Vista installation hanging

[Guest]

I'm trying and failing to install Vista on a new PC. Its an OEM copy of Vista
bought along with a bunch of components from a supplier.
Repeatedly I get to the stage where it's saying "Completing the
installation..." and it hangs. Sometimes I can get further, but it always
hangs. Mouse in unresponsive on the screen all I can do is turn it off.

Any ideas what I can try or where I can get help?
System is as follows:
Abit AB9 QuadGT motherboard
Intel Core 2 Quadra QX6700
4 GB memory (4*Cell Shock 1GB DDR2 800 PC6400)
BFG GeForce 7600 GT OC graphics card.
Western Digital Raptor 150GB hard disk (SATA)
Samsung SH-182MRSMN DVD ReWriter

Thats it.

I've tried an alternative graphics card with the same results.
I've also disabled any unnecessary things in the bios (USB, firewire,
floppy, lan) and no difference.

I'm at a bit of a loss and since it's an OEM copy of Vista this seems my
only support channel.
Any other suggestions before I send the Vista back and get XP instead (I've
installed an XP on the machine to check that the machine was OK and I ran the
"Upgrade Advisor" and the only thing it reported was that I might want to
upgrade my graphics card. BFG reckon the card is perfectly compatible with
Vista though. XP went on fine though, so there doesn't seem to be anything
inherently wrong with the machine).

 

[R. J. Salvi]

Count me in, Tom...and I'm a system builder.

System:
Mobo: ECS PX1
CPU: QX6700
RAM: Wintec DDR2-800 (2x1GB)
HD: WD Raptor 150GB
DVD: LiteOn DL burner (SATA)
Vid: eVGA 8800GTS

There was another poster (within the last week?) in the same situation as us
who also had a QX6700 (and an 8800GTS).

For me, the OS (Vista Business x86 upgrade) would install and after first
reboot, it would hang/freeze at various places. I've gotten as far as the
black/white "Windows is preparing to start for the first time" screen and it
hangs there too. Like you, I'd disabled all on-motherboard resources (sound,
USB, etc.), relaxed BIOS settings, removed any ancillary hardware, tried to
install the OS as either an upgrade, or clean (the unofficial clean install
hack), but to no avail. Memory and HD both check out with a clean bill of
health. I'd even tried both an IDE DVD and HD with the same results.

Anyway, I'm wondering if it's the QX6700, or 965P North Bridge, or a
combination of both, that have something to do with our problem(s). Both XP
Pro x86 or x64 run like a champ on this machine.

I'm open to any suggestions and if anyone has a similar system built around
the quad-core CPU and have it working, I'd especially like to hear from you.
Thx.

 

[Guest]

Thanks. Glad I'm not the only one having such problems.
The symptoms you describe are exactly the ones I see. I get to various
points past the first reboot (when real Vista actually starts up) and it
hangs.
Spent a long time on the phone to MS technical support, the upshot of which
was "there is nothing we can do -- it's hardware". Which you can sympathise
with, but it doesn't actually help!

So I'll second the call for success or otherwise of Quad core 965P based
systems.

 

[Chad Harris]

Is this OEM installation an Upgrade from a legacy OS like XP or Win 2K or a
full Vista? Depending upon which I can direct you to MSKBs or other
solutions that might address your problem

Are you getting any setup error messages?

Have you checked the setup logs?

" Its an OEM copy of Vista bought along with a bunch of components..."

I am compelled to say this by reflex first : Make sure you meticulously
clean that
DVD. It matters if you're doing a full OEM install or an upgrade install.
In either case, I've listed the setup log file locations where you might
pinpoint a problem below. When you talked with "MSFT support" be very clear
you weren't talking to engineers like Darrell Gorter--you were talking to
minimally trained personnel who work for a 3rd party company MSFT uses
because they don't want to deal with you and because they are
cheap--Convergys of Ohio headquatered in Cincy Ohio, outsourcing American
jobs to India where the personnel is minimum wage, minimally English
speaking, and minimally trained in Windows Vista or Office and other MSFT
software.

