If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Rate Thread | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Win 8.1 ate my hamster - I think
I have a copy of Win 8.1 Pro on a HDD which is not usually the first boot
drive - so it sits around waiting for me to get Vista into a state where I can reliably move my environment across. I would rather be running W8 Pro 64 bit than Vista 32 bit, but time costs money etc. So anyway, I changed the boot disc order, fired up Win 8 (a month or so in zombie land), and applied the outstanding updates. I then tried to apply 8.1 from the App item from the Start menu (got me a Start Menu from Classic Shell) and it downloaded and applied up to the reboot. Then after the reboot it apologised for being a total waste of space and reverted to 8.0. After another couple of attempts and a Fixit or two I am now in the position that Windows Update doesn't work any more. So - probably I should go back to a restore point before I started tinkering, fix any Update problems from there, and then start again. Questions: (1) Do I need to apply all the outstanding updates before going to 8.1 or doesn't it matter? (2) Is there a difference between starting from the desktop and the Metro interface? (3) I have downloaded 8.1 several times and have a directory structure with the files extracted and a 'setup.exe' file. Can I just run the setup file and avoid all the downloading? If I just repeat, it recognises that the files are there and doesn't download again, but if I run the Fixit to try and resolve Windows Update problems it clears the history and downloads again. I do have 'unlimited' data and a 30Mb/sec link but still, it seems time consuming and wasteful. (4) Should I just wait for a month or so until MS fix the flaky upgrade process? I would really like to be on W8.x instead of Vista, and I have a second system queued up for an upgrade and an HDD tied up waiting to be freed off and reformatted but if I can't trust the 8.1 upgrade I'm stuffed for the moment. I assume that there aren't going to be parallel security fixes for 8.0 and 8.1 for ever? Cheers Dave R P.S. this is all hauntingly familiar. I have just dug myself out of a major hole with Vista 32 bit where Windows Update became totally screwed for no apparent reason. I eventually cleared it by going back to a restore point, disabling Avast, running the Fixit from Safe Mode, running the updates and installing Microsoft Defender instead of Avast. I blamed Avast for fighting with Windows Update. I am now wondering if Defender is fighting with Windows Update. Oh, and is there a Safe Mode with W8? |
Ads |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
Win 8.1 ate my hamster - I think
On 19 Oct 2013 20:27:31 GMT, "David.WE.Roberts"
wrote: I have a copy of Win 8.1 Pro on a HDD which is not usually the first boot drive - so it sits around waiting for me to get Vista into a state where I can reliably move my environment across. I would rather be running W8 Pro 64 bit than Vista 32 bit, but time costs money etc. So anyway, I changed the boot disc order, fired up Win 8 (a month or so in zombie land), and applied the outstanding updates. I then tried to apply 8.1 from the App item from the Start menu (got me a Start Menu from Classic Shell) and it downloaded and applied up to the reboot. Then after the reboot it apologised for being a total waste of space and reverted to 8.0. After another couple of attempts and a Fixit or two I am now in the position that Windows Update doesn't work any more. So - probably I should go back to a restore point before I started tinkering, fix any Update problems from there, and then start again. Questions: (1) Do I need to apply all the outstanding updates before going to 8.1 or doesn't it matter? (2) Is there a difference between starting from the desktop and the Metro interface? (3) I have downloaded 8.1 several times and have a directory structure with the files extracted and a 'setup.exe' file. Can I just run the setup file and avoid all the downloading? If I just repeat, it recognises that the files are there and doesn't download again, but if I run the Fixit to try and resolve Windows Update problems it clears the history and downloads again. I do have 'unlimited' data and a 30Mb/sec link but still, it seems time consuming and wasteful. (4) Should I just wait for a month or so until MS fix the flaky upgrade process? I would really like to be on W8.x instead of Vista, and I have a second system queued up for an upgrade and an HDD tied up waiting to be freed off and reformatted but if I can't trust the 8.1 upgrade I'm stuffed for the moment. I assume that there aren't going to be parallel security fixes for 8.0 and 8.1 for ever? Cheers Dave R P.S. this is all hauntingly familiar. I have just dug myself out of a major hole with Vista 32 bit where Windows Update became totally screwed for no apparent reason. I eventually cleared it by going back to a restore point, disabling Avast, running the Fixit from Safe Mode, running the updates and installing Microsoft Defender instead of Avast. I blamed Avast for fighting with Windows Update. I am now wondering if Defender is fighting with Windows Update. Oh, and is there a Safe Mode with W8? Hi David When you say that it apologised before going back to Win 8 what was the apology? If it was an issue with "we couldn't do something with the sytem reserved partition" see my post just below yours. I think that there is a safe mode with win 8 but it is not easy to get to. From memory, you can get there if you can boot it to the login screen and hold shift while clicking the icon to restart but I am not sure. |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
Win 8.1 ate my hamster - I think
Hamster isn't a newsreader it's a mistake!
