I just re-installed my copy of Windows Vista Home Premium using the disk that
I received when I upgraded to Vista.

It has installed successfully, but since then, my PC has been crashing every
so often while I'm using it. This is sometimes every few minutes, or it could
go several hours without happening.

Furthermore, sometimes when it crashes and I turn off the PC, when I start
it up again my monitor displays an error message saying 'Signal over range!',
this message only usually displays when I try changing the screen resolution
to more than the monitor can handle. Because of this I then have to turn off
the PC manually again.

Does anyone have an idea of why this might be happening or how I can stop
the PC from crashing?

Thanks.
Scarpeon.

I would like to update this problem.

The monitor error problem is sorted.

The crashing appears to be caused whenever I try to download the sound
drivers I need to get the sound working, although I may be wrong I'm pretty
sure of it.
I'm using Realtek AC'97, and when I try to download the Vista drivers from
the Realtek site, or use Device Manager to search them, this is when the PC
crashes.

Can anyone help me figure out why this is causing the PC to crash, or to get
the drivers without the PC crashing?

Hi Scarpeon,

You might be better off performing a clean install. For instructions, please
see my post 'Clean Install Windows Vista Using Upgrade Media', also in this
newsgroup. This should solve your problem of your PC crashing. As for the
problem with your sound drivers, follow these instructions (my system also
uses the Realtek AC'97 drivers and I have had no problems with them at all).
When you download them, it is best if you save them on your computer instead
of opening them directly - this applies to other drivers as well. In the File
Download dialogue, click 'Save' then select the folder in which to save the
file (I recommend that you use the Downloads folder and that you use the
default filename). This is because the drivers are actually packaged in a
compressed form so that they can be downloaded quicker - if they weren't,
downloading the files from the Realtek site would be totally unbearable (slow
enough as it is). When you have downloaded the driver files, you will need to
expand their contents. Right click on the folder that you have just
downloaded and select 'Extract All...'. Accept the default location and
filename. Copy this folder to a removable drive such as a USB flash memory
device. Restart your machine and login with an account with administrative
credentials. Next, open Device Manager and select 'Sound, video and game
controllers'. Select 'Realtek AC'97 Audio'. In the Driver tab of the
properties page, select 'Update Driver...' and browse to the correct
location. When they have installed, restart your computer.
Dwarf

"Scarpeon" wrote:

> I just re-installed my copy of Windows Vista Home Premium using the disk that
> I received when I upgraded to Vista.
>
> It has installed successfully, but since then, my PC has been crashing every
> so often while I'm using it. This is sometimes every few minutes, or it could
> go several hours without happening.
>
> Furthermore, sometimes when it crashes and I turn off the PC, when I start
> it up again my monitor displays an error message saying 'Signal over range!',
> this message only usually displays when I try changing the screen resolution
> to more than the monitor can handle. Because of this I then have to turn off
> the PC manually again.
>
> Does anyone have an idea of why this might be happening or how I can stop
> the PC from crashing?
>
> Thanks.
> Scarpeon.