Much of the time they throw you in a que and give you a phony amount of time
and hours later no one has picked up. That's a mixed blessing. MSFT wastes
your time with their third party hire for their customer support, but if you
reached them, the odds are strong they wouldn't know jack.

Do you get a specific error message? You should be. I'm going to show you
some common upgrade errors and also where to check setup logs.

A list of Microsoft Knowledge Base articles is available to help
troubleshoot error messages that you may receive when you try to upgrade to
Windows Vista

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/930743/en-us

Log files that are created when you upgrade to Windows Vista from an earlier
version of Windows

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928901/en-us

The following log files are created when an upgrade is successful:•

C:\Windows\Panther\Setupact.log
• C:\Windows\panther\setuperr.log
• C:\Windows\inf\setupapi.app.log
• C:\Windows\inf\setupapi.dev.log
• C:\Windows\panther\PreGatherPnPList.log
• C:\Windows\panther\PostApplyPnPList.log
• C:\Windows\panther\miglog.xml
The following log files are created when an upgrade fails during
installation before the computer restarts for the second time:•

C:\$Windows.~BT\Sources\panther\setupact.log
• C:\$Windows.~BT\Sources\panther\miglog.xml
• C:\Windows\setupapi.log
The following log files are created when an upgrade fails during
installation after the computer restarts for the second time:•

C:\Windows\panther\setupact.log
• C:\Windows\panther\miglog.xml
• C:\Windows\inf\setupapi.app.log
• C:\Windows\inf\setupapi.dev.log
• C:\Windows\panther\PreGatherPnPList.log
• C:\Windows\panther\PostApplyPnPList.log
• C:\Windows\memory.dmp

The following log files are created when an upgrade fails, and then you
restore the desktop:• C:\$Windows.~BT\Sources\panther\setupact.log

• C:\$Windows.~BT\Sources\panther\miglog.xml
• C:\$Windows.~BT\sources\panther\setupapi\setupapi.dev.log
• C:\$Windows.~BT\sources\panther\setupapi\setupapi.app.log
• C:\Windows\memory.dmp



Windows Vista setup log file locations
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927521/en-us


Good luck,

CH

 

[Adam Albright]

Thanks. Glad I'm not the only one having such problems.
The symptoms you describe are exactly the ones I see. I get to various
points past the first reboot (when real Vista actually starts up) and it
hangs.
Spent a long time on the phone to MS technical support, the upshot of which
was "there is nothing we can do -- it's hardware". Which you can sympathise
with, but it doesn't actually help!

So I'll second the call for success or otherwise of Quad core 965P based
systems.

I have a Quad core MB 965P DQ6 form Gigabyte and had similar issues in
my first attempt. Before trying a second time I went to BIOS and just
pretty much disabled everything not absolutely necessary to install
the OS and disconnected or disabled all hard drives not needed and
external devices, then my second attempt at install Vista was
successful.

The only remaing big issue is none of my SATA drives work in AHCI or
RAID mode. If I try to set them that way the BIOS starts the boot
process but stops just before entering Windows giving a No OS found
error in spite of the root drive being on the single IDE channel and
NOT A SATA drive. For me that's not a biggie, just annoyance. This in
spite of downloading the latest controller drivers which are claimed
to be both XP and Vista capable and written by Intel.

My best advice is run the Vista Upgrade Advisor and suspect EVERYTHING
it hints at that could be a prblem, WILL BE a problem during the
install. Most of these so-called problems disappear once you can truly
and fully get into Vista as confirm by then looking in Device Manager
it will without any intervention from you install generic drivers for
things is nagged about in many cases.

 

[Guest]

Is this OEM installation an Upgrade from a legacy OS like XP or Win 2K or a

full Vista? Depending upon which I can direct you to MSKBs or other
solutions that might address your problem

It's a full Vista OEM installation CD. As I said I'm installing on a fresh
machine, nothing to upgrade, so I didn't buy an upgrade CD.

Are you getting any setup error messages?

No just hangs.

Have you checked the setup logs?

Can't. After the hangs I can't boot properly. Try booting into Safe mode and
Windows says that I can't boot Safe mode because the installation hasn't
finished. I guess I can take the hard dsk out of the machine and install it
in another one (good job I've got two machines hey) and see if I can read the
NTFS from there to get at the install logs.

