Just a thought....

I think Scala may be onto something. When I disabled my VCOM Systemsuite Pro firewall on my HP XP Pro system, AND all other background programs, the upgrade via usb finally went through after many hours of trying. It may be the thing that helps, that others haven't mentioned. Prior to trying that, I pretty much had the identical experience as PSYPROF1 did.

Hope this suggestion helps others.