Black Screen of Death

I recently installed Windows Vista Buisness edition. I am having a problem
where vista will randomly die to a black screen and the only way to recover
the system is power it down. When I restart the system, windows complains
that the system wasn't shut down properly and I can restart in safe mode or
start normally but it doesn't give any more info. I believe the system is
crashed because when I restart windows and look in the event log I can see
that the events stop coming at the same time as the crash.

In the past I had been running Vista Ultimate edition beta 2, rc1, and rc2
and they had the same problem. In this case sometimes vista would restart and
complain about the video driver.

My system is an Asus P4P800e-Deluxe with 1024 megs of ram, a pentium IV 2.53
processor and an ATI Radeon 9700Pro. I have the latest video driver installed
from ATI but I am wondering how to determine if this is the real problem and
if anyone else has had this problem.

You could test the Video driver using this XP KB if you wanted. If I were
you though, I'd call ATI tech support since they made both the chipset and
the card for that driver and see if there is an alternative driver that is
working better. Also I'd try this to stabilize your Vista:

I'd try to run Startup Repair and if that doesn't work, try System Restore
from the same place.

You can run Startup Repair by putting your Vista DVD in after thelanguage
screen in setup. You can also run System Restore from the samelocation. It
fixes Vista in other situations besides a BSOD no boot:

You run the startup repair tool this way (and system restore from here is
also sometimes effective, and more effective than it is from the F8 Windows
Advanced Options):

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/925810/en-us

How To Run Startup Repair In Vista Ultimate (Multiple Screenshots)
http://www.windowsvista.windowsreins...rtup/index.htm

Note The computer must be configured to start from a CD or from a DVD. For
information about how to configure the computer to start from a CD or from a
DVD, see the information that came with the computer.
2. Restart the computer. To do this, click Start, click the arrow next to
the Lock button, and then click Restart.

This usually means that you enter bios setup by whatever key or keys
(sometimes there is more than one key that will do it for your model--go to
pc manufacturer site) and configure CD to be first in the boot order.

See for ref:
Access/Enter Motherboard BIOS
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/bios_manufacturer.htm

Note If you cannot restart the computer by using this method, use the power
button to turn off the computer. Then, turn the computer back on.

3. Set your language preference, and then click Next.

Note In most cases, the startup repair process starts automatically, and you
do not have the option to select it in the System Recovery Options menu.

4. Click Repair your computer.

5. In the System Recovery Options dialog box, click the operating system
that you want to repair, and then click Next.

6. In the System Recovery Options menu, click Startup Repair to start the
repair process.

7. When the repair process is complete, click Finish.

Additional References for Startup Repair With Screenshots:

How to Use Startup Repair:

***Accessing Windows RE (Repair Environment):***

1) Insert Media into PC (the DVD you burned)

2) ***You will see on the Vista logo setup screen after lang. options in the
lower left corner, a link called "System Recovery Options."***

Screenshot: System Recovery Options (Lower Left Link)
http://blogs.itecn.net/photos/liuhui...4/500x375.aspx

Screenshot: (Click first option "Startup Repair"
http://www.leedesmond.com/images/img...SysRecOpt2.bmp

How To Run Startup Repair In Vista Ultimate (Multiple Screenshots)
http://www.windowsvista.windowsreins...rtup/index.htm

3) Select your OS for repair.

4) Its been my experience that you can see some causes of the crash from
theWin RE feature:

You'll have a choice there of using:

1) Startup Repair
2) System Restore
3) Complete PC Restore

You could also:

Try to F8 to the Windows Adv Options Menu>try 3 safe modes there (I don't
use WGA) and Last Known Good>then I go to Win RE in Vista. That gives you a
choice of Safe Mode, Safe Mode with Networking,and Safe Mode with Command
Prompt.

These methods are outlined in

A description of the Safe Mode Boot options in Windows XP/and Vista
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315222/

You will need this reference:

How to start the System Restore tool at a command prompt in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/304449/en-us

The command to use for system restore at the safe mode cmd prompt is:

%systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe

The reason for doing this is one of these choices may work, when the other
doesn't. My experience is that people do not fully try F8 when they think
or have said they have. It is that they can almost always reach Windows
Advanced Options though.


Good luck,

CH

"Michael Dauria" <> wrote in message
news:94350663-65BB-458A-A92D-...
>I recently installed Windows Vista Buisness edition. I am having a problem
> where vista will randomly die to a black screen and the only way to
> recover
> the system is power it down. When I restart the system, windows complains
> that the system wasn't shut down properly and I can restart in safe mode
> or
> start normally but it doesn't give any more info. I believe the system is
> crashed because when I restart windows and look in the event log I can see
> that the events stop coming at the same time as the crash.
>
> In the past I had been running Vista Ultimate edition beta 2, rc1, and rc2
> and they had the same problem. In this case sometimes vista would restart
> and
> complain about the video driver.
>
> My system is an Asus P4P800e-Deluxe with 1024 megs of ram, a pentium IV
> 2.53
> processor and an ATI Radeon 9700Pro. I have the latest video driver
> installed
> from ATI but I am wondering how to determine if this is the real problem
> and
> if anyone else has had this problem.