I got quite a lot of help from the Microsoft helpline, apart from the fact
that they couldn't fix my problem. Ultimately I guess they where no use, but
I can't fault the service I got, phoned me back a number of times to see how
installation was going, kept on the line for an hour or so while it installed
just in case anything happened etc.

Do you get a specific error message? You should be.

No errors. Just hangs. Like a hardware issue, just like the nice Microsoft
lady said.

A list of Microsoft Knowledge Base articles is available to help
troubleshoot error messages that you may receive when you try to upgrade to
Windows Vista

Not trying to upgrade.

Next time I try and it fails I'll try taking out the hard disk afterwards
and see if I can see anything on it.

 

[R. J. Salvi]

I have a Quad core MB 965P DQ6 form Gigabyte and had similar issues in
my first attempt. Before trying a second time I went to BIOS and just
pretty much disabled everything not absolutely necessary to install
the OS and disconnected or disabled all hard drives not needed and
external devices, then my second attempt at install Vista was
successful.

The only remaing big issue is none of my SATA drives work in AHCI or
RAID mode. If I try to set them that way the BIOS starts the boot
process but stops just before entering Windows giving a No OS found
error in spite of the root drive being on the single IDE channel and
NOT A SATA drive. For me that's not a biggie, just annoyance. This in
spite of downloading the latest controller drivers which are claimed
to be both XP and Vista capable and written by Intel.

My best advice is run the Vista Upgrade Advisor and suspect EVERYTHING
it hints at that could be a prblem, WILL BE a problem during the
install. Most of these so-called problems disappear once you can truly
and fully get into Vista as confirm by then looking in Device Manager
it will without any intervention from you install generic drivers for
things is nagged about in many cases.

<rant> One of the problems I have with Vista being so picky, is that if a
device isn't supported, Vista should simply skip over it and generate a
pop-up on the desktop to let the end user know the device is not
installed/supported. I would also point out Adam, that you, Tom and myself,
are not attempting to install Vista on legacy systems.

And while fingers are pointing in all directions regarding hardware support,
I think the blame should squarely be placed on all industry players. I
realize the PC industry is too dynamic for any mfr. to perfect anything, but
if the goal is to make the PC a more mainstream appliance (such as a
toaster), then I think initially, the industry has taken a step backwards.
</rant>

 

[Guest]

OK. Well my problem seems to be that the motherboard I've got has a 965P
chipset, and this doesn't support Extreme Edition processors. Certainly Abit
reckon that there are "issues" with running a QX6700 on an AB9 Quad GT (you'd
think that a "Quad" GT would support a "Q"X6700 wouldn't you but it doesn't).
Anyway. I'm swapping to a 975X based motherboard and don't expect problems
(using an Intel Bad Axe, so that's bound to work isn't it ).
I'll let you know how I get on when get the board and have it all installed.

 

[R. J. Salvi]

Hi Tom,

The P965 chipset *does* support Quad-core...assuming the correct BIOS
revision with the correct CPU microcodes. In XP, I see all four cores. I
just haven't yet been able to get Vista past hanging on reboot. And IIRC,
there's an obscure Vista installation issue with the 975X chipsets as well,
though I can't remember what it is and it may only be ASUS motherboards.
Anyone...?

According to ABIT's "Processor Support" matrix, it appears you're correct
about the AB9 and Quad-core support. In fact, it looks like only the AW9D &
AW9D-MAX support the quad core.

That said, would you please update us if you're successful with the new
board. Thx.

 

[Guest]

Hi Guys
I thought it was me, I have the abit AWD9Max 975x chipset board.
I have exactly the problems you describe, have been in contact with ABIT
tech service (UK) their last reply in brackets:
( heard that Vista does not support Quad core, or at least you can not
install it with all 4 cores enable.
Apparently, Microsoft has release patches for this, but still does not work.
By disabling one core, vista will able to install. I am not sure how to do
that.)
Like yourselves the New build pc will load XP and run perfectly with no
hitches, I just don't know what to do now, if anyone can help with this
problem please advise

 

[R. J. Salvi]

Andy,

If the Quad-core is truly unsupported by Vista, it's a MS problem, not a
hardware vendor's.

