Vista Help

[inufaye]

I am trying to install windows vista on a clean hard drive that i just formatted, but the problem comes when ever windows vista reboots after the first time, i see the slider bar go but then soon afterwards i get a blue screen that says machine check exemption error?

Any help?

 

[Harvey]

Windows XP?

Sorry, but my basic rule is, never go with a new Microsoft OS or product version until it's been out for at least a year, preferably two. Even if you get the OS working, you'll still have to hope all your software runs under it.

I won't even consider Vista for a long time to come.

 

[inufaye]

yes i am currently running windows xp

 

[loup garou]

Please list the system specs you are installing this on. To start, I'd make sure you are installing with the bare minimum hardware connected (memory, proc, hd, dvd drive). I'd also test your memory, there is a memory testing utility on the Vista media.

Originally posted by: Harvey
Windows XP?

Sorry, but my basic rule is, never go with a new Microsoft OS or product version until it's been out for at least a year, preferably two. Even if you get the OS working, you'll still have to hope all your software runs under it.

I won't even consider Vista for a long time to come.

Wow, what an incredibly helpful post. :roll:

 

[Harvey]

QUICK! Sell your new copy to an over-eager Microsoft fanboi before they find out that King Bill really has no clothes.

Seriously, if it works, don't fix it.

 

[inufaye]

my specs are
Amd Athlon 64 4000+
1gb of corsair ram
xfx 6800xt 256mb

 

[Puffnstuff]

Well I'm on vista ultimate retail and it works just fine for me. As for upgrading I would suggest that before you attempt to upgrade your os especially on a system that has more than one hd to disable all hd's except for the one you want to install the os on. If you've got a mix of sata and pata drives windows will put critical system files on the pata drive even though you specify the sata drive as the install to drive. There are many factors that could have generated the bsod so you have to systematically try to eliminate them until you find the cause of your problem.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: inufaye
my specs are
Amd Athlon 64 4000+
1gb of corsair ram
xfx 6800xt 256mb

1) What model of Corsair RAM (e.g. ValueSelect PC3200 or whatever), and what motherboard are you using. List the power supply brand & model for good measure.

2) Does the computer you're using now have a CD burner and software that can burn a .ISO image to a CD-R? If so, download a Memtest86 .ISO image, burn it to a CD, and you can run Memtest by booting from this CD. Whatever the OS, you want error-free memory.

 

[loup garou]

Originally posted by: inufaye
my specs are
Amd Athlon 64 4000+
1gb of corsair ram
xfx 6800xt 256mb

Motherboard? PSU? Definitely run a memory test on that ram, it's the most common cause of blue screens in my experience.

 

[inufaye]

Motherboard is an Abit UL8
Powersupply is an Aspire 400W

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: inufaye
Motherboard is an Abit UL8
Powersupply is an Aspire 400W

Ok, and what type of Corsair RAM is it? Where I'm going with this, is (1) get you to run the Memtest utility to test for memory errors, and (2) find out if you're giving the memory the right voltage or not.

Also, confirm that your video-card power cable is hooked up.

 

[inufaye]

its the corsair value ram pc 3200

 

[masteraleph]

Originally posted by: inufaye
I am trying to install windows vista on a clean hard drive that i just formatted, but the problem comes when ever windows vista reboots after the first time, i see the slider bar go but then soon afterwards i get a blue screen that says machine check exemption error?

Any help?

Upgrade or full?

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: inufaye
its the corsair value ram pc 3200

Ok, can you run Memtest86 on the RAM to see if it passes without errors? A single pass of Memtest86 can take a while, so make sure you have snacks

 

[apoppin]

just a little curious ... over from FI's "referral thread" about Harvey ...

if the OP's rig is running *fine* on XP and it meets the Vista requirements, why would RAM be a problem for Vista and not XP?


or the power cable for video be an issue?

wouldn't the issue more likely be a HW conflict?

OP ... How many time have you tried to install Vista?
What exact message do you get? [if any]

64bit or 32 bit?

are you sure all your HW meets the vista spec?

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: apoppin
just a little curious ... over from FI's "referral thread" about Harvey ...

if the OP's rig is running *fine* on XP and it meets the Vista requirements, why would RAM be a problem for Vista and not XP?

The OP didn't explicitly say that it's THIS computer that's running WinXP. If it were running WinXP, it probably wouldn't be after it completed the first round of Vista Setup. And yet the OP is posting here. Tentative conclusion, the OP has more than one computer.

Logical?

 

[BehindEnemyLines]

memtest86 sounds like a good idea. I usually let the program run overnight so that by the time it's morning, it would ran at 10+ passes already.

If the test comes out as negative (it passed all of them), I would just remove ALL add-in pci, usb, serial, parallel, etc...from the motherboard/pc. Just leave your video card in. I once had to install Windows XP with an old Voodoo3 PCI card, and it would freeze every time at about 35% into the installation. Replacing the video card with a 9MB AGP worked perfectly fine. It might be an adventure.

OPTIONAL: If you want, you may also disable ON BOARD Lan, audio codec, serial controller, parallel controller, USB controllers, floppy controller, SATA (if current drive is not SATA), etc in the BIOS. Re-enable them after a successful boot-up one by one (or all at once with fingers crossed). The purpose of this is to make sure whatever drivers Vista is using (that we can control) isn't causing the BSOD. Even more of an adventure!

