Win7 RC1 - How long should an upgrade take?

I don't think the RC is even ready for upgrading over Vista while you can easily perform an upgrade repair install of the same build.

Upgrade by download? You could already be running the 32bit or 64bit RC right now by download and burn to disk where you boot from that over trying the slow ketchup method. By booting off the disk 7 will pack things up for Vista in about 20 minutes over the hour after hour method you are trying if a direct upgrade didn't work out.

Take a close look at any information seen on the next blue screen as well as looking over the logs for the event viewer. BSODs generally point out a specific device driver error like for the video card or sound even other addon devices.

For a clean install by booting from a dvd-r burned or by way of a usb key made up the estimated time for reaching the first desktop after proving profile information for the admin account is about 20 minutes. From there the rest depends on what programs will go on as well as the necessary hardware drivers/softwares.

Don't feel bad! When suggesting a clean install of the RC to someone lately rather then worry about repairing a Vista install everything took 8hrs.! That was after concerns that a clean install install of Vista would take far longer then that. The installation went well and that's one happy camper running 7 instead!

Take a look in the device manager under usb devices there to see if anything is yellow marked. Sounds like the default generic controller drivers never went on fully. For the usb tv you may have to go through some womderful moments like seen here trying to get that working depending on what drivers that comes with on the software disk as well as what is available at the support site.

What was seen here wasn't Vista drivers but actually the 32bit XP drivers that saw the pci tv tuner here working on the 64bit 7. Have to block the Vista update all the time for that since those will knock it out right off the bat!

For stubborn installations when those are seen here while not often I'll first backup anything not already backed up and proceed to actually remove the present primary entirely. From there I'll see a brand new replacement take the place for the next clean install of whichever version or edition of Windows will go on.

It sounds a little drastic but I see favorable results if you are trying to install a fresh copy on the Vista primary with the custom option for replacing one installation with a new one or seeing that go on a partition following a reformat. At times a reformat isn't enough to prevent seeing a bad install which seems to be what happened to you there unless the burn to disk wasn't complete or you need to go for a second download.

For usb devices like illuminated keyboards and the tv tuner you have there you may have to add on a small usb hub. Sometimes an addon or new style keyboard will pull a little too much on the usb bus itself seeing problems.