Vista Freezes At The Bootscreen

[Shawn H]

Hi guys,

I'll try to make this post short as easy to read.

Hardware:
* HP Pavilion Entertainment laptop
(Don't remember the exact model, as I haven't got the laptop in front
of me. I will include the model number + hardware spec when I get
home.)

Software:
* Windows Vista Ultimate 32bit.
* Installed all Windows Update.

Problems:
* When I start the laptop, it gets to the Vista's bootscreen (where
you see the progress bar). At that point, the laptop freezes. In fact,
it freezes before I can see the colored boxes in the progress-bar.
* If I force a cold shutdown (by holding down the power-button), and
then restart the laptop, it might load fine and everything would be
running fine (like there was never any problems).
* Assuming, it didn't freeze and loaded Vista successfully, then I
would shutdown Vista through the Start button.
* If I try to start the laptop again, it will freeze at the bootscreen
again.
* I cannot tell when it will freeze at the bootscreen.
* Every other time, it doesn't freeze at the bootscreen, and Vista
would load successfully.
* If I was to switch the laptop on and off about 10 times, 6 of the 10
times it would freeze at bootscree, and 4 of the 10 times it would
load normally.

Tried:
* Have formatted the HDD, and re-installed Vista.
* Updated all the latest drivers.
* Boot into Safe Mode, but Device Manager shows nothing wrong with
hardware.

This is a very strange issue. I have experienced many problems with
Windows in the past, but I have not seen anything like this before.
I'm thinking it could be a hardware problem. But every other time when
the laptop does load normally, I can't find any hardware problems
through Windows.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi,

It's a hardware problem. A flakey component is failing sometimes, and
working other times. It won't get better, only worse. You should contact HP
for warranty support if the system is fairly new.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

 

[Shawn H]

Thanks for the replies guys. Here's what I tried lastnight:

I formatted the laptop (again), and then re-installed Vista Ultimate.

With that done, I just ran Vista as it is and everything was working
fine. I shut-down and re-started the laptop many times to see if it
would freeze up, but it never did.

I then installed most of the hardware drivers, but leaving out all
the
Windows updates, and then shutdown/restart my laptop a few times, and
it didn't freeze either.

So I then went and installed the first 2 Windows updates (I thought
about doing 2 updates at a time because I was a little lazy), and
then
shutdown/restart, and that's when it froze at the bootscreen.

So on my next successful bootup, I uninstalled 1 of the 2 updates I
installed previously (to see which one caused the problem), and then
rebooted and it didn't freeze on the bootscreen, so I thought maybe
that first update was causing the problem.

I then went and install the next 1 Windows update (different update
to
the last 2), and then shutdown/restart the laptop. This time it froze
on the bootscreen again.
....

Before I formatted and re-installed Vista, I was so sure that it's a
hardware problem, but now I'm not so sure, because it seems that this
problem only occurs when I install Windows Updates. How bizzarre!!!

What do you guys think? Software or hardware?

 

[Rick Rogers]

Which update?

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

Thanks for the replies guys. Here's what I tried lastnight:

I formatted the laptop (again), and then re-installed Vista Ultimate.

With that done, I just ran Vista as it is and everything was working
fine. I shut-down and re-started the laptop many times to see if it
would freeze up, but it never did.

I then installed most of the hardware drivers, but leaving out all
the
Windows updates, and then shutdown/restart my laptop a few times, and
it didn't freeze either.

So I then went and installed the first 2 Windows updates (I thought
about doing 2 updates at a time because I was a little lazy), and
then
shutdown/restart, and that's when it froze at the bootscreen.

So on my next successful bootup, I uninstalled 1 of the 2 updates I
installed previously (to see which one caused the problem), and then
rebooted and it didn't freeze on the bootscreen, so I thought maybe
that first update was causing the problem.

I then went and install the next 1 Windows update (different update
to
the last 2), and then shutdown/restart the laptop. This time it froze
on the bootscreen again.
.....

Before I formatted and re-installed Vista, I was so sure that it's a
hardware problem, but now I'm not so sure, because it seems that this
problem only occurs when I install Windows Updates. How bizzarre!!!

What do you guys think? Software or hardware?

 

[Bruce]

Hi. I'm having the same problem, and it's not hardware related. Everytime I
do a windows automatic update this happens. When the computer reboots, it
freezes when the Windows bar comes up. If I do a manual shut down, sometimes
it will restart correctly, sometimes it won't.

 

[Shawn H]

Hi Bruce, that sounds like the same problem.

I brought it back to the shop, but while I was at the shop, the damn
laptop never froze. They cannot repair or replace a laptop if there
are no problems. Go figure?!
Having brought it back home, it's been working fine for a whole week.
But then, one morning it did the same thing again. Grrr.......
I mean it's better now, but it's just fustrating coz I never know when
it will happen again !!

 

[zevorc]

yea i had this same problem currently, i tried uninstalling updates it
seems to solve it but after a few days the problem came back.I am
tired and lazy to send it for repair since its an new lenovo t61
laptop.I am tired of having to force restart every time it freezes ard
25% of the time.

 

[Submarine]

I have the same issue on a Dell XPS 410. Dell was no help and recomended that
I use the Vista Startup Repair. The Vista Startup Repair said it couldn't fix
the problem and asked me to send the data to MS.

 

[Donald L McDaniel]

I have the same issue on a Dell XPS 410. Dell was no help and recomended that
I use the Vista Startup Repair. The Vista Startup Repair said it couldn't fix
the problem and asked me to send the data to MS.

I have found this to be true for Dell Support, as a general rule.
Their two "fixes" are to restore it using the Restore partition or
media, or the "technician" (actually just an hourly-paid employee
somewhere in a call-center in India reading from a script) ends up
apologizing for Dell for the umpteenth time.

If Vista Start-UP repair will not correct the problem, you will have
to reinstall Vista.

Personally, I tend toward believing your HD is failing, or else
something has happened to your boot record which is irreparable by
Vista.

In either case, you should reinstall it if you are unable to boot (if
you want to continue using Vista).


Donald L McDaniel
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