"David.WE.Roberts" wrote: I have a copy of Win 8.1 Pro on a HDD which is not usually the first boot drive - so it sits around waiting for me to get Vista into a state where I can reliably move my environment across. I would rather be running W8 Pro 64 bit than Vista 32 bit, but time costs money etc. So anyway, I changed the boot disc order, fired up Win 8 (a month or so in zombie land), and applied the outstanding updates. I then tried to apply 8.1 from the App item from the Start menu (got me a Start Menu from Classic Shell) and it downloaded and applied up to the reboot. Then after the reboot it apologised for being a total waste of space and reverted to 8.0. After another couple of attempts and a Fixit or two I am now in the position that Windows Update doesn't work any more. So - probably I should go back to a restore point before I started tinkering, fix any Update problems from there, and then start again. Questions: (1) Do I need to apply all the outstanding updates before going to 8.1 or doesn't it matter? (2) Is there a difference between starting from the desktop and the Metro interface? (3) I have downloaded 8.1 several times and have a directory structure with the files extracted and a 'setup.exe' file. Can I just run the setup file and avoid all the downloading? If I just repeat, it recognises that the files are there and doesn't download again, but if I run the Fixit to try and resolve Windows Update problems it clears the history and downloads again. I do have 'unlimited' data and a 30Mb/sec link but still, it seems time consuming and wasteful. (4) Should I just wait for a month or so until MS fix the flaky upgrade process? I would really like to be on W8.x instead of Vista, and I have a second system queued up for an upgrade and an HDD tied up waiting to be freed off and reformatted but if I can't trust the 8.1 upgrade I'm stuffed for the moment. I assume that there aren't going to be parallel security fixes for 8.0 and 8.1 for ever? Cheers Dave R P.S. this is all hauntingly familiar. I have just dug myself out of a major hole with Vista 32 bit where Windows Update became totally screwed for no apparent reason. I eventually cleared it by going back to a restore point, disabling Avast, running the Fixit from Safe Mode, running the updates and installing Microsoft Defender instead of Avast. I blamed Avast for fighting with Windows Update. I am now wondering if Defender is fighting with Windows Update. Oh, and is there a Safe Mode with W8? -- The Grandmaster of the CyberFROG Come get your ticket to CyberFROG city Nay, Art thou decideth playeth ye simpleton games. *Some* of us know proper manners Very few. I used to take calls from *rank* noobs but got fired the first day on the job for potty mouth, Bur-ring, i'll get this one: WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM JERK!!? We're here to help you dickweed, ok, ok give the power cord the jiggily piggily wiggily all the while pushing the power button repeatedly now take everything out of your computer except the power supply and *one* stick of ram. Subscriber asks will that ****in' work? I guaranDAMtee it. Ok get the next sucker on the phone. Deirdre Straughan (Roxio) is a LIAR (Deirdre McFibber) There's the employer and the employee and the FROGGER and the FROGEE, which one are you? Hamster isn't a newsreader it's a mistake! El-Gonzo Jackson FROGS both me and Chuckcar (I just got EL-FROG-OED!!) All hail Chuckcar the CZAR!! Or in F-R-O-Gland Chuckcar laFROG laCZAR, ChuckZar!! I hate them both, With useless bogus bull**** you need at least *three* fulltime jobs to afford either one of them I'm a fulltime text *only* man on usenet now. The rest of the world downloads the binary files not me i can't afford thousands of dollars a month VBB = Volume based billing. How many bytes can we shove down your throat and out your arse sir? The only "fix" for the CellPig modem is a sledgehammer. UBB = User based bullFROGGING Colonel Debeers refuses to wrestle a black man (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3-o_dPhbGI) Master Juba was a black man imitating a white man imitating a black man Always do incremental backups of your data or you'll end up like the A-Holes at DSL Reports. Justin says i made a boo-boo. Yeah boo-who. Updates are for idiots. As long as the thing works there's no reason to turn schizophrenic and develop a lifelong complex over such a silly issue. You don't have to be "stinkbottomed" to post on this newsgroup Anyone who disagrees with me gets FROG tape over their yapper Adrian "jackpot" Lewis is a mama's boy! Jimmy Fricke is good for the game of poker Using my technical prowess and computer abilities to answer questions beyond the realm of understandability Regards Tony... Making usenet better for everyone everyday This sig file was compiled via my journeys through usenet |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
