From: berto@cicero.spc.uchicago.edu (Robert Osterlund)
Subject: Win 3.1 install -- If an upgrade fails, try a full install!
Keywords: Win 3.1,install
Organization: SSPPCC, University of Chicago
Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1992 19:58:05 GMT

On Monday evening, I installed Win 3.1 on my home machine, a Zeos 386SX,
without difficulty.  I chose the Express Setup upgrade.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, I tried installing Win 3.1 on my office machine,
an ALR 386 EISA, and experienced all sorts of difficulties.  This will be
an account of those difficulties and how I overcame them.

For the office install, I used the same 3-1/2" install disks.  I also chose to
upgrade my existing setup with the Express Setup option.

Everything went well until the Windows-like install shell came up and it
asked me to insert the third disk.  I did so.  The shell resumed copying
files.  On about the fifth file, it reported a disk read error and asked
me to retry, skip, or abort.  Despite repeated retries, I could not read
the file.  So I noted the file and skipped to the next.

Several files later, I got another disk read error.  I retried and retried,
then skipped ahead again.

It went on like this until I had experienced disk read errors on ten or so
files.  I began to suspect a bad disk.

BUT, I ran the disk through the barrage of Norton Disk Doctor tests, with no
problems reported.  I also tried copying the entire disk, file by file, to
the nul device, and no disk read errors were reported.

I decided to start over.  Same result.  I tried a third time.  Now, I couldn't
even load SETUP:  I was getting read errors on the very first disk.

Tuesday night, I did a comp of SETUP on the install diskette with the SETUP
installed on my home machine.  They comp'ed perfectly.  Further, I was able
to load and run SETUP off the install diskette on my home machine.  By then,
I was suspecting a defective disk drive on my office machine.

Wednesday morning, I used a disk cleaner on my office B: drive, but the
install failed as before.  I went out and procured another copy of Win 3.1
(this one billed to the office), on 5-1/4" diskettes.  Result?  The
installation failed in exactly the same way!

Hey, was Microsoft so anxious to rush out a million copies of Win 3.1 by
April 6 that they botched the disk duplication or sent out cut-rate,
physically defective diskettes?

I tried several other things, such as copying the install diskettes to my
hard disk and installing from the hard disk (no way), diskcopy'ing the
install disks (again, no way--they appear to be copy protected), putting in
place minimal CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT (nope), yanking out my ethernet
cards (nein), etc., etc.

Finally, I thought:  what if I try a brand new installation, rather than
upgrading over the old?  (I should add that between each failed upgrade,
I had restored my Win 3.0 setup to its pre-upgrade state.)

It worked like a charm.  I was able to install to a different Windows
directory with nary a file read error.

Apparently, there must have been something in my WIN.INI, SYSTEM.INI and/or
Windows 3.0 software configuration that conflicted with the 3.1 installation
process.  I can only speculate what it was.

After the successful 3.1 installation, I tried a manual merge of the old 3.0
configuration with the new--i.e., copying into the Windows subdirectories
system files from other Windows applications, merging the old and new WIN.INI
and SYSTEM.INI, etc.

That appeared to work, but I thought:  I have to live with this for many
months to come.  I'd rather do it cleanly and right than put up with
possible glitches caused by my manual merge.

I cleaned everything out of the way (I even removed the Windows permanent
swap file) and did another full new install.  In the coming days, I will
reinstall all my Windows apps.  But for now, I've got a working 3.1 system.

So, the moral of the story is that if upgrading your 3.0 configuration fails
for whatever reason, try ignoring Microsoft's advice that you do an upgrade.
Just do a new, full installation.  And--this is my advice--forget about
doing any manual merges of 3.0 with 3.1.  Instead, reinstall all of your
Windows apps "by the book."

(Boy, am I glad I didn't post that article about "defective" installation
diskettes!)

Bob Osterlund
berto@clio.spc.uchicago.edu

Newsgroups: comp.windows.ms