start or not shut down properly, and that you may be hit by far more lockups and crashes, and general instability because of these incompatibilities, with or without on-screen errors or warnings to alert you to the situation.

Use hardware manufacturer web sites and the Microsoft Windows Hardware Compatibility List site (www.microsoft.com/hcl) to determine whether your hardware is compatible with the new operating system version before you upgrade. If it’s not, you may want to remove or replace the incompatible hardware before you try to upgrade or reinstall.

When Reinstalls Don’t Help

As previously recommended, don’t simply keep reinstalling Windows if the first attempt or two doesn’t resolve a problem you’re having. You may need to start fresh by reformatting the drive and doing a completely fresh installation of Windows (and your device drivers and applications or try to pinpoint and fix the source of your problems.

Note 

For information on starting fresh with a new installation of Windows, see Chapter 16, “Starting from Scratch the Smart Way.”

System Requirements

While today’s super-charged PCs usually exceed the minimum system requirements for installing the latest version of an operating system, always check these requirements against your system before trying to upgrade. Be aware of the fact that minimum requirements aren’t ideal—you really need more than the minimum requirements to work and play most effectively.

This is especially true if you’re working with an older PC. I find, for instance, that a Pentium II 350 MHz system is really about the oldest PC to which I can comfortably install Windows XP.

If your system is more than 3–4 years old, consider upgrading your current operating system to a later version than you have, but not to the latest version, which right now is Windows XP.

The Premature Upgrade

One common situation is when someone has serious problems with their current installation, so they think installing a newer version of the operating system will correct it. Sure, it’s possible that’s all that’s needed. However, many times, installing a new version of Windows on top of an unstable current version nets you an unstable new version or real headaches in getting the upgrade process to even complete. Wherever possible, get your current version of Windows into proper running shape before you try to upgrade.

Note 

To learn more about curing Windows instability and/or effecting a good upgrade, see Chapter 9.