Help please !

[northantsflyer]

Hi Guys

Well this isn't strictly FS related but it stops me getting as much FS time as I would like so I guess it is in a way ?? Anyway....

I am using Vista Home Premium, 32bit OS 1GB RAM PentiumD 2.48Ghz

Whenever I install or uninstall ANY programme, application etc and the computer 'needs to restart' to complete either installation or uninstallation it then wont restart properly, resulting in a blue screen during start up, which I have to go through several times until eventually I get the start up repair wizzard working and I get back to a restore point prior to my misery and heartache !!!

Any ideas, suggestions etc would be really appriciated !!!

Thanks All
Scott

[Techy111]

Not to sure Scott....maybe you need another stick of Ram....i think 1 gig is a little on the slow side for vista...

Tony

[DaveB]

I seem to remember Ben thinking someone had knicked half of his cores when he had one stick go bad taking him from 2 to 1. 1 IS a bit on the tame side for Vista ;-)

ATB

DaveB :tab:

[northantsflyer]

Thanks Guys, the only thing is it operated fine until all this started about 4 months ago, so not sure???

[Techy111]

I got 4 x 1 gigs stick sitting here doing nothing.....yours very cheap...let me know via PM....?

Generic 667 Mhz sticks....

Tony

[speedbird591]

1Gb RAM is certainly the bare minimum for running Home Premium, but if the problem has only started recently that may not be the main cause. Have you checked your hard drive for spare capacity?

If it is getting up beyond 80% full, windows will be struggling to find enough contigous file space for new progs, causing the files to become fragmented. Especially so if you have done a lot of installing and uninstalling.

If your HDD is getting full, delete any unnecessary progs and maybe put some pictures or videos on CD or an external drive. Then run CCleaner (http://www.ccleaner.com/)to clear out swathes of old temporary internet files. It's also worth using the CCleaner registry cleaner but make sure you say yes when it asks you if you want to make a backup - and save it somewhere that's easy to find.

Finally do a defrag with either Windows defrag or even better - Auslogics free (http://www.auslogics.com/en/software/disk-defrag). This will put all the fragments of files back into contigous space so the HDD doesn't have to work so hard to find the next bit.

Hope this helps

Ian

[Quixoticish]

This will be nothing to do with not having enough RAM or a powerful enough CPU if it's only recently occurred and the PC is running fine. Even not having enough hard disk space won't cause a blue screen on boot.

I've seen similar problems before and they were all caused by a corrupt a347bus.sys (this sits in C:\Windows\System32\Drivers). Boot off your VISTA DVD and make it boot into a command prompt. When you're at the command prompt type in "CD C:\Windows\System32\Drivers" (without the quotation marks). Type in "rename a347bus.sys a347bus.bak" (again without the quotation marks). You've just renamed the file. Reboot normally and Windows will have a hissy fit on boot and should try to replace the file with a new copy for you. I say should because I've seen this trick both work and not work, and if it doesn't work and this is the problem file then you need to re-install VISTA.

That said it could be any number of things that are simpler to fix. Corrupt graphics card drivers would be a likely culprit, try booting into safe mode, and removing them properly with drivercleaner (http://www.drivercleaner.net/). Reboot and install the most up to date ones.

It could also be a failing hard drive, that's another culprit that will exhibit these symptoms. The only way to test this realistically is to get it booted up and leave some software scanning it overnight, but even then if it's a problem with the controller chips it likely won't show up on any scans you can do from the comfort of your own home.

Have you tried using the VISTA recovery disk at all yet? It is quite handy (unlike the XP one) and can actually go some way to curing your PC when it won't boot.

What is the message that you are receiving on the blue screen itself? If you aren't computer savvy and really don't have a clue what I'm talking about then take it into a computer repair shop and get them to have a look at it for you. And make sure you've got backups of any important data so no matter how much things get broken you can still restore anything that you may need in the future.

[northantsflyer]

Thanks Chris

I have lost my Vista CD, is there anyway of doing this without the disk?? Although it would break my heart, would resorting to factory settings work?

[Quixoticish]

I'm not a user of VISTA myself but a quick google for "VISTA recovery disk" reveals the following that looks as though it may be of use to you:

http://neosmart.net/blog/2008/windows-v ... -download/