Problem with Upgrading to Win 7 Ultimate (64 bit)

Hi,
I'm new here and I hope I'm posting in the right place. Here goes.
The difficulty I’ve been having is that I want to upgrade my current Windows 7 professional (32 bit) to Windows 7 ultimate (64 bit), but can’t seem to be able to do it.
I originally installed the existing Win 7 (32 bit) version over my previous Windows XP (SP3) from an authentic “upgrade only installation disk” (this type of installation disks are sold at a significant discount to students at my university). The installation disk for the Win 7 ultimate (64 bit) which I recently bought is also of the “upgrade only” kind.
The problem is that when I put the Win 7 ultimate (64 bit) installation disk in the cd-player and try to boot directly from it (having checked beforehand that the cd-player gets "booting-priority" over the hdd in the bios), the post runs as it should, but when the cd-player kicks-in, the screen goes blank, a message saying “unsupported video format” appears for a few seconds on the screen, and then the system proceeds to boot the existing Win 7 (32 bit) from the hdd as usual.
I guess the system gets stuck for some reason during the attempt to start the new installation, however, I can’t see what the problem is because the screen goes blank during that stage. No message appears after the system boots into the existing OS.
I’ve tried to run the installation disk from within my Win 7 (32 bit), but the system won’t let me saying that I’ve got an incompatible version. This is to be expected since, from what I’ve read, these upgrade only installations can only run from boot and always over-write the existing windows installation completely.
Does anybody know of a way around this problem?
Many thanks.

Joe Brick said:

Hi,
I'm new here and I hope I'm posting in the right place. Here goes.
The difficulty I’ve been having is that I want to upgrade my current Windows 7 professional (32 bit) to Windows 7 ultimate (64 bit), but can’t seem to be able to do it.
I originally installed the existing Win 7 (32 bit) version over my previous Windows XP (SP3) from an authentic “upgrade only installation disk” (this type of installation disks are sold at a significant discount to students at my university). The installation disk for the Win 7 ultimate (64 bit) which I recently bought is also of the “upgrade only” kind.
The problem is that when I put the Win 7 ultimate (64 bit) installation disk in the cd-player and try to boot directly from it (having checked beforehand that the cd-player gets "booting-priority" over the hdd in the bios), the post runs as it should, but when the cd-player kicks-in, the screen goes blank, a message saying “unsupported video format” appears for a few seconds on the screen, and then the system proceeds to boot the existing Win 7 (32 bit) from the hdd as usual.
I guess the system gets stuck for some reason during the attempt to start the new installation, however, I can’t see what the problem is because the screen goes blank during that stage. No message appears after the system boots into the existing OS.
I’ve tried to run the installation disk from within my Win 7 (32 bit), but the system won’t let me saying that I’ve got an incompatible version. This is to be expected since, from what I’ve read, these upgrade only installations can only run from boot and always over-write the existing windows installation completely.
Does anybody know of a way around this problem?
Many thanks.

I am not sure but dont think you can install using a TV as monitor. google the problem to be sure.

You do need to boot form the cd to clean install 64 bit over 32.

Ken is right, as you need to set TV up when Windows is installed.

You can use your upgrade disk to do a clean install.
Clean Install with a Upgrade Windows 7 Version
Windows Easy Transfer - Transfer To & From Computers

Hi Zigzag,

thanks for the quick reply.

I understand what you're saying, but then again the original installation worked fine (Win 7 32 bit from upgrade only installation disk over Win XP), and it was the same system with the same TV set and a similar kind of upgrade only disk. So why wouldn't it work in this case?

I really can't afford buying a computer screen. Moreover, the TV screen shows the bios post and the (currently installed) windows start-up without a problem. It is only with the new installation disk running from boot that the screen goes blank.

theog said:

Ken is right, as you need to set TV up when Windows is installed.

You can use your upgrade disk to do a clean install.
Clean Install with a Upgrade Windows 7 Version
Windows Easy Transfer - Transfer To & From Computers

Hi Theog,

many thank for replying and the links. I'll go over them and see if it helps.

btw, who is Ken? (is it zigzag3143?)

Joe Brick said:

theog said:

Ken is right, as you need to set TV up when Windows is installed.

You can use your upgrade disk to do a clean install.
Clean Install with a Upgrade Windows 7 Version
Windows Easy Transfer - Transfer To & From Computers

Hi Theog,

many thank for replying and the links. I'll go over them and see if it helps.

btw, who is Ken? (is it zigzag3143?)

Yep, zigzag3143 is screen name, Ken is real name. Welcome to SF

Bare Foot Kid said:

Hello Joe Brick, welcome to Seven Forums!


What they're saying is, there is no upgrade path from 32-bit to 64-bit Windows, it will have to be a clean install and the best way forward, after you have copied out or made back-ups of the data you need to save to external media, is to do a wipe secure erase of the entire Hard Disk Drive, have a look at this information below.

All the installed programs/apps will have to be reinstalled so be sure to save the activation keys where applicable and be sure to post back with any further questions you may have and to keep us informed.


SSD / HDD : Optimize for Windows Reinstallation

Do a Clean Install with a Upgrade Windows 7 Version


The TV should be ok, I used to install with a 47" LCD TV without issue but YMMV.

Hi there Bare Foot Kid,

thank you very much for explaining this issue and for the links.

I will go over these links and the ones Theog sent tonight and hopefully manage to sort it out. I'll post an update on the results after that.

You could also insert the Ultimate Product Key in an Anytime Upgrade to unlock its extra features from the current OS in about ten minutes.

Type "Anytime" in Start Search box to start the process.

Then save a Win7 backup image so you never have to reinstall:
Backup Complete Computer - Create an Image Backup
System Image Recovery