Hi guys, my friend had a laptop that crashed, it then wouldn't boot, giving irql no less than equal as soon as vista just got past to startup screen (the booting screen with the green status bar). He isn't computer savvy, so he didn't have any recovery cds made. Tried booting into safe mode, first time it didn't work, it said something about the login screen system file not working. Tried a system restore in repair mode, but that didn't work either, gave numerous BSOD screens when trying to boot into safe mode or normal mode. At one point after number system restores and repairs, I was able to get into safe mode, but only for a few minutes until it gave a irq no less than equal error again. After backing up user files by taking teh hard drive out and using an external enclosure, I decided to do a clean install. It seemed to go smoothly, it goes to expanding files, and around 60%-99% (tried many times), it gives the same irql bsod (I got a cache manager bsod as well, but that was only once). What the hell is happening, its frustrating beyone belief.