Win 8 upgrade from Win 7 hangs on update 4

I'm ugrading from Win 7 pro 64 to Win 8 pro 64 using CD. The original install procedure hung at a window saying "installing update 4". After several hours, I had to power off, and finally got a workable but incomplete Win 8. Tried to do a refresh which required that I put the CD back in the drive. Quickly got to the same "installing update 4" screen -- the worm crawled, but after 24 hours I came back to find a screen saying the refresh failed and nothing was changed. So how do I get the install to complete properly?

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No need to reinstall old Windows install.

Try Cleaning the HD Drive, using Step one in this tutorial:
SSD / HDD : Optimize for Windows Reinstallation - Windows 7 Forums
& than Reboot PC to install.


http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/13375-clean-install-windows-8-upgrade.html


Do you have uEFI BIOS?

theog -- Thanks for the quick response. Seems pretty drastic -- the tutorial says I lose all data on the hd??
You asked about the BIOS -- I don't really know. The system info page says BIOS is American megatrends PO5, 8/11/2011and SMBIOS version is 2.6. No idea what all that means, but I don't see any reference to uEFI in the system info. RWM

Did you not backup your DATA before starting the upgrade.

Well, yes I did a back-up. But why should it be necessary to format the hard drive and start from scratch? I thought I was getting a straight-forward upgrade from Windows 7 -- Is that really out of reach?

I believe you're telling me to do the format procedure in the tutorial, then use the upgrade CD to install Windows 8, then do a restore from my Windows 7 back-up. Do I understand correctly? Will the restore function made with Windows 7 work properly in Windows 8? Or will I then have to sort through and patch the various pieces of software? I'm asking because I'm strongly tempted to just go back to Windows 7. Sorry, don't mean to whine, but I'm not very comfortable with these things, and I surely didn't expect to be in this far over my head. RWM

Always better to do a clean install.

Restore Backup User and System Files - Windows 7 Forums
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/9044-backup-restore-files-folders-windows-8-a.html

Microsoft said:

• Make sure you’re on the PC you want to upgrade. This must be a PC that is currently running Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP with Service Pack 3 (SP3), Windows 8 Release Preview, Windows 8 Consumer Preview, or Windows Developer Preview. (Windows 8 Setup checks that your PC meets all system requirements before it installs Windows 8.)

• Have your product key handy. You can find it in your online order information, in the confirmation email for your purchase, or on the packaging. The product key will look something like this:
XXXXX- XXXXX- XXXXX- XXXXX- XXXXX

• Make a backup of everything you want to keep. Save it somewhere you can get to it later, like an external drive or a DVD.

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