Cliff note:
1. Memtest86
2. If fails, try a known good RAM
3. If passes, remove all connected components from mobo (pci,usb,etc...)
4. Reinstall Vista
5. If still BSOD, try exchange video card
6. Reinstall Vista
7. If still BSOD, try the optional
8. If still BSOD, ???

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: mechBgon

Originally posted by: apoppin
just a little curious ... over from FI's "referral thread" about Harvey ...

if the OP's rig is running *fine* on XP and it meets the Vista requirements, why would RAM be a problem for Vista and not XP?

The OP didn't explicitly say that it's THIS computer that's running WinXP. If it were running WinXP, it probably wouldn't be after it completed the first round of Vista Setup. And yet the OP is posting here. Tentative conclusion, the OP has more than one computer.

Logical?

could be from the OP's blackberry, laptop or work
--or even from a 1st "XP HD'

possible?

why don't we find out for sure?

we can save a lot of time by asking the right questions

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: apoppin

Originally posted by: mechBgon

Originally posted by: apoppin
just a little curious ... over from FI's "referral thread" about Harvey ...

if the OP's rig is running *fine* on XP and it meets the Vista requirements, why would RAM be a problem for Vista and not XP?

The OP didn't explicitly say that it's THIS computer that's running WinXP. If it were running WinXP, it probably wouldn't be after it completed the first round of Vista Setup. And yet the OP is posting here. Tentative conclusion, the OP has more than one computer.

Logical?

could be from the OP's blackberry, laptop or work
--or even from a 1st "XP HD'

possible?

why don't we find out for sure?

we can save a lot of time by asking the right questions

It really doesn't matter. The system BSOD'ed, therefore we start with the foundational stuff: is the memory having problems now. Are the cables plugged in now (I had a Molex-equipped video card, and it came unplugged very easily by accident).

 

[Zelvek]

I installed RC1 about a month ago on a friends PC and it did the same thing. It turned out that I had to install the third party raid drivers for it to work even though his PC had only one drive and was therefore not using raid.

 

[apoppin]

OK, carry on in the way you are used to, mechBgon
this is your place

i was just wondering if the OP's rig worked fine with XP ... so we can rule out some things like memory and power connections.
[i never dislodged a powercord installing an OS] :Q

anyway ... OS isn't my speciaility ... i only *played* with the last RC of Vista ... without issue and without much interest
[video and HW, i know]

i DO know that Vista is extraordinarily *picky* about HW and if you don't have the exact match for the Drivers you will BSOD

good luck ... and aloha

 

[loup garou]

Originally posted by: apoppin
i DO know that Vista is extraordinarily *picky* about HW and if you don't have the exact match for the Drivers you will BSOD

good luck ... and aloha

Yes, this is true, and in his case, it appears to be the ULI SATA drivers. However, personally, when helping someone, I like to have it all out on the table ahead of time (why I asked for full specs). Saves wasting time chasing down red herrings when something obvious is actually the cause.

Anyways, inufaye, follow the link I posted and download the nVidia ULI 2.20 drivers on an XP machine...I believe you can extract the SATA driver from the exe and put it on a memory stick or floppy to use on your Vista machine, but I can't test it at the moment.

 

[gsellis]

For the record, every Vista DVD I have installed from has a memory check option on boot. Memtest would not be required in addition. This is the one designed by the Online Crash Analysis folks of MS Hardware. It works very well and I have linked to it in the past (the tool would create a bootable CD or floppy).

 

[loup garou]

Originally posted by: loup garou

Originally posted by: apoppin
i DO know that Vista is extraordinarily *picky* about HW and if you don't have the exact match for the Drivers you will BSOD

good luck ... and aloha

Yes, this is true, and in his case, it appears to be the ULI SATA drivers. However, personally, when helping someone, I like to have it all out on the table ahead of time (why I asked for full specs). Saves wasting time chasing down red herrings when something obvious is actually the cause.

Anyways, inufaye, follow the link I posted and download the nVidia ULI 2.20 drivers on an XP machine...I believe you can extract the SATA driver from the exe and put it on a memory stick or floppy to use on your Vista machine, but I can't test it at the moment.

Ok, I just got a chance to test the download. Best bet is to DL it on an XP machine, and unzip and run the installer. It'll try to install and throw an error. Don't click ok on the error screen. Navigate to your temp directory c:\documents and settings\<username>\local settings\temp and look for the folder created close to the current time, that should be it. Inside you'll see directories for all the hardware drivers, agp, lan, sata, etc. I believe the drivers you need are the 5289 drivers in the SATA directory, copy those to a USB key or floppy and use them during your Vista install. They are beta drivers only tested in Build 5320, but better than nothing, I guess. I'd hang on to the rest of the drivers as well in case you need them once your install is completed, I believe this board has driver issues with the integrated NIC as well. All in all, it looks like this board is unfortunately rather unsupported for Vista.

 

[inufaye]

yes well i was hoping to dual boot with xp on one hdd and vista on the other, i will try installing those sata drivers in xp and see what i get this time.