[Argathor]

Dear Anyone,

I have a problem that has completely thrown me, I cannot even find a way to diagnose the problem myself. I have had various problems with vista but all have been driver compatibility issues so far and I have always managed to solve them.

Currently Vista had been working smoothly with no problem for a few weeks when it suddenly started to hand on the boot screen with the scrolling green bar. It stops and never continues (no matter how long I leave it). The main problem I have is that I cannot even boot in safemode either (it stops at crcdisk.sys).

I have no external USB devices plugged into my computer, just speakers/headphones and mouse/keyboard(PS/2).

The only change I can think of that I had made recently was updating the gfx card drivers to the latest version from the ATI website (2 days ago). I however cannot find any way to confirm this or attempt to fix it as I cannot even boot in safemode to check the event viewer.

I find this incredibly frustrating as I have never had problems I cannot solve myself before and I do not want to have to format the driver and reinstall windows, as I only have the single drive in that computer and need the files on the disk.

If anyone has any suggestions for information I can supply or steps I can take to troubleshoot the problem please say.

[Argathor]

Ive now succeeded in booting it up to windows and trying to do a system restore to before the gfx driver update and a windows update the day before, but both times I managed to boot it froze and hung again before it could complete. I really have no idea what is causing this behaviour. Has anyone else had this problem? Does anyone have ANY suggestions? Please dont make me beg!

[25EU0P]

hi,

Your not alone, i'm having a similar problem. Windows doesn't boot (gets stuck at loading screen) and i'm fairly sure that my problem has to do with the windows critical update i just installed, probably some bad drivers. I'll post if i figure it out.

cheers

[new tech guy]

Have you tried using the last known good configuration option in the boot options?

[Argathor]

Yes, sadly it has no effect. I still have the exact same problem. I essentially need to do a system restore to before the ati driver update and the last windows update, but I cannot boot up to do it.

[new tech guy]

How did you get the machine to boot previously. I would recommend getting it to boot, uninstall the ATI drivers completely, run this cleanup tool: http://drivers.softpedia.com/get/Oth...ional-15.shtml
then after running that, proceed to install the drivers. Leave the windows update on the machine as this may simply be caused by the driver corrupting.

[Argathor]

I really do not know, very occasionally, seemingly at random, the computer will boot. The problem is that it hangs very soon after or just a little further into the boot process.

I therefore do not have time to uninstall a driver or do a system restore. Which is where my problem lies.

Ive just ordered a second HD, ill install windows on that, move my files across and then wipe my current one. It feels wrong I have to goto this length just to keep my files though. Not the end of the world, eh!

[new tech guy]

Another option is to try going to recovery console, usually administrator password is blank ( i am assuming you have a windows xp disc on hand), then in the prompt type in "fixboot" (no quotes), confirm the action and tell us if the system boots. If it does not i reccomend running a windows repair.

[Argathor]

I dont have a Windows XP Disc unfortunately. I went from Windows 2000 to Vista. I am not sure how I can do either of those as I cannot even boot/do anything even with the Vista DVD, it doesnt load.

I have a new HD comming tomorrow morning, so ill use that as my main boot drive and reinstall windows. I am interested in finding out what caused this or any possible fixes though as it has taken up a large amount of my time now and I dont want to get stuck like this again.

I really am at a loss as to what is prevent my computer booting normally/safemode/with the Vista DVD. Also occasionally booting but hanging further down the boot process or once it loads into windows.

Thank you for the help so far, its good to know someone else has had the same problem as me and nice to have other peoples suggestions and ideas.

[Rich-M]

Look for any program that might do an opening scan such as antispyware or antivirus. It could have been an update from such a program that caused it. The other thing I would look at is the bios to make sure that something like floppy disk check or some other scan or a drive enabled that does not exist such as a floppy drive could also be the cause.
Check startup for too much in there and most of what is there is not necessary (Run,msconfig,ok,startup).