Wanting to update Windows vista 32-bit to Windows 7 64-bit

Please help, Last night I tried doing a custom install of Windows 7 to my Area 51 M17X-R1 laptop. After booting from the DVD it got stuck for and hour and a half on the "installing Windows". I shutdown the laptop and tried it again. After the second attempt, I got the blue screen saying that the PC must shutdown before serious damage is caused. Now when I start the PC, I have to select windows vista startup or rollback. I select the windows vista and everything boots up just fine.

I've had this computer since jan 09 with no serious issues. I would just like to upgrade to windows 7 64 bit so I can install the (8) 4x4 GB of ram I've purchased...

Please help, and thanks in advance


AREA 51-M M17X
AREA-51 M17X 17" WUXGA W/CAM BLK-RIP-PNT R1
AREA-51 M17X ACCESSORY SET BLACK-PNT
INTEL 2.80GHZ X9000 6M SCREENED M15-17
2 | ELPIDA 2GB DDR2 PC2-5300 SO-DIMM 667MHZ Y9540
M17X / M15X NVIDIA 9800M-GT2 512MB FOX
M17X THERMAL MODULE 3600GLM3 512MB AND GT2
BLACK BRACKET FOR F17GTX, F17GT2
M17X PRIMARY 12 CELL BATTERY-ACCESS
M17X PRIMARY 230W AC ADAPTER-ACCESS
M17X STANDARD KEYBOARD US
2 | SAMSUNG 250GB 7200RPM FFS SATA HDD
8X DVD+/-RW NEC AD-7590A
INTEL PRO WIRELESS 4965 A/B/G DRAFT-N MINI-CARD
INTEL MOBILE INTEGRATED HIGH-DEFINITION AUDIO
WINDOWS VISTA ULTIMATE SP1 COA
ALIENRESPAWN V2.0 FACTORY INSTALL
COMMAND CENTER FOR M17X
CYBERLINK YOUCAM WEBCAM APPLICATION
NERO 7 R5.9 DL
CYBERLINK POWERDVD BD 7.3 8CH BUILD
ALIENWARE DIGITAL DOWNLOAD STORE
M17X PRIMARY AC ADAPTER POWER CORD (US)-ACCESS
ELC RED MOBILES
RAID 0 STRIPING 2 DRIVES
POWER PLAN: HIGH PERFORMANCE
PERIPHERALS
VISTA ULTIMATE 32BIT SP1 X86 REC DVD 3.0
F17 - AREA-51 M17X SUPPORT CD
NERO 7 R5.9

 

Are you doing a clean isntall (formatted drives and install win7) or are you trying to upgrade your existing vista install with win7 x64?

 

You can't go from 32 bit windows to 64 bit of anytype, without a complete fresh install (Wiping the Drive)

 

My first guess is there is a problem with the built-in drivers for your RAID controller. I am assuming those 2 hard drives are setup in some sort of RAID array. Perhaps you want to try the nforce drivers from NVIDIA and load them during Windows setup.

Edit: duh, yeah you do have a RAID array (RAID 0). Didn't see that at first.

 

clean install (custom) I can't do the basic upgrade because I want to go from 32 bit to 64 bit...Windows compatibility test shows that most everything is compatible. I just have to download the Win 7 drivers for Nvidia ect...

 

yes i'm doing a clean install

 

Ive got nothing, but if you get everything to work including the Alien FX please report back as this is something I wish to perform too.

 

The m15x and m17x (Both Area-51) Must be very differnt because I'm able to use alien Fx on my 64 bit OS, with no problems at all.

 

usmc1488--I've completed the windows upgrade from Vista 32bit to Windows 7 64bit...well not so much as an upgrade as a complete install. I had to create an iso file from the DVD disk and put it on a USB thumb drive. Had to unraid the hard drives to erase them completely and then reconfigure them back into a raid0 drive. Installed windows 7 completely after calling Microsoft to change my upgrade disk to a complete install disk (at no extra charge).
After the smoke cleared and the dust settled, I downloaded driver update for $29.95 everything worked great, EXCEPT the Alienware Command Center and my built in camera shows me up side down. I tried every driver for the command center that I could find and nothing has worked...As for the camera, I haven't even messed with it yet.

Also changed out the 4GB of RAM to 8GB....Brand new machine with no lag at all in Black Ops!!!

 

U CAN DRIVE THE CAM WITH THE DRIVER IN THE DISK.IN THE FILE NAMED VISTA.WIM,ETC