Win 8.1 ate my hamster - I think
On Sun, 20 Oct 2013 00:21:31 +0100, Snuffin wrote:
On 19 Oct 2013 20:27:31 GMT, "David.WE.Roberts" wrote: I have a copy of Win 8.1 Pro on a HDD which is not usually the first boot drive - so it sits around waiting for me to get Vista into a state where I can reliably move my environment across. I would rather be running W8 Pro 64 bit than Vista 32 bit, but time costs money etc. So anyway, I changed the boot disc order, fired up Win 8 (a month or so in zombie land), and applied the outstanding updates. I then tried to apply 8.1 from the App item from the Start menu (got me a Start Menu from Classic Shell) and it downloaded and applied up to the reboot. Then after the reboot it apologised for being a total waste of space and reverted to 8.0. After another couple of attempts and a Fixit or two I am now in the position that Windows Update doesn't work any more. So - probably I should go back to a restore point before I started tinkering, fix any Update problems from there, and then start again. Questions: (1) Do I need to apply all the outstanding updates before going to 8.1 or doesn't it matter? (2) Is there a difference between starting from the desktop and the Metro interface? (3) I have downloaded 8.1 several times and have a directory structure with the files extracted and a 'setup.exe' file. Can I just run the setup file and avoid all the downloading? If I just repeat, it recognises that the files are there and doesn't download again, but if I run the Fixit to try and resolve Windows Update problems it clears the history and downloads again. I do have 'unlimited' data and a 30Mb/sec link but still, it seems time consuming and wasteful. (4) Should I just wait for a month or so until MS fix the flaky upgrade process? I would really like to be on W8.x instead of Vista, and I have a second system queued up for an upgrade and an HDD tied up waiting to be freed off and reformatted but if I can't trust the 8.1 upgrade I'm stuffed for the moment. I assume that there aren't going to be parallel security fixes for 8.0 and 8.1 for ever? Cheers Dave R P.S. this is all hauntingly familiar. I have just dug myself out of a major hole with Vista 32 bit where Windows Update became totally screwed for no apparent reason. I eventually cleared it by going back to a restore point, disabling Avast, running the Fixit from Safe Mode, running the updates and installing Microsoft Defender instead of Avast. I blamed Avast for fighting with Windows Update. I am now wondering if Defender is fighting with Windows Update. Oh, and is there a Safe Mode with W8? Hi David When you say that it apologised before going back to Win 8 what was the apology? If it was an issue with "we couldn't do something with the sytem reserved partition" see my post just below yours. I think that there is a safe mode with win 8 but it is not easy to get to. From memory, you can get there if you can boot it to the login screen and hold shift while clicking the icon to restart but I am not sure. Apology was roughly 'unable to update to 8.1' with no explanation as to why. Didn't mention anything about a system reserved partition or anything else vaguely useful. Cheers Dave R |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
Win 8.1 ate my hamster - I think
David.WE.Roberts wrote:
On Sun, 20 Oct 2013 00:21:31 +0100, Snuffin wrote: On 19 Oct 2013 20:27:31 GMT, "David.WE.Roberts" wrote: I have a copy of Win 8.1 Pro on a HDD which is not usually the first boot drive - so it sits around waiting for me to get Vista into a state where I can reliably move my environment across. I would rather be running W8 Pro 64 bit than Vista 32 bit, but time costs money etc. So anyway, I changed the boot disc order, fired up Win 8 (a month or so in zombie land), and applied the outstanding updates. I then tried to apply 8.1 from the App item from the Start menu (got me a Start Menu from Classic Shell) and it downloaded and applied up to the reboot. Then after the reboot it apologised for being a total waste