Freeze on Installation and beyond

[memoryinmotion]

First the Hardware:

MSI K9A2 Neo with 4 GB Logic RAM

AMD Athlon 6000

ATI All in Wonder 600 Series Video

I can't count how many times I've tried this in the last 14 hours. It freezes during installation, it freezes while finalizing the installation, it freezes when it finally gets installed just sitting there doing nothing.

It froze while installing the MSI Driver disk, then it finished the system drivers on reboot... then it froze while installing Flash. Reboot again, installed Flash successfully, then it froze sitting on the desktop doing nothing.

The lockups are completely random. No blue screens or errors. What the hell is going on? I've NEVER had such issues with Vista.

BTW - this is a clean install, beginning with a wiped drive (WipeDrive, Level 2 - DoD standard). No other hardware is in place.

[Batfinks]

i just had this issue with my own system after switching from 2gig memory to 4gig memory (4x1gig) and moved to vista x64 from vista x86.

ended up being my motherboard wasn't supplying enough power to my dimms when all 4 dimm ports where populated.

i added an extra 0.1v to my memorys default 1.7v and it was all smooth sailing from then onwards.

not sure if this is your case though. best of luck.

[cluberti]

I agree with the previous post - there's no way, given the symptoms you describe, that this is a Vista problem. It seems more likely that it's a PSU or memory problem, or a hardware driver problem.

[memoryinmotion]

I agree with the previous post - there's no way, given the symptoms you describe, that this is a Vista problem. It seems more likely that it's a PSU or memory problem, or a hardware driver problem.

That makes sense - and I was heading down that road. However, I have 2x 2 GB sticks with room for two more. Also, Memtest86 checks fine after at least 4 hours. The PSU is a Zumax 400W powering little more than a 350 IDE drive and the Video Card.

I've loaded XP on this thing about six hours ago, and it's running flawlessly.

What else should I be looking at?

Keeping XP (which would be my first thought) is not an option since the individual that owns it needs it to link to a Linksys Media Extender, which requires the Vista operating system... which is the impetus for this problem.

Edited October 19, 2008 by memoryinmotion

[cluberti]

I agree with the previous post - there's no way, given the symptoms you describe, that this is a Vista problem. It seems more likely that it's a PSU or memory problem, or a hardware driver problem.

That makes sense - and I was heading down that road. However, I have 2x 2 GB sticks with room for two more. Also, Memtest86 checks fine after at least 4 hours. The PSU is a Zumax 400W powering little more than a 350 IDE drive and the Video Card.

I've loaded XP on this thing about six hours ago, and it's running flawlessly.

What else should I be looking at?

Keeping XP (which would be my first thought) is not an option since the individual that owns it needs it to link to a Linksys Media Extender, which requires the Vista operating system... which is the impetus for this problem.

Try Windows in safe mode - does it hang there? If not, then it's a driver issue for sure.

[memoryinmotion]

I agree with the previous post - there's no way, given the symptoms you describe, that this is a Vista problem. It seems more likely that it's a PSU or memory problem, or a hardware driver problem.

That makes sense - and I was heading down that road. However, I have 2x 2 GB sticks with room for two more. Also, Memtest86 checks fine after at least 4 hours. The PSU is a Zumax 400W powering little more than a 350 IDE drive and the Video Card.

I've loaded XP on this thing about six hours ago, and it's running flawlessly.

What else should I be looking at?

Keeping XP (which would be my first thought) is not an option since the individual that owns it needs it to link to a Linksys Media Extender, which requires the Vista operating system... which is the impetus for this problem.

Try Windows in safe mode - does it hang there? If not, then it's a driver issue for sure.

No, it doesn't hang in Safe Mode - so I'm looking hard at the video driver. However, There seems to be nothing I can do to make this card work, and it's supposed to be compatible with Vista. Using it's native drivers, or the drivers that came with Vista cause the same problem. I would suspect the card is bad if it didn't run fine under XP.

[fizban2]

another thing to look at is the media you are installing vista with, did you use the same DVD for each installation, do you have access to a technet or MSDN account where you could get the ISO to build another DVD?

[memoryinmotion]

another thing to look at is the media you are installing vista with, did you use the same DVD for each installation, do you have access to a technet or MSDN account where you could get the ISO to build another DVD?

I'm using the original purchased DVD - which is not visibly damaged. Unfortunately, I don't have access to TechNet or MSDN at this time.

As I was closing up the shop tonight, I noticed something off: I usually turn off all the lights so I can see if I've forgotten to turn off speakers and monitors. I noticed that the keyboard numlock was still lit on this machine that had been turned off for some time. I've only seen this on older systems with blown capacitors and/or bad power supplies. I've made a note to check the motherboard tomorrow.

Edited October 21, 2008 by memoryinmotion