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System Restarts while installing Vista x64

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MavenHades

MavenHades

Programmer
Dec 21, 2008
9
US
I am trying to install Vista x64 with SP1. I have an Asus P5Q-E Mobo, Intel Q6600 proc, 2 GBs of ram, GeForce 6800 graphics, and 2 500 gig HDDs. I am running the HDDs in Raid. I set up my Raid volume and set all the needed items in the bios. When I load from the Vista disc, it loads all the windows files and displays the windows progress bar. After the progress bar, the vista color scheme displays but the language selection menu never appears. Eventually my machine restarts. I have successfully installed Vista x86 and 64 bit Ubuntu without any problems. I have tried two copies of the Vista disc as well. Any ideas at what could be causing these restarts?
 
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If it is not solved by updating drivers, see if the available logs can give you a clue or two. They are likely to be lengthy things so you might like to search for words like Warning, Failed or Error, etc.

Windows Vista setup log file locations
 
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I have also tried installing 64 bit Vista on a single drive without RAID. The same problem still occurs. One time the language selection screen did appear. However when I clicked next to go to the next screen, my system restarted.
 
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Have you tried setting BIOS to see sata as IDE and install then?
 
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Is the 64-bit being installed on a machine that is also installed with x86 and Linux in some type of triple boot configuration? If not is it a machine that had at one time Linux installed on it? I am just wondering if it is a problem caused by any Linux boot loader?

Did those logs tell you anything?
 
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Yes I did set the sata as IDE in my BIOS but that was unsuccessful as well.

I am trying to install a single Vista x64 configuration. I installed Vista x86 and 64 bit linux all seperately just for testing purposes but they are no longer installed. As for the log files, how do you access them? My hard drives are completely bare. I cannot even get to the screen to select my hard drive and install the RAID driver without my system restarting.
 
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update the BIOS...

What is the make and wattage of your PSU? what GFX card is installed?



Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
 
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To access the logs you will need an operating system that can access the installed to hard drive and any necessary drivers to access and see the drive.

You can put the hard drive in another machine, or use something like BartPE and the F6 button.


The files maybe hidden and system files which require those views to be allowed if vied from another XP or Vista system.
 
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I have a OCZ 700 Watt PSU and a NVIDIA GeForce 6800 graphics card. My BIOS are up to date with version 1703 that ASUS just recently released.

I tried viewing the contents of hard drive by installing it in another system. The drive could be viewed but the contents were empty, nothing was found on the drive.

The restarts were occuring before I ever installed linux. The linux install was just used as a test to see if 64 bit could run, as I just built this machine and was trying to pinpoint the error. I did run the command to remove the Linux LILO Boot Manager, but the problem still persists.
 
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I have ran memtest through 6 passes and no errors were found for my ram. I have also tried changing the ram slots and just using one stick in different ports. Neither option has worked. With those tests, it doesn't seem like it would be the ram but I am not ruling it out.

I have tried it both as raid 0 with 2 drives and a single drive as sata. Neither option contained the logs. The vistax64.com forum had a problem during the installation completion step. I cannot even get to the screen to load my raid drivers before my system restarts. Many people seem to be having troubles with BSOD during the installation process, but my system just restarts. I have yet to get a BSOD.

Thanks for all of your input.
 
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Well, the specs of the PSU are good to go, though the GFX card is ancient and I was not aware that it came in the PCI-X form...

Assuming that the mobo is still within warranty (new) I would RMA it, and get another mobo...

I have the P5Q mainboard and have not had any problem installing Vista x86_64 at all... though I installed it onto SATA in IDE mode, due to it being a Triple Boot (three different drives)...


Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
 
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Try shutting off any onboard extras and see if it will then continue the install.
 
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The graphics card is older and I plan on upgrading it eventually. I believe it was one of the first graphics cards that use PCI-X.

Could there be a problem with the mobo, even though I was able to install and run both Vista x86 and Linux x64 without any problems? If there were a problem I would think that it would occur on one of those installations, not just the Vista x64.

I did try disabling the onboard features with no success. The only feature I have yet to disable are the USB ports because my keyboard is USB. I have to find a PS/2 keyboard and I will try disabling the USB ports as well.
 
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Well, about the mobo being bad, yes it still could be... Vista uses a h*ll of a lot more resources...

but in retrospect, it also could be a bad BIOS, meaning try some earlier BIOS versions... I had a TYAN Dual OPTERON mainboard that would not allow the install of VISTA until I reflashed it to one of the earlier versions...

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
 
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I was finally able to install Vista x64 after I found a PS\2 keyboard. The problem was with the USB ports. After I disabled them in the bios everything installed perfectly. I tried different versions of the bios and they all encounter the same problem. I also noticed that if I have an external hard drive running while trying to boot my machine, a boot error occurs. After checking the bios, my boot options change when an external hard drive is running. I'm not sure why this happens but I am still looking into it. Thanks to all for your help.
 
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Now that is a new one to me, that a USB KBD hinders the installation of Vista...

about the USB drives being a boot problem, that is known...

glad it turned out not to be the mainboard, and that you finally got to install Vista...



Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
 
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