Vista refuses to start normally

I've just installed Vista, and the installation went like a charm. After
having started up for the the first time (succesfully) I modified the folder,
taskbar, sidebar and displaysettings to better suit me, and I installed the
latest updates from WindowsUpdate. I didn't install anything else, so my
Vista installation is a clean installation with no 3rd party software at all.
However, each time I try to start Vista now, it hangs during the
low-resolution progress bar at startup (the green one that has "Microsoft"
beneath it). No error messages, no nothing.
I can, however, startup and go into safemode and safemode w/networking, but
when I try to startup normally after that, it just hangs again.
I highly doubt this is a hardware issue, since my XP-installation has worked
fine without any errors of any kind.
I also tried booting from my Vista DVD to try the repair tools, but none of
them helped. The Startup Repair simply failed for no apparent reason (even
this without error messages), and System Restore didn't want to cooperate. It
said it just couldn't use any of the restore points.
So now I'm stuck and don't know what to do. I really want Vista to work, but
it simply doesn't.
Does anybody have any tips on what I can do to make Vista work?

Go into safe mode and look to see what the Vista Update downloaded and
installed..........uninstall one by one till you find the culprit.
Start with device drivers............
Under XP the rule of thumb was not to let XP update non MS products either
software or hardware and as such the updater needed to be set to notify but
not install,then you could see what and determine which to actually download
and install......the same is true for Vista.Non MS drivers should be
downloaded from the manufacturers website..not MS update site
good luck
peter
"Chandler" <Chandler@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:8118BE4E-E5C3-4D00-8494-3887DF8E2F00@microsoft.com...
> I've just installed Vista, and the installation went like a charm. After
> having started up for the the first time (succesfully) I modified the
> folder,
> taskbar, sidebar and displaysettings to better suit me, and I installed
> the
> latest updates from WindowsUpdate. I didn't install anything else, so my
> Vista installation is a clean installation with no 3rd party software at
> all.
> However, each time I try to start Vista now, it hangs during the
> low-resolution progress bar at startup (the green one that has "Microsoft"
> beneath it). No error messages, no nothing.
> I can, however, startup and go into safemode and safemode w/networking,
> but
> when I try to startup normally after that, it just hangs again.
> I highly doubt this is a hardware issue, since my XP-installation has
> worked
> fine without any errors of any kind.
> I also tried booting from my Vista DVD to try the repair tools, but none
> of
> them helped. The Startup Repair simply failed for no apparent reason (even
> this without error messages), and System Restore didn't want to cooperate.
> It
> said it just couldn't use any of the restore points.
> So now I'm stuck and don't know what to do. I really want Vista to work,
> but
> it simply doesn't.
> Does anybody have any tips on what I can do to make Vista work?

"peter" wrote:
> Go into safe mode and look to see what the Vista Update downloaded and
> installed..........uninstall one by one till you find the culprit.

Had it only been that easy. After not being able to start Vista, and
suspecting that the Windows Update did something stupid, I completely
reinstalled Vista, but this time I didn't adjust any of my settings nor did I
download any updates or install any drivers. Yet, Vista still refuses to
start everytime I power on my PC or restart it after entering safemode. The
startup hangs in exactly the same place as before.

Could you give us a list of hardware on your PC as well as specs.
It seems to be stuck while it is loading hardware drivers...........
peter
"Chandler" <Chandler@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:04DAFA5B-B2CA-4DDE-BA6E-1DFC8DFD0B25@microsoft.com...
> "peter" wrote:
>> Go into safe mode and look to see what the Vista Update downloaded and
>> installed..........uninstall one by one till you find the culprit.
>
> Had it only been that easy. After not being able to start Vista, and
> suspecting that the Windows Update did something stupid, I completely
> reinstalled Vista, but this time I didn't adjust any of my settings nor
> did I
> download any updates or install any drivers. Yet, Vista still refuses to
> start everytime I power on my PC or restart it after entering safemode.
> The
> startup hangs in exactly the same place as before.

"peter" wrote:
> Could you give us a list of hardware on your PC as well as specs.
> It seems to be stuck while it is loading hardware drivers

That would be my guess as well, but I've no idea how to figure out which
driver it's stopping at.
Here's my relevant hardware:

MSI 975X Platinum Powerup Edition
Intel Core 2 Duo E6700
ATI Radeon X1950
Creative Soundblaster X-Fi Fatal1ty
Optiarc DVD-RW AD-7173A

When Vista started the first time after install (the only time it managed to
start succesfully) the Device Manager listed all hardware as working and the
only hardware not found was the soundcard.

I would start with the souncard removed and see it that cures the
problem.......
peter
"Chandler" <Chandler@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:B4BDA95A-ADCB-4DB5-9BC9-B2F7A691E8AE@microsoft.com...
> "peter" wrote:
>> Could you give us a list of hardware on your PC as well as specs.
>> It seems to be stuck while it is loading hardware drivers
>
> That would be my guess as well, but I've no idea how to figure out which
> driver it's stopping at.
> Here's my relevant hardware:
>
> MSI 975X Platinum Powerup Edition
> Intel Core 2 Duo E6700
> ATI Radeon X1950
> Creative Soundblaster X-Fi Fatal1ty
> Optiarc DVD-RW AD-7173A
>
> When Vista started the first time after install (the only time it managed
> to
> start succesfully) the Device Manager listed all hardware as working and
> the
> only hardware not found was the soundcard.

"peter" wrote:
> I would start with the souncard removed and see it that cures the
> problem...

That didn't solve the problem.
I did notice, after some attempts to start Vista, that just before the
startup hangs, all the indicator lights on my keyboard (scroll/caps/numlock)
flashed briefly.

"Chandler" wrote:
> "peter" wrote:
> > I would start with the souncard removed and see it that cures the
> > problem...
>
> That didn't solve the problem.
> I did notice, after some attempts to start Vista, that just before the
> startup hangs, all the indicator lights on my keyboard (scroll/caps/numlock)
> flashed briefly.

I also tried the "Enable boot logging" option in the boot menu to see if I
could see exactly which driver caused the problem. However, when I rebooted
after the hang, entered safemode and looked at the file
C:\Windows\ntbtlog.txt it didn't contain any information from the failed
startup at all. It only contained information about the latest safemode
startup.

"Chandler" <Chandler@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:E4BC7E4A-11B4-4725-A262-6D6960BDE624@microsoft.com...
> "peter" wrote:
>> I would start with the souncard removed and see it that cures the
>> problem...
>
> That didn't solve the problem.
> I did notice, after some attempts to start Vista, that just before the
> startup hangs, all the indicator lights on my keyboard
> (scroll/caps/numlock)
> flashed briefly.


Then it sounds as if it isn't even trying to boot from the hard disk. The
lights on the keyboard flashing usually happens during POST. Do you see any
Windows splash screens (or anything on the screen at all from power button
to freeze)?

"Seth" wrote:
> "Chandler" <Chandler@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> > I did notice, after some attempts to start Vista, that just before the
> > startup hangs, all the indicator lights on my keyboard
> > (scroll/caps/numlock)
> > flashed briefly.
> Then it sounds as if it isn't even trying to boot from the hard disk. The
> lights on the keyboard flashing usually happens during POST. Do you see any
> Windows splash screens (or anything on the screen at all from power button
> to freeze)?

If you'd read the entire thread you'd see that I get the Vista splash screen
with the green progress bar with the text "Microsoft Corporation" beneath it,
and that I was able to get into safe mode; i.e. it goes way beyond POST