RTM Install: Black Screen of Death

Hi all,

I'm getting a black screen of death when installing Vista Ultimate RTM (I
downloaded the ISO from my MSDN subscription). It gets through the first
part of the install and then reboots, I get a black screen and see a bunch of
hard drive activity, then all activity stops. If I reboot and go into Safe
Mode, it tells me that in order to complete the install, Vista can't be in
Safe Mode. This happens with both an Clean Install and with an Upgrade.
Also, I had the exac same problem with RC1 and RC2.

My video card is a Sapphire Radeon 9600XT (ATI), and I'm running on a
Shuttle SN95G5 mainboard (NVidia NForce3 chipset).

Thanks!
Bill

Also forgot to say, I have the latest BIOS for my motherboard and the Vista
Upgrade Advisor says that all my hardware is 100% compatible.

Thanks

"Bill Mers" wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I'm getting a black screen of death when installing Vista Ultimate RTM (I
> downloaded the ISO from my MSDN subscription). It gets through the first
> part of the install and then reboots, I get a black screen and see a bunch of
> hard drive activity, then all activity stops. If I reboot and go into Safe
> Mode, it tells me that in order to complete the install, Vista can't be in
> Safe Mode. This happens with both an Clean Install and with an Upgrade.
> Also, I had the exac same problem with RC1 and RC2.
>
> My video card is a Sapphire Radeon 9600XT (ATI), and I'm running on a
> Shuttle SN95G5 mainboard (NVidia NForce3 chipset).
>
> Thanks!
> Bill

Is this posted here for information only?


Bill Mers wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I'm getting a black screen of death when installing Vista Ultimate RTM (I
> downloaded the ISO from my MSDN subscription). It gets through the first
> part of the install and then reboots, I get a black screen and see a bunch of
> hard drive activity, then all activity stops. If I reboot and go into Safe
> Mode, it tells me that in order to complete the install, Vista can't be in
> Safe Mode. This happens with both an Clean Install and with an Upgrade.
> Also, I had the exac same problem with RC1 and RC2.
>
> My video card is a Sapphire Radeon 9600XT (ATI), and I'm running on a
> Shuttle SN95G5 mainboard (NVidia NForce3 chipset).
>
> Thanks!
> Bill

Sorry, I figured it went without saying: can anybody help?

Thanks

"Theo" wrote:

> Is this posted here for information only?
>
>
> Bill Mers wrote:
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I'm getting a black screen of death when installing Vista Ultimate RTM (I
> > downloaded the ISO from my MSDN subscription). It gets through the first
> > part of the install and then reboots, I get a black screen and see a bunch of
> > hard drive activity, then all activity stops. If I reboot and go into Safe
> > Mode, it tells me that in order to complete the install, Vista can't be in
> > Safe Mode. This happens with both an Clean Install and with an Upgrade.
> > Also, I had the exac same problem with RC1 and RC2.
> >
> > My video card is a Sapphire Radeon 9600XT (ATI), and I'm running on a
> > Shuttle SN95G5 mainboard (NVidia NForce3 chipset).
> >
> > Thanks!
> > Bill
>

What is you entire hardware configuration?

Bill Mers wrote:
> Sorry, I figured it went without saying: can anybody help?
>
> Thanks
>
> "Theo" wrote:
>
>> Is this posted here for information only?
>>
>>
>> Bill Mers wrote:
>>> Hi all,
>>>
>>> I'm getting a black screen of death when installing Vista Ultimate RTM (I
>>> downloaded the ISO from my MSDN subscription). It gets through the first
>>> part of the install and then reboots, I get a black screen and see a bunch of
>>> hard drive activity, then all activity stops. If I reboot and go into Safe
>>> Mode, it tells me that in order to complete the install, Vista can't be in
>>> Safe Mode. This happens with both an Clean Install and with an Upgrade.
>>> Also, I had the exac same problem with RC1 and RC2.
>>>
>>> My video card is a Sapphire Radeon 9600XT (ATI), and I'm running on a
>>> Shuttle SN95G5 mainboard (NVidia NForce3 chipset).
>>>
>>> Thanks!
>>> Bill

Hi Bill,

Is BIOS antivirus disabled?
Is the active volume accessible?

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

"Bill Mers" <billmers@newsgroup.nospam> wrote in message
news:B395A669-0E08-463F-BE3F-3E3E82151604@microsoft.com...
> Hi all,
>
> I'm getting a black screen of death when installing Vista Ultimate RTM (I
> downloaded the ISO from my MSDN subscription). It gets through the first
> part of the install and then reboots, I get a black screen and see a bunch
> of
> hard drive activity, then all activity stops. If I reboot and go into
> Safe
> Mode, it tells me that in order to complete the install, Vista can't be in
> Safe Mode. This happens with both an Clean Install and with an Upgrade.
> Also, I had the exac same problem with RC1 and RC2.
>
> My video card is a Sapphire Radeon 9600XT (ATI), and I'm running on a
> Shuttle SN95G5 mainboard (NVidia NForce3 chipset).
>
> Thanks!
> Bill

I had the exact same problem installing on and XPS 700. After numerous
attempts at an upgrade and then a clean install I had not luck getting past
the black screen of death. I went into the bios and turned off
hyperthreading (on by default) and it loaded perfectly. I couldnt find any
information that discussed this problem. All I found was problems with bios
updates, video card drivers, etc. All I had to do was turn off
hyperthreading. Dont know if this will fix your problem but hopefully it
will help.


"Bill Mers" wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I'm getting a black screen of death when installing Vista Ultimate RTM (I
> downloaded the ISO from my MSDN subscription). It gets through the first
> part of the install and then reboots, I get a black screen and see a bunch of
> hard drive activity, then all activity stops. If I reboot and go into Safe
> Mode, it tells me that in order to complete the install, Vista can't be in
> Safe Mode. This happens with both an Clean Install and with an Upgrade.
> Also, I had the exac same problem with RC1 and RC2.
>
> My video card is a Sapphire Radeon 9600XT (ATI), and I'm running on a
> Shuttle SN95G5 mainboard (NVidia NForce3 chipset).
>
> Thanks!
> Bill