The only thing I can suggest, is to borrow a single or dual-core CPU, drop
it in the motherboard and re-attempt the installation. If Vista installs
successfully, reinstall the Quad-core back in the motherboard and hold your
breath.

If I have time to play with my quad-core PC next week, I'll give the above a
shot. Otherwise, the PC makes one helluva paperweight. ;-)

 

[Guest]

Well having got my Intel Bad Axe 2 (975X chipset) VIsta installed and is
running fine. Task manager reports 4 processors.

So. The original board was a 965P based board and according to the INtel
website the 965P chipset supports Quad core, but not Quad code EXtreme, which
the QX6700 is. I believe that that was my problem. I guess I can understand
why XP might work just fine, since dual core/quad core hadn't been invented
then, so I guess Vista is taking advantage of them in a way that XP wouldn't,
hence the crashing.

Anyway I'm now sorted, although I now have a spare motherboard (past the 7
days I had to return it to supplier), probably soon to be seen on ebay.

 

[R. J. Salvi]

Well...it would appear that my PSU(s) were deficient. I have both the Antec
550W and 650W. The problem it appears is that the 12V rails are independent
of one another, so if you're not using all rails, you're leaving current "on
the table" instead of utilizing it.

How do I know it's the PSU? I underclocked the CPU (lowered the multiplier
from 10 to 6) and Vista installed like a champ. Time to contact PC Power and
Cooling since their PSUs don't have independent 12V rails.

What's interesting about the whole process is understanding how an OS --
Vista in this case -- allocates and utilizes system resources, generating a
need for more current draw. Win2K and WinXP both worked flawlessly on this
box with the 550W Antec.

 

[cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)]

On Mon, 19 Feb 2007 09:32:13 -0800, "R. J. Salvi"

Well...it would appear that my PSU(s) were deficient. I have both the Antec
550W and 650W. The problem it appears is that the 12V rails are independent
of one another, so if you're not using all rails, you're leaving current "on
the table" instead of utilizing it.

Ew. That adds a third to two "power" factors to consider...

1) The "last mile" capacitors

Light travels 15m in 1 nanosecond I'm told, so sometimes a PSU that's
on the other end of a 20cm wire is too far away.

Hence all the electrolytic caps dotted around the motherboard,
particularly around the processor. They provide the "last mile" of
power linkage (at GHz timings, an inch is like a mile).

We've used such capacitors for large currents, and high radio
frequencies, but rarely both until processors started demanding amps
delivered at 500MHz and higher. So these capacitors had to be
re-ingineered, and for one or other reason, quality issues arose
concerning the special solution contained in the caps.

If the formulation of this solution is incomplete (e.g. if based on
plans that were stolen midway through the folrmulation process,
leaving out an ingredient or two) then it can break down and liberate
hydrogen, causing the flat silver tops to bulge, then leak.

This has the same effect as other causes of power inadequacy.

2) Individual line ratings

It can be interesting to look at the amperage ratings of separate
power lines within a xxx-watt PSU. Often you find some lines on some
lower-wattage PSUs are higher than other hi-wattage PSUs.

Most stuff runs off the +5V TTL logic standard, but increasingly the
+3.3V is taking over. The +12V line traditionally does drive motors
for 3.5" hard drives and optical drives, but as modern linear voltage
regulation works better with large voltage drops, some circuits (e.g.
SVGA) now use the +12V line for thier sub-3.3V feeds.

The old -5V and -12V lines aren't often used, with one exception;
traditional RS-232 serial traffic uses the -12V line.

3) Different same-voltage lines may be separate load centers

This I didn't know, but is suggested by this post.

PSU pricing is similar for anything 350W or below, and often only one
or two lines differ in amperage rating when moving "up" from 300W to
350W PSUs. Above that, PSUs get heavy (suggesting extra circuitry
and/or heat sinks) and costly (which may suggest genuinely higher
input costs, such as duplicated circuitry).

