I think it is hardware but I would like to add something to what I wrote yesterday. The first thing they teach about troubleshooting is that a dodgy power supply can exhibit almost any symptoms. I wouldn't run out and buy a PS but if you have a spare you can try changing it. Try some burn in software.
@CARL i honestly though that a 750Watts PS was sufficient especially for what i have installed, not that many hardware, and if the PS was damage wouldnt it give me BSOD or something near that cuz it doesnt n it hasnt yet but i guess u can be right.
Dragonfire, Are you saying you are installing SP1 after each vista install? Have you tried uninstalling SP1? I don't think you have a virus or malware (pretty difficult to catch unless you're installing warez ). I still think it's your hard drive. I have also seen some videos where people are unable to boot if they have an external hard drive plugged in, but once they boot without the external attached, in windows they can plug in the external and everything works fine. Best of luck.
@VISTADUDE well i do agree with u being a HDD issue. N just so u kno i have no external HDD both of my HDD are internal and SATA. Regarding SP1 the reason i have to install it after every reinstallation is due to the fact that my retail version it does not have SP1 intergrated. N my Vista is a torrent one which it was check by an antivirus to n there was no virus and when i do reinstall Vista i always do a complete scan and i get nothing. So yea i think is a HDD issues right now i just order another HDD from NEWEGG i get it tomorrow, i cant do anythin is too slow it takes me about 30mins just to copy one simple file over to my BACKUP is too slow i cant do anything so if im goin to reinstall Vista i might as well do it on a new HDD and see if that do some difference
dragonfire665, Since you're going to do another clean install with the new hard disk, try it first without SP1. If everything works fine for a few weeks, create a disc image and system restore point and then install SP1. If anything goes wrong you'll have a backup to go back to.
I second Monk you could even partition second Hard drive with acronis so you don't lose data and try fresh install on that.
im sorry for sayin this words, but DAMN MONK, you never fail wit you intellectual comments and most of all impressive results in knowledge. N yes i do have 2 HDD, one where the OS is partition, half of the HDD is for the OS and the other half for Programs. My second HDD is my BACKUPS where i install anything i download from music to video or anything of that matter and is kinda full LOL. I did already bough just one other HDD i get it today which is awesome, thanks to NEWEGG, is a 750GB and will only be use for OS, i will keep my other 2 HDD and reformat the one where my OS was n only use it for watever else. I will remove and unplug all peripherals within my computer and remove all RAM which i will keep just a 2GB for the moment. Regarding (MONK) you examination to the case, you hit it right on the money. Its pretty much every 2 weeks when this has happened. N yes reinstallin the OS did fix the problem. But as you said it could be much more than that. I kno you just asked me to do some test, the only issue is that well, um, i delete the OS, so now im waitin for my new HDD to install it there. Also, i guess i will try using this time Windows Vista Eternity, i kno is a small different from Retail Vista but hopefully that might have some more reliable software within. N also the restore points, yea they get delete once i use one Restore Points, all other get delete but that one use will not work, and i will get errors leaving me at the same starting point. So i most again, to all here hearing say you deserve a pad on the back for all your help MONK, you have come thru for me many times before, n i do hope my issues and solutions help the rest of the community, and oh yea ill keep all post regardin this case as the days go by so all can see whats goin on and what worked for me, if thats all ok with you guys, i just want to help everyone, if anyone is or get to be at my situation, and by the way so all know, this issues never happened to me when i have XP Pro, which i had on all my other computers and on this one that i builded last year on May and ran with XP Pro all the way until January of this year when i install Vista and yea thats when the problem started to happen. (just so all can kno that, n yes i like Vista and so do i like XP, so im not bashin Vista at all, it has a lot of potential but they are doin little about it, MS)
Software problem In my opinion, this is tipically software and not a harware problem, if is really a harware problem shure that the machine is not going to wait a week to fail the next morning won't boot more, (probabilly I am wrong the thing I can't see the machine to make a diagnostic), please don't waste your money buying harware you don't need. Try test the memory's stick one by one with the memory tool of vista before and I sugest you make a clean copy of vista previosly full format with WD Tool don't conect the other disk, don't install any other software, only drivers no usb key and conect it to internet and update vista, and see what happens.
