Hold on (long reading but it's worth it) : this story didn't end (I hoped it did ,but it didn't
). This machine was a Packard Bell ,for which this company refused to hand me over the install DVD. So I fetched an Vista OEM SP1 from the net. I advise NEVER to buy a packard bell ! Worst support ever !
Nice install guideline doc over here :
Clean Vista install WITH NO ACTIVATION - Notebook Forums and Laptop Discussion
During the reinstall of this machine I found some VERY interesting facts :
The re-installation ALWAYS interrupted with either BLUES SCREENS OF DEATH (BSOD) , or were interrupted during the expanding phase of the files.
Doubting that I had a good source ,I burned over and over the same iso again ,with all possible variations (change of reader,cable,burnsoft,medium,burnspeeds,etc ..) .
After browsing numerous hours the web , I came to the conclusion that this must be a hardware problem.
So I removed 1 memory bar (there were 2 present of 1Gb) ,and .... :
NOW THE INSTALLATION PROCEEDED ,AND FINALIZED
Hmm .. did I say to myself : A beginners error ? Just a memory hardware error ?
Strange ,because during all other activities with the livecd/dvd ,were memory is intensively used ,this problem didn't occur ?
So next step : Testing the memory
And what shows : No error reported by mem check tools whatsoever. I launched 5 different mem check tools.
Hmm even stranger : Conclusion Vista SP1 installation doesn't like 2 bars of memory (or doesn't like the management of the memory) .
Coming to the final conclusion :
The initial problem of the VISTA corruption occurs on the installation of a certain update (yet unclear if only with SP1 or another) ,together with a certain chipset (unknown which ones) AND THE PRESENCE OF 2 MEMORY BARS !!! During this upgrade-or install- ,a BSOD will occur or the upgrade will fail. But when a repair will be executed afterwards ,it will fail also because of the presence of these 2 memory bars. As a result ,many people will launch several repairs ,ending up with a total loss vista install.
SO :
WHENEVER INSTALLING SP1-and the following updates- (TROUGH CLEAN INSTALL OR TROUGH UPGRADE ) MAKE SURE ONLY 1 MEMORY BAR IS PRESENT IN YOUR SYSTEM. VISTA DOES HAVE ISSUES WITH MEMORY MANAGEMENT OF CERTAIN BIOS OR CHIPSETS. ONCE YOU'VE DOWNLOADED ALL THE POSSIBLE UPDATES ,YOU MAY REINSTALL THE SECOND MEMORY BAR.
TO BE SURE ,YOU CAN RUN AFTERWARDS -AFTER THE INSTALL OF ALL UPDATES- THE 'MEMORY DIAGNOSTIC TOOL' (%SystemRoot%\System32\MdSched.exe , more on this
here)
I hope this might help some of you. I've spent 18h hours to conclude this using the trial and error method.
Kind regards,
K.
Thank you MS for giving me this extra work,I will never run out of business thanks to you. This reminds me of the days of Windows 3.11 ...