Vista Upgrade on Gateway Laptop

DenB and I had been in extensive conversation about the Vista Upgrade Program on our laptops under another topic. I decided to start fresh in a new thread to see if anyone else is experiencing craziness as well. My first email was on the 16th and to date we've exhanged 12 times with the last one telling me that my COA is invalid and to contact my vender for further assistance with this. Keep in mind, most of the prior emails told me when to expect arrival of the CD, how to go to the website and order it, and even going further to state my validation was complete (no COA nor serial # was sent by me nor was it requested but one other time near te end of this mess). They've never stated receipt of my mail-in requirements which were, in fact, sent in December.

I'm kinda of bothered by the last email and will definitely pursue it further. Anyone one else catching woes for this free OS???

Well yeah qhn, it would have seemed so b/c I have been on the phone between BB human, Microsoft voice prompts, Gateway tech support human and Gateway voice prompts all the way back to Vista Redemption program voice prompts where...... a human finally was found. She took all of my info, waiting each time for it to lock up which thankfully it did not. So she gave me a confirm # and I have to fax my originally receipt with that number and wait to see what happens next. Man, I really hope all of this is worth it.

And yeah my cat is cute, isn't he?? SMILES @ DenB

DenB - thanks for the follow-up on qhn's suggestion on the possible loss of the XP license. Good one to know. Also, what site did all that info come from about your Vista upgrade? Was it that same Vista link you gave me before?? LMK. I am reading shipments expected end of Feb into early March. She told me to wait a couple weeks if I get an email stating my info was not submitted b/c like qhn said, of the overload. It's free whaddayah expect. (laughs)

PS - I am checking out Vista's Upgrade Advisor and it's not compatible with a few Gateway hardware pieces.... ugggh ohhhh.

I am back to give you details thru all the phone calls that I was too tired to do earlier. DenB as you know this lappy is on exchange. So of course I was wondering if it would even be allowed for the Vista upgrade program. When I picked it up, the rebate prgram printed out as welll. But on the bottom of the "exchange' receipt, it reads like it's not eligiable. Onwards, BB or Geek Girl, said if there was no notation on said receipts then there should be no reason it would not go thru. We shall see.... I mean how many lemon policy lappy's you think BB do a year???

Next, Gateway tech support only knew that the program exists, he knew no details - literally NONE. Seriously, I had to ask what department I reached early into the call. I felt like I was calling somebody unrelated to the company at all a to how uninformed they were. Seems dialing the 408-.... number just patched me thru to TS since I was on hold 10+ mins. As I was telling him the details, someone else was apparently listening b/c he asked the person if they heard what I was saying. So he wanted to know what I had, what I was getting, why and all that jazz. I told him that plus that the Vista page via their site was taking long times to load and I never actually accessed it since Decemeber nor did I try, really. Anyhow, they seemed to have found possibly a memo on Gateway's problems with thie upgrade thingy. Their site as well as the program site too was included.

Ok, Vista people.. of course all I did was give info needed. Thru all of this she is telling me that loads of Gateway customers are facing the same issues as Gateway has not allowed them whatever accesses need to do this. She says thousands of people are having issues but did not say it it was just Gateway owners or not. Also, it was not as simple as just sending in that mail-in stuff. I was supposed to go to Gateway's site AND register as well. Maybe I failed to read/understand b/c of my lappy's situation. Work with me here...(laughs)

Finally... (Geek Squad or BB peeps told em this) I was so wrong in thinking that thiis program where the upgrade info is sent sends the upgrade CD to you. NOOOOOT. You get some certificate or whatever in the mail AND THEN... I go back to BB to get my upgrade CD. Maybe I somehow missed all of this but I am very tired already of Vista is all I know.


DenB - I only downloaded their advisor to see what it would tell me. I printed 6 pages but only needed to save 2. Its' the task to do prior to and after the install. I hope all the drivers are still on that link you've left and more. I'm not doing anything now till CD is in hand and seriously ready for a go. I have an old version of WinZip and that possibly will not work HAH!!

WOOOOW, am I really getting tired now DenB...

Thanks for that "rough start" link. I don't really feel like adding to the woes there but we'll keep this link updated as time goes on. If anybody needs a phone #, I have a different one than what's listed on that page.

On WinZip... oooooh. (looks embarresed) I'll share with you the advisor tasks list when I get back in later today.

AMD Low Level Device Driver Advanced Micro Devices - There is no compatibility data available for this device. For more information, go to the device manufacturer's website or Windows Marketplace, or contact your retailer.

ATI RADEON XPRESS 1150 Series ATI Technologies Inc. - There is no compatibility data available for this device. For more information, go to the device manufacturer's website or Windows Marketplace, or contact your retailer.

Broadcom 802.11g Network Adapter Broadcom - There is no compatibility data available for this device. For more information, go to the device manufacturer's website or Windows Marketplace, or contact your retailer.

SigmaTel High Definition Audio CODEC SigmaTel - There is no compatibility data available for this device. For more information, go to the device manufacturer's website or Windows Marketplace, or contact your retailer.

Texas Instruments PCIxx12 Integrated FlashMedia Controller (same as the above)





PowerDVD CyberLink Corporation Microsoft This program might have minor compatibility issues after upgrading to Windows Vista. For more information, go to the vendor's website.

Microsoft IntelliPoint 5.3 Microsoft Corporation 5.30.604 Microsoft This program might have minor compatibility issues after upgrading to Windows Vista. Click here to download an update.

Messenger Microsoft Corporation 4.7.0.3001 Microsoft This program might have minor compatibility issues after upgrading to Windows Vista. For more information, go to the vendor's website.

ATI Catalyst Control Center ATI Technologies Inc. 1.2.2277 Microsoft This program might have minor compatibility issues after upgrading to Windows Vista. For more information, go to the vendor's website.

Synaptics Pointing Device Driver Synaptics, Inc. 7.12.3.0 Microsoft This program might have minor compatibility issues after upgrading to Windows Vista. For more information, go to the vendor's website.

Gateway Utilities Gateway Gateway Go to the manufacturer's website to download the latest utilities for your system.