@FABIGUI i kno you guys are like, damn this guys s**t are all mess up. Well here is the thin, i use MEMTEST to check all 4 rams that i have, they are all from the same brand OCZ and also same model, just 2 or 1GB and 2 are 2GB, so total of 6GB. I did one ram at a time, and ran it past 15test, and no errors on each. So yea thats done. N oh yea i just got my new HDD, WD Caviar Black, and heck im goin to give that a swirl. Regarding the software installation, on the other cases it happened to me thats what i exactly did, i installed Vista, then updated it until there was no more updates then i moved from there
@MONK hey bro anytime u do deserve them. here is somethings, man is goin to sux havin 6Gb or rams not being use, but ok you guys win i will go wit 32bit, u guys are smarter so ill take that advice and ill do so. Regardin the Image for the OS, so i will partition the drive (which i kno how to do so, but one issues with XP CD you were able to use an certain amount and once the computer started rellocate the rest, Vista CD does not do that, or am i wron? how can i do so while installin Vista on my New HDD that is yet formatted or partition since it still here next to me on my work desk) I will like to make that Image so incase this happens i can just go back to that moment. Also regarding firmware, here is my busy side talking, i realize that my MOBO BIOS is actually 3 firmware backs, meanin it is right now P5 when the lastest one is P8, do you think that will cost some issues? let me think what else i had to say? well i cant think of it right now lol
yea if thats the case then im goin to install Vista on the whole HDD and then resize it with Partition Magic, which i find it better and easier to work wit. N Monk want to hear somethin funny? that site you sent me, i was just readin it while doin some google search. on yes all my Ram are 800Mhz i saw no need for 1066Mhz and neither will i OC cuz yea im afraid of messin somethin up, and yes guy im afraid, go ahead laught, i kno is funny, but heck i love my baby, is a nice computer, besides the fact of the OS acting retarded from some odd reasons
PartMag Partition Magic is/was notorious for trashing XP partitions. If you do a quick Google, you see that many folks claim that PM either does not work with Vista or it will "mess" you up. It would be good to hear from others regarding PM and Vista. I would say as long as Vista allows you to resize your partition in the way you want through Disk Management, then stick with Vista. Me - laugh at your caution? Never! I, and I bet everyone who reads this thread knows exactly what you are saying. You fit your honey with well-researched accouterments, all matched to get along with each other, then you fine tune the BIOS/OS so that everything busses along with a big smile - at which point you do not want to rearrange a hair. When I get to this point, I do an image backup; going overboard, perhaps, then I do an image backup before/after I make any changes (add/remove/tweak progs) hoping to always to be able to return to that happy state if I flubbed it. Laughing at you? Never: been there, done that! Monk
Sorry but i remember but can't find the thread as reguarding ram you cannot mix single sided with double sided ram.
SIMMs and DIMMs I think I missed something here about mixing SIMMs and DIMMs. Who still has SIMMs? Anyway, SIMMs use redundant (single sided) 30 or 70 pin contacts for a 32 bit bus; as used in computers (v. printers, e.g.) DIMMs use separate contacts on each side of the PCB (double sided) and have anywhere from 170 to 240 pins (DDR3) for a 64 bit bus (which I believe made its appearance with the Pentium or because of the Pentium). Were you mixing SIMMs and DIMMs in your mobo? Monk
Monk, i dont mean mixing simms and dimms you do get single sided dimms and depending on motherboard manuals some cannot be mixed or have to be put in certain order in some motherboards
Well, ok @URIE So what you mean is since im using all 4 DIMMS i might be causin the issues with my ram? I mean even though they have the same timing and the same Mhz? it will cause a problem? Here is my order that i had 0-2G 1-1GB 2-2GB 3-1GB i could understand where you are coming from regarding the rams, but i though having 4dimms were meant to be use so i could have a larger number of rams? @MONK, well thanks man i feel better about knowin Partition Magic doesnt work well with Vista, i have not tried it yet cux i had it since XP i bought it last year, but heck i guess i can buy another one, and same goes for ACRONIS so i can image my Vista OS, but one thing, but IMAGE you mean like using actual DVDs and burnin you OS to those? cuz man it always take so many, but i got some DL, i guess i can use those. N oh MONK here this, i installed yesterday Eternity Ultimate 32bit on my new HDD, i had no other HDD installed, once finished shut down my PC plugged the other 2 HDD made sure they were formatted but yea for some reason when i got to DESKTOP some of my programs and that i was using on my other HDD where Vista was appearred on my new HDD, like LIMEWIRE, GOOGLE CHROME icons, right on desktop, n oh yea, for some reason my new HDD had Vista loader running before startup activatin my Vista copy, n i didnt even install it, weird right? So yea while tryin to install NVIDIA system tools, with only one ram (2GB) it was givin me BSOD. So yea im not back to using the only copy of Vista that have not givin me that while fresh installation, my Retail version that does not have SP1. N right now i have it installing SP1. Once thats done, i will get Acronis so i can burn my OS Image. N one last thing, how can i merge Partition with Vista, is there a way to do so? using Disk Management?
OK dragonfire665, you can stop right there you are using a vista modded dvd from torrent site. This thing has been has been stripped to pieces probably with vlite to get all the programs on dvd. Personally i still think you are infected with spyware why cant you install real vista and try without activating for 30 days see what happens, also do you still have same problems on x86 and x64 installs if you do then it is hardware.