Large currents create problems of their own, so it makes sense that
heroic PSUs in the 500W+ range may in fact use duplicated circuits and
load paths, rather than try to build one super arc-welding-capable fat
line. The poster's mileage suggests this is the case, and that
problems arose when one particular line was overloaded.

--------------- ---- --- -- - - - -

Saws are too hard to use.
Be easier to use!

 

[Guest]

Hey everyone. On Jan 14, 2007, Bryce posted a fix that worked for me. He
does have log in this forum somewhere, but I cut and pasted his instructions.
They worked for me right away. Here they are:

Bryce said...

I am running build 5600 w/ RC1 update. This is a basic explanation of if you
get a black screen at first boot, which may be usefull to some who are
experiancing this for the first time on any pre-release version in the beta
test.

-Black screen or video corruption at first boot.

Welcome to Windows Vista! Both Nvidia and ATI based cards have known
problems for certain models that are still under investigation. If you get
the black screen or corrupt video output after seeing the grey screen saying
"Windows is preparing to boot for the first time", this is a highly likely
culprit. Chances are you panicked and rebooted and keep ending up either at a
ascreen with a blinking cursor or random lines or snow accross the screen
after the "Windows is loading" screen. So we'll take it from there.

1. Rebooot and enter Bios. Make sure the following is set up correctly. If
you have never changed adavanced Bios setting, please call you rgeeky cousin
who has and have him explain as he does the next steps.

2. Make sure that APIC is enabled and ver2.0 is supported. In simple terms,
this is the software that assigns priority to all devices attatched to your
motherboad. Please see Wikipedia for the heavy description. Ver2.0 is
required for Vista to make sure that all your devices will be found during
setup and running the OS. For those with some previous experiance, APIC takes
care of assigning IRQ and DMA addressing to all system devices to make sure
that every device can coomunicate with the system in order of priority. If
you have a computer or motherboard made after 2005, this is almost assured to
be an option. You can get Vista woring under Ver1.0, but we are leaving that
to those with previous experiance and simply saying that this is not a MS
supported option.

3.Make sure that ACPI is enabaled. This is different than above. ACPI is
what makes the computer go to "sleep" or "hibernate". It is universal in
computers after 2000. Make sure you have at least ACPI S1 enabaled. S3 is
only possible in very custom system without headaches.

4. Make sure that MPS table 1.1 or 1.4 is selected. I recomend 1.1 from
personal experiance. This only applies to those with dual-core systems.
Please consult your computer/MB documentation.

5.Make sure that on-board video is disabled if availible. Please also
disable quick/fast boot for your own sanity.

6. Now save and reboot. (Typically F10)

7. On reboot, after the machine has counted the system memory and found the
hard drive, hit F8 to enter the windows boot menu. Your machine has not yet
loaded up winodws from the hard drive, and is essentially no different than a
machine with a blank hard drive. You want to choose safe mode with networking.

8. You will now see the system loading, line by line. Have a cup of coffee
on slower systems.

9. You will end up in Safe mode, but will now be getting a message of not
being able to continue as setup was not completed. Please hit Shift-F10. This
will leave you staring at the command prompt. You do *remember* DOS, right?

10. Type "devmgmt.msc" and the Device manager from the windows controll
panel will show up. Look at the video card. Chance are it will not have an
exclamation point like some devices. Feel free to load up drivers for
anything needed from here if you know how to.

11. Right click on the video card entry and choose "Update Driver..." A
wizard will start to guid you through the proccess.

12. You will see "Can Windows connect to Windows Update to search for
software?" Click "No, not this time"

13.Click Next, then click "Chhose from a list", now click next.

14. Select the generic VGA Driver and click next. Windows will now install
the standard VGA driver. Click OK to close the wizard and then close the
device manager. Now click ok to that old warning about winodws not finished
installing. The system will reboot.

15. The system will now boot up without without hanging or faulting on your
video cards driver. The machine may want to reboot one more time after
setting up your settings. If it does, you may have to repeat the proccess
above one more time.

16. After completing set-up, you should now be looking at the desktop and
thinking "Thank god". Now feel free to install the video drivers of your
choice. Please make a restore point first.

Hope this helps!