Blue screen of death...? related to updates?

[Guest]

I just put my brand new Gateway computer together which came preinstalled
with Vista Home Premium edition. All went well, I was able to get online,
etc, and live updates to both Vista and McAfee (trial edition) proceeded
smoothly. Computer said I had to reboot, which I did, and blammo! The BLUE
SCREEN OF DEATH. Couldn't get into safe mode (although F8 did give me a
menu), and when I tried to run startup repair, it said it couldn't b/c a
patch was preventing restart. I reinstalled Vista, worked great, no McAfee
around this time to mess stuff up, let Vista update itself, did a reboot, and
BLAMMO the same blue screen...so now I've reinstalled Vista a 3rd time (again
startup repair didn't work, even after looking at the hard drive) and it all
works great, and this time I've turned OFF Vista updates. So, before I turn
it back on, is this a known problem? Any suggestions for what might be going
on? Did I get a dud from Gateway? Is my hardware/software configuration SO
weird that Microsoft can't figure it out? Did a weird patch come out today
that messes just with me? HELP!

Roy
(e-mail address removed)

 

[Zim Babwe]

Best bet since the computer is new and you just started, call Gateway and
they will walk you through debugging the problem. One thing though, once
you get it working, make sure to remove McAfee and stay away from Norton.
Many problems with these programs. The best bet is to try AVG Free or
Avast, which work well with Vista.

Good luck

 

[Guest]

Interestingly I did just that, and the Gateway folks said that the problem
has to do with the Vista updates interfering with something or other while
they're being installed and while still online. Their recommendation was to
do manual downloads of the updates, go offline, and then install them.
Sounds sketchy to me, and not entirely sure it makes sense...why should this
cause enough of a problem to have to reinstall Vista?

In any event, that's what they said. And I thoroughly agree with you about
McAfee and Norton...they're bloated and they slow down your machine. AVG is
a great program, and I use it on all of my other machines.

 

[jonah]

I just put my brand new Gateway computer together which came preinstalled
with Vista Home Premium edition. All went well, I was able to get online,
etc, and live updates to both Vista and McAfee (trial edition) proceeded
smoothly. Computer said I had to reboot, which I did, and blammo! The BLUE
SCREEN OF DEATH. Couldn't get into safe mode (although F8 did give me a
menu), and when I tried to run startup repair, it said it couldn't b/c a
patch was preventing restart. I reinstalled Vista, worked great, no McAfee
around this time to mess stuff up, let Vista update itself, did a reboot, and
BLAMMO the same blue screen...so now I've reinstalled Vista a 3rd time (again
startup repair didn't work, even after looking at the hard drive) and it all
works great, and this time I've turned OFF Vista updates. So, before I turn
it back on, is this a known problem? Any suggestions for what might be going
on? Did I get a dud from Gateway? Is my hardware/software configuration SO
weird that Microsoft can't figure it out? Did a weird patch come out today
that messes just with me? HELP!

Roy
(e-mail address removed)

yep its an update, are you using Auto Updates and are you downloading
drivers from MSFT updates,

Get yourself a copy of Acronis v10, install Vista then AC 10 then make
a full drive image of Vista. When you have an image make a start up
recovery CD via the Acronis Menus. Now you can re-install it from an
image in 10 minutes by sticking the recovery disk in and booting it.

Next go to Windows Updates but do not get everything, install them one
at a time and re-boot till you find the problem. Then leave that
particular update alone.

Personally I always make an image of my OS partitions whenever I
upadte anything, its not as painfull when it goes wrong.

Jonah

 

[Ketzl's Dad]

yep its an update, are you using Auto Updates and are you downloading
drivers from MSFT updates,

Get yourself a copy of Acronis v10, install Vista then AC 10 then make
a full drive image of Vista. When you have an image make a start up
recovery CD via the Acronis Menus. Now you can re-install it from an
image in 10 minutes by sticking the recovery disk in and booting it.

Next go to Windows Updates but do not get everything, install them one
at a time and re-boot till you find the problem. Then leave that
particular update alone.

Personally I always make an image of my OS partitions whenever I
upadte anything, its not as painfull when it goes wrong.

Jonah

I'm not being flip, but: when do you get your *work* done?