of space and reverted to 8.0. After another couple of attempts and a Fixit or two I am now in the position that Windows Update doesn't work any more. So - probably I should go back to a restore point before I started tinkering, fix any Update problems from there, and then start again. Questions: (1) Do I need to apply all the outstanding updates before going to 8.1 or doesn't it matter? (2) Is there a difference between starting from the desktop and the Metro interface? (3) I have downloaded 8.1 several times and have a directory structure with the files extracted and a 'setup.exe' file. Can I just run the setup file and avoid all the downloading? If I just repeat, it recognises that the files are there and doesn't download again, but if I run the Fixit to try and resolve Windows Update problems it clears the history and downloads again. I do have 'unlimited' data and a 30Mb/sec link but still, it seems time consuming and wasteful. (4) Should I just wait for a month or so until MS fix the flaky upgrade process? I would really like to be on W8.x instead of Vista, and I have a second system queued up for an upgrade and an HDD tied up waiting to be freed off and reformatted but if I can't trust the 8.1 upgrade I'm stuffed for the moment. I assume that there aren't going to be parallel security fixes for 8.0 and 8.1 for ever? Cheers Dave R P.S. this is all hauntingly familiar. I have just dug myself out of a major hole with Vista 32 bit where Windows Update became totally screwed for no apparent reason. I eventually cleared it by going back to a restore point, disabling Avast, running the Fixit from Safe Mode, running the updates and installing Microsoft Defender instead of Avast. I blamed Avast for fighting with Windows Update. I am now wondering if Defender is fighting with Windows Update. Oh, and is there a Safe Mode with W8? Hi David When you say that it apologised before going back to Win 8 what was the apology? If it was an issue with "we couldn't do something with the sytem reserved partition" see my post just below yours. I think that there is a safe mode with win 8 but it is not easy to get to. From memory, you can get there if you can boot it to the login screen and hold shift while clicking the icon to restart but I am not sure. Apology was roughly 'unable to update to 8.1' with no explanation as to why. Didn't mention anything about a system reserved partition or anything else vaguely useful. Cheers Dave R There should be a log file somewhere, from the failed attempt. The last third of the log, might be filled with all the steps executed to "back out" the update. So if you do find the log file, don't just stare at the last line. The "reason" for the failure, is buried somewhere in the middle of the log. It's a pain, on a large Microsoft log, to find the causative event. You think they'd put something like this, to make it easier to find. ********** KABOOM --- Backing out... ********** Also, the contents of the log, would hardly be things I'd put as "printf"'s, if I was writing the code. I don't understand how they can track anything down from those logs. The funniest thing I've found in a Microsoft log, was a deliberate mis-spelling of a word. Once that word was put into Google, the cure was immediately obvious in the search results. This was sheer genius on the part of the person who put the mis-spelling in their code :-) If they'd spelled the word correctly, I never would have found the recipe to fix the problem in Google. Since Win 8.1 comes from the Store, I have no idea where the log file would be hiding. Good luck with that. Just look for all the .log files you can find, and pick the one with a very recent time stamp. Paul |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
Win 8.1 ate my hamster - I think
On Sat, 19 Oct 2013 20:27:31 +0000, David.WE.Roberts wrote:
