Vista Crash - ATI or Sidebar Applet?

I upgraded to the latest driver for my ATI 1950 (256) posted by ATI a few
days ago. When I rebooted, I immediately got a BSOD but after rebooting
again, it seemed to go away for a few days. Then, playing around, I
downloaded an applet for the side bar called MY Computer.

When I installed My Computer applet, the sidebar became "disoriented with
two columns and huge spaces between the applets that were already there.
Having no other solution, I rebooted and got the BSOD over and over and over
again. I booted to safe mode did a system restore back a couple of days ago
and rebooted again. From that point on, Vista would not boot but the blue
screens stopped.

It stops just before the logon screen, the sound bounces in and out for a
few seconds and then nothing but a white arrow. It will not longer let me
boot to safe mode or any of the other available modes including command
prompt.

I spent about six hours on the phone with Microsoft. I bought Vista from
Microsoft on line and that is a gotcha because you don't get a boot disk and
the software doesn't allow you to create a boot disk. Microsoft is doing an
express shipment to me but only after I pulled a real nasty on the phone.

By the way, I could boot with my beta disk -- for some reason you can make a
disk with the beta but not for the factory release. I was able to get into
the hard drive in DOS but not able to do a system restore (told me it could
not find a file).

I am not sure if anyone has any suggestions but be warned if not. I am
sitting here waiting for the disk to arrive -- who wants to take the bet that
it will arrive, as promised today?

Earl

The Catalyst 7.3's have definitely been causing some problems with Vista.
BSOD is the most common. You might stick with the 7.2's for now, although
there are workarounds (Don't install the Catalyst Control Center, for one).

--
Dustin Harper
dharper@vistarip.com
http://www.vistarip.com

--
"Earl R" <EarlR@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:4C64F729-325C-4BE6-AA06-C5BF0331ACE4@microsoft.com...
>I upgraded to the latest driver for my ATI 1950 (256) posted by ATI a few
> days ago. When I rebooted, I immediately got a BSOD but after rebooting
> again, it seemed to go away for a few days. Then, playing around, I
> downloaded an applet for the side bar called MY Computer.
>
> When I installed My Computer applet, the sidebar became "disoriented with
> two columns and huge spaces between the applets that were already there.
> Having no other solution, I rebooted and got the BSOD over and over and
> over
> again. I booted to safe mode did a system restore back a couple of days
> ago
> and rebooted again. From that point on, Vista would not boot but the blue
> screens stopped.
>
> It stops just before the logon screen, the sound bounces in and out for a
> few seconds and then nothing but a white arrow. It will not longer let me
> boot to safe mode or any of the other available modes including command
> prompt.
>
> I spent about six hours on the phone with Microsoft. I bought Vista from
> Microsoft on line and that is a gotcha because you don't get a boot disk
> and
> the software doesn't allow you to create a boot disk. Microsoft is doing
> an
> express shipment to me but only after I pulled a real nasty on the phone.
>
> By the way, I could boot with my beta disk -- for some reason you can make
> a
> disk with the beta but not for the factory release. I was able to get into
> the hard drive in DOS but not able to do a system restore (told me it
> could
> not find a file).
>
> I am not sure if anyone has any suggestions but be warned if not. I am
> sitting here waiting for the disk to arrive -- who wants to take the bet
> that
> it will arrive, as promised today?
>
> Earl

"Earl R" <EarlR@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:4C64F729-325C-4BE6-AA06-C5BF0331ACE4@microsoft.com...
>I upgraded to the latest driver for my ATI 1950 (256) posted by ATI a few
> days ago. When I rebooted, I immediately got a BSOD but after rebooting
> again, it seemed to go away for a few days. Then, playing around, I
> downloaded an applet for the side bar called MY Computer.
>
> When I installed My Computer applet, the sidebar became "disoriented with
> two columns and huge spaces between the applets that were already there.
> Having no other solution, I rebooted and got the BSOD over and over and
> over
> again. I booted to safe mode did a system restore back a couple of days
> ago
> and rebooted again. From that point on, Vista would not boot but the blue
> screens stopped.
>
> It stops just before the logon screen, the sound bounces in and out for a
> few seconds and then nothing but a white arrow. It will not longer let me
> boot to safe mode or any of the other available modes including command
> prompt.

Well I _just_ had a BSOD that was cured by booting in safe mode and rolling
back the Catalyst 7.3 driver to 7.2 despite 7.3 being installed and running
for a few days with no hassle. Not sure that actually tells you much about
your current problem, but i guess it's a vote for not installing the 7.3
drivers when you do sort things out.