Windows Vista Just Crashes and will not boot

[Pazza]

I recently downloaded the 64bit version (latest version) to install on the second partition on my laptop but halfway through the boot sequence, it crashed and restarts the laptop. Not very good I am sure you will agree.

The laptop is a Evesham Voyager 64 3000+ (rebadged Mitac 8355) and should be plently powerful enough - AMD Athlon 64 3000+ CPU, 1GB RAM etc..

Anyone else had this problem. I also tried installing the 32bit version but that still does the same thing.

Any help would be most welcome. Either that or how do I get rid of it - especially that boot sequence.

Jon.

[FatalSaviour]

Have you actually installed it, and then it crashes on bootup, or does it crash before installing?

How much HD space have you on your 2nd partition?
What graphics solution do you have?

[Pazza]

I actually installed it and it done the initial updates but on the first reboot after the initial install, this is when it crashes.

GFX card is a ATI Radeon Mobile 9600 and HD space is 30GB partition.

[Paul Adams]

Is this build 5384? (Beta 2)

What is on the primary partition?
Are the 2 partitions NTFS format?
Is this an upgrade from within XP, or a clean boot from the DVD?

Can you check the installation step screenshots here and point out how far your laptop gets before it gets stuck in the reboot loop?
(Is it between steps 8 & 9, or do you actually get all the way to the desktop at least once?)

What is on the screen when the reboot occurs during the boot sequence?

[directhex]

an infuriating (for me, anyway) default in modern versions of Windows, Vista included, is that it will reboot whenever it should be displaying a STOP error (modern day BSOD). this means that the diagnostic information in the STOP error (for example, the name of a driver causing the crashes) isn't seen. you can reenable this by right-clicking on my computer, properties, advanced, advanced, startup & recovery, then uncheck "automatically restart"

this requires you to get to a desktop at least once, obviously, but is invaluable for troubleshooting

[Skinleech]

What about the LAN in the machine? Another Vista thread I saw mentioned issues with Marvell Yukon LAN connections - this could be causing your issue perhaps?

[Paul Adams]

What about the LAN in the machine? Another Vista thread I saw mentioned issues with Marvell Yukon LAN connections - this could be causing your issue perhaps?

That was probably mine
The symptoms were different though - my installation rebooted and got to the "completing installation" stage then froze the computer so I had to continue in Safe Mode - and whenever I subsequently re-enabled the NIC it would freeze Vista instantly, it wasn't a reboot problem.

We need Pazza to provide more details on the issue to proceed - it could be a boot loader issue if he has Linux or GRUB on the primary partition, a driver problem if it's rebooting during startup (though I would expect the boot option menu to appear in this case after a failed restart) - and it makes a difference if the installation really completed or was at the completing stage.

[Koolpc]

Be interesting to see if this can be solved easily. I partitioned my hard drive first before i loaded Vista on. I loaded a fresh install of XP first then loaded Vista 64 ver. Everything does seem to be running well. I have Marvell Yukon LAN connections and no problems as of yet!!

I have not been using Vista much but will do over the weekend to see if any problems arise. I will post back if i come across any.

[Pazza]

Is this build 5384? (Beta 2)

What is on the primary partition?
Are the 2 partitions NTFS format?
Is this an upgrade from within XP, or a clean boot from the DVD?

Can you check the installation step screenshots here and point out how far your laptop gets before it gets stuck in the reboot loop?
(Is it between steps 8 & 9, or do you actually get all the way to the desktop at least once?)

What is on the screen when the reboot occurs during the boot sequence?

Hi, sorry for not getting back sooner but been on my hols for a week.

The primary partition has windows XP pro on - fully updated.
It's not an upgrade, just a clean install on the second partition.
Anyhow, It does step 7 on your very useful link but never get's to step 8 as on the reboot; it just crashes during bootup.

When booting; I get the menu and goes into Vista, I get the windows 2006 logo and then crashes - restarts and does the same again. In safe mode, I get the script and will try to determine which file causes the problem - will post soon.

[dangel]

Tip: Install Vista from your primary OS. Why? Because then it can connect to the internet and download updates for the install process which make it far more stable. My work system wouldn't install from booting the disc alone, so I made a partition in XP for Vista to go on, popped in the disc and ran the install from within XP. I allowed it to update from the internet (which it does for me) and the install process continued ok without any crashes etc. I'm not sure if the same is true for 5456 (post beta 2) as i've done exactly the same install method (it's also slightly quicker). If you've got a RAID array remember to feed it the 'f6' drivers for the array at the point where it askes you which partition to install it on ('load driver').

Might not be your problem but it sure solved it for me!

[Pazza]

In addition -

both partitions are NTFS and the boot in safe mode stops after saying it's loaded crcdisk.sys file - it then restarts.

For another attempt - I did try to install from inside Windows XP and it get's the updates prior to install but this makes no difference.

[dangel]

In addition -

both partitions are NTFS and the boot in safe mode stops after saying it's loaded crcdisk.sys file - it then restarts.

For another attempt - I did try to install from inside Windows XP and it get's the updates prior to install but this makes no difference.

Perhaps of some use:

http://www.ureader.com/message/1364733.aspx

and

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/com...xp=&sloc=en-us

Possibly a bios issue?

[Paul Adams]

Okay, sounds like a bundled device driver is barfing on that machine - the problem with laptops is they aren't easy to remove/replace components to test :/

My guess would be the disk controller driver, maybe Evesham/Mitac have a driver you can download for that model laptop, and use at the partition selection point...

PnP devices can have a number of strings to identify themselves, and some of these are "compatibility" strings so more than one driver might match - so a "Brand X superduper 802.11g device" might actually use a generic "Manufacturer Y ABC123 chipset" and so if there isn't a specific driver from Brand X, then Manufacturer Y might have something that is supposed to work.

So, if a generic driver is being loaded but the device isn't 100% compatible with it, this could explain the bugcheck when use is attempted.

You could poke around in Device Manager in XP to find the device "hardware ID" strings - they are in a drop-down list on the Details tab of the disk controller.
Then use your favourite search engine to see if you can find some of the strings (the longer strings are more explicit and identify your exact device rather than just the family or compatible chipset).

You might turn up other users that have this problem and find out if they solved it.

[Pazza]

anyone know what file is loaded after the crcdisk.sys file? As this file says it was loaded, I guess the next file in the sequence is causing the problem.

[Paul Adams]

anyone know what file is loaded after the crcdisk.sys file? As this file says it was loaded, I guess the next file in the sequence is causing the problem.

I think you'll find that is the last Microsoft driver to get loaded before the 3rd party drivers flagged as "boot" - i.e. disk, and maybe graphics.

"Boot" drivers are those essential to get Windows up in the first place, and these are even necessary in Safe Mode - after this come the "system" drivers.

[Pazza]

ok, so it's clear there is a driver problem then but how can I get this to work - or is it a no-go area? All I wanted is to try this Vista - I guess this discussion should now become "how do I get rid of Vista" !!