I have a copy of Win 8.1 Pro on a HDD which is not usually the first boot drive - so it sits around waiting for me to get Vista into a state where I can reliably move my environment across. I would rather be running W8 Pro 64 bit than Vista 32 bit, but time costs money etc. So anyway, I changed the boot disc order, fired up Win 8 (a month or so in zombie land), and applied the outstanding updates. I then tried to apply 8.1 from the App item from the Start menu (got me a Start Menu from Classic Shell) and it downloaded and applied up to the reboot. Then after the reboot it apologised for being a total waste of space and reverted to 8.0. snip I think I may have an idea about what is going wrong. This is stirring crusty memories from when I did the first install. I installed Windows 8 to a brand new 1TB drive, refreshed it to activate the upgrade licence, then cloned the original Vista system across with the intention of booting into Vista, transferring stuff to Win 8, booting into Win 8, checking all O.K., going back to Vista to move some more stuff, checking in Win8 and so on until I was confident that Win 8 was going smoothly and I could retire Vista permanently. I installed Ubuntu to get grub2 as the boot manager. Then I discovered that Vista would not boot; apparently it isn't as flexible as Linux in booting. I should have cloned Vista, installed W8 as dual boot, then installed Ubuntu and chosen to boot into Windows Boot Manager (then chosen W8 or Vista) or booted into Ubuntu. So, back to square one time with a (scrub disc, clone Vista, install W8, install Ubuntu) and run out of time. So I put back the original HDD (which was destined for another system) and reverted to Vista. I found that if I switched boot order of the HDDs in the BIOS I could still boot W8 from grub2, so I updated it every couple of months and quite quickly forgot the fine detail. I started to remember when my attempted fixes got to trying to refresh the W8 installation. Booted up from the W8 DVD and it only offered Vista as a target system. [Note: the old Vist HDD is sda/sd1, the new 1TB HDD is sdb/sd2.] I think that for some reason Win 8 when repairing (or doing other things such as an 8.1 upgrade) only looks at the first physical drive. From my (possibly faulty) memories of Win2K and XP a repair from the install disc located Windows instances on all available HDDs. Anyway, I know a refresh worked at install time and it doesn't work now and the major difference is the HDD configuration. So I'm back on Vista yet again until I get time to take the system apart and tinker with the HDD. I may just disconnect the old HDD and see if (1) a refresh can now see Win 8 (2) Win 8.1 will now install. Either way, I will need to go back and re-jig the discs so I can do the Vista-Win 8 thing until I get my stuff across and everything working O.K. I know that with an upgrade licence I can't retain the dual boot long term but I see no reason not to flip the systems during the upgrade process and subsequent system acceptance testing. Oh, and another thing (from the snipped bit) - Windows Update seems to have fixed itself without any further aid from me. Oh, and another thing - I went looking for a restore point and System Restore was turned off. Don't know if I did this myself in a moment of madness or if it is off by default. Memo to self - check other systems! Cheers Dave R |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
Win 8.1 ate my hamster - I think
David.WE.Roberts wrote:
On Sat, 19 Oct 2013 20:27:31 +0000, David.WE.Roberts wrote: I have a copy of Win 8.1 Pro on a HDD which is not usually the first boot drive - so it sits around waiting for me to get Vista into a state where I can reliably move my environment across. I would rather be running W8 Pro 64 bit than Vista 32 bit, but time costs money etc. So anyway, I changed the boot disc order, fired up Win 8 (a month or so in zombie land), and applied the outstanding updates. I then tried to apply 8.1 from the App item from the Start menu (got me a Start Menu from Classic Shell) and it downloaded and applied up to the reboot. Then after the reboot it apologised for being a total waste of space and reverted to 8.0. snip I think I may have an idea about what is going wrong. This is stirring crusty memories from when I did the first install. I installed Windows 8 to a brand new 1TB drive, refreshed it to activate the upgrade licence, then cloned the original Vista system across with the intention of booting into Vista, transferring stuff to Win 8, booting into Win 8, checking all O.K., going back to Vista to move some more stuff, checking in Win8 and so on until I was confident that Win 8 was going smoothly and I could retire Vista permanently. I installed Ubuntu to get grub2 as the boot manager. Then I discovered that Vista would not boot; apparently it isn't as flexible as Linux in booting. I should have cloned Vista, installed W8 as dual boot, then installed Ubuntu and chosen to boot into Windows Boot Manager (then chosen W8 or Vista) or booted into Ubuntu. So, back to square one time with a (scrub disc, clone Vista, install W8, install Ubuntu) and run out of time. So I put back the original HDD (which was destined for another system) and reverted to Vista. I found that if I switched boot order of the HDDs in the BIOS I could still boot W8 from grub2, so I updated it every couple of months and quite quickly forgot the fine detail. I started to remember when my attempted fixes got to trying to refresh the W8 installation. Booted up from the W8 DVD and it only offered Vista as a target system. [Note: the old Vist HDD is sda/sd1, the new 1TB HDD is sdb/sd2.] I think that for some reason Win 8 when repairing (or doing other things such as an 8.1 upgrade) only looks at the first physical drive. From my (possibly faulty) memories of Win2K and XP a repair from the install disc located Windows instances on all available HDDs. Anyway, I know a refresh worked at install time and it doesn't work now and the major difference is the HDD configuration. So I'm back on Vista yet again until I get time to take the system apart and tinker with the HDD. I may just disconnect the old HDD and see if (1) a refresh can now see Win 8 (2) Win 8.1 will now install. Either way, I will need to go back and re-jig the discs so I can do the Vista-Win 8 thing until I get my stuff across and everything working O.K. I know that with an upgrade licence I can't retain the dual boot long term but I see no reason not to flip the systems during the upgrade process and subsequent system acceptance testing. Oh, and another thing (from the snipped bit) - Windows Update seems to have fixed itself without any further aid from me. Oh, and another thing - I went looking for a restore point and System Restore was turned off. Don't know if I did this myself in a moment of madness or if it is off by default. Memo to self - check other systems! Cheers Dave R Since you are "multibooting in style", I have a suggestion for you. Get yourself a USB flash stick, and put Linux on that. I run Linux Mint (Mate version) on a USB3 stick, plugged into a USB2 port. I used to have Ubuntu on there (with persistent 4GB bitmap storage file "casper-rw"), and now Mint takes its place. Mint has a persistent storage file as well. (Ubuntu Unity tile based interface, sucks. So I switched to Mint, when the Ubuntu was out of support period.) The file system on the USB flash is FAT32, the OS portion is effectively read-only, and the persistent file is a "container" for loop-mounted EXT3 file system. Your OS changes and updates, as well as user data files, live in the persistent file. Since the stick is FAT32, I also use the stick to transport files between computers. A 32GB stick has plenty of room for both. And I use the BIOS popup boot menu, to select it as a "separate disk". Any system modern enough to run Windows 8, will have a function key to press at system start, to access the popup boot menu. On my laptop, I press F12 with the Mint flash plugged in, to boot Mint over there. By doing that, you can reduce your "OS load" by one. ******* Yes, the license terms may say your Windows 8 is an "upgrade" version with a qualifying OS, but physically, you can continue to run the two OSes. When I installed my Windows 8 Upgrade ($39.95), there was no qualifying OS present, and I used the double install method. I don't think the terms of the EULA are enforced by stop-dead behaviors. You can install OSes in just about any order you want... if you're sufficiently knowledgeable about "boot stuff". There used to be commercial boot managers, that would manage all the OSes equally. (I think the one I used on my first PC was called "Boot Magic" or something. In the boot menu I had Win98 and some flavor of FreeBSD.) I don't claim to be an "elite boot expert", but there are a couple web forums that specialize in boot tricks, and they can probably provide more details. I also had one Linux distro here, where I decided not to use GRUB on the distro at all, and instead GRUB was placed on a floppy diskette. You started the boot from the floppy, then selected Linux from the floppy menu, and the partition on one of the disks with the Linux on it, would then boot. You could then pop the floppy out and put it away. If you didn't have the floppy, you couldn't boot from that Linux. And it also didn't upset the other Windows OSes that way. Now, the only problem with that idea, is eventually I misplaced the floppy :-) So there are a ton of ways to do this stuff, and not enough hours in the day to document them all. Paul |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
