PC suddenly won't boot

Stg-Flame

Diamond Member
Mar 10, 2007
3,695
636
126
I've had this PC for well over three years (specs in signature) and it ran fine last night. All I did was get on Steam and talk to some friends and then shut it down and went to bed. I just got home from work and tried to log on, but after I input my password, it just stays at the Welcome screen and never goes any further.

It's Windows Vista 64 bit and I have not had any trouble with it before now. I also just tried to run it in Safe Mode and it loads just fine (albeit a little slow), so does anyone know what is going on and what I can do in order to boot my PC normally?
 

Bubbaleone

Golden Member
Nov 20, 2011
1,803
4
76
If Windows is hanging during a normal boot but you're able to boot normally in safe mode, a driver, program file, or even a service that's misbehaving is the likely culprit. The solution is to disable or uninstall the driver or file that's causing the problem. Before going through that procedure I'd suggest running CHKDSK first.

See my post in this thread for locating and removing the problem file: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2200335&highlight=



.
 
Last edited:

Stg-Flame

Diamond Member
Mar 10, 2007
3,695
636
126
Thanks for the information. I followed your steps and the computer booted both times with just Services and just Startup items checked. I just tried a normal startup and it worked fine, but now I just got a Error in C:\Windows\System33\nvsvc64.dll Missing entry:nvsvcStart

Also, now that I did both of those, everything that I previously had disabled upon startup just loaded. Looks like I will have to spend another two hours disabling all of the meaningless startup crap and services I don't want to load when I boot my PC.

Any additional information on this would be greatly appreciated just in case this happens again or happens to anyone else.

Thanks again.
 

krnmastersgt

Platinum Member
Jan 10, 2008
2,873
0
0
Based on the error code you put up, it would seem that what's crashing your system is when your video drivers are attempting to load. Load up in safe mode again and uninstall your video drivers, run a registry cleaner like CCleaner to make sure there aren't lingering bits of information and then re-boot. You can load up normally at this point and then download and install the latest nVidia drivers.

Another alternative is just to replace the missing .dll but I'd just go with the full re-install personally since this problem should not have cropped up on its own to begin with.
 

denis280

Diamond Member
Jan 16, 2011
3,434
9
81
Based on the error code you put up, it would seem that what's crashing your system is when your video drivers are attempting to load. Load up in safe mode again and uninstall your video drivers, run a registry cleaner like CCleaner to make sure there aren't lingering bits of information and then re-boot. You can load up normally at this point and then download and install the latest nVidia drivers.

Another alternative is just to replace the missing .dll but I'd just go with the full re-install personally since this problem should not have cropped up on its own to begin with.
Yes nvidia do give trouble when updating.better doing a clean install
 

Steltek

Diamond Member
Mar 29, 2001
3,364
1,098
136
If it is the machine shown in your profile, it could also be related to you overclocking the video card. If removing and installing the driver doesn't work, try backing off the video card overclock and see if that resolves the issue.
 

Stg-Flame

Diamond Member
Mar 10, 2007
3,695
636
126
Thanks for all the input. I did a clean install on my drivers and the problem went away.