Win 8.1 ate my hamster - I think
On 2013-10-25 3:57 PM, David.WE.Roberts wrote:
On Sat, 19 Oct 2013 20:27:31 +0000, David.WE.Roberts wrote: I have a copy of Win 8.1 Pro on a HDD which is not usually the first boot drive - so it sits around waiting for me to get Vista into a state where I can reliably move my environment across. I would rather be running W8 Pro 64 bit than Vista 32 bit, but time costs money etc. So anyway, I changed the boot disc order, fired up Win 8 (a month or so in zombie land), and applied the outstanding updates. I then tried to apply 8.1 from the App item from the Start menu (got me a Start Menu from Classic Shell) and it downloaded and applied up to the reboot. Then after the reboot it apologised for being a total waste of space and reverted to 8.0. snip I think I may have an idea about what is going wrong. This is stirring crusty memories from when I did the first install. I installed Windows 8 to a brand new 1TB drive, refreshed it to activate the upgrade licence, then cloned the original Vista system across with the intention of booting into Vista, transferring stuff to Win 8, booting into Win 8, checking all O.K., going back to Vista to move some more stuff, checking in Win8 and so on until I was confident that Win 8 was going smoothly and I could retire Vista permanently. I installed Ubuntu to get grub2 as the boot manager. Then I discovered that Vista would not boot; apparently it isn't as flexible as Linux in booting. I should have cloned Vista, installed W8 as dual boot, then installed Ubuntu and chosen to boot into Windows Boot Manager (then chosen W8 or Vista) or booted into Ubuntu. So, back to square one time with a (scrub disc, clone Vista, install W8, install Ubuntu) and run out of time. So I put back the original HDD (which was destined for another system) and reverted to Vista. I found that if I switched boot order of the HDDs in the BIOS I could still boot W8 from grub2, so I updated it every couple of months and quite quickly forgot the fine detail. I started to remember when my attempted fixes got to trying to refresh the W8 installation. Booted up from the W8 DVD and it only offered Vista as a target system. [Note: the old Vist HDD is sda/sd1, the new 1TB HDD is sdb/sd2.] I think that for some reason Win 8 when repairing (or doing other things such as an 8.1 upgrade) only looks at the first physical drive. From my (possibly faulty) memories of Win2K and XP a repair from the install disc located Windows instances on all available HDDs. Anyway, I know a refresh worked at install time and it doesn't work now and the major difference is the HDD configuration. So I'm back on Vista yet again until I get time to take the system apart and tinker with the HDD. I may just disconnect the old HDD and see if (1) a refresh can now see Win 8 (2) Win 8.1 will now install. Either way, I will need to go back and re-jig the discs so I can do the Vista-Win 8 thing until I get my stuff across and everything working O.K. I know that with an upgrade licence I can't retain the dual boot long term but I see no reason not to flip the systems during the upgrade process and subsequent system acceptance testing. Oh, and another thing (from the snipped bit) - Windows Update seems to have fixed itself without any further aid from me. Oh, and another thing - I went looking for a restore point and System Restore was turned off. Don't know if I did this myself in a moment of madness or if it is off by default. Memo to self - check other systems! Cheers Dave R Maybe you frig around too much. Grub? and Windows? .. together? LOL I've found that mixing the two - Linux and Windows - on one computer inevitably becomes problematic. And it is usually pointless. I would venture that what you want is a stable working computer system. You really only need one OS for that. If you do "testing", virtual machines usually can handle most scenarios. Think a bit strategically and then set up your system. Windows 8.1 will be supported until the 2020s sometime. WireTalk -- Are you Christian? But stumbling online? The Lord makes all things new: http://www.holinessprompter.com New software for Christians who've decided to get honest. -- And every man that hath this hope in Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure. 1 John 3 : 3 -- |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | Rate This Thread |
|
|