Freezing on Disk.sys or crcdisk.sys? I've got a possible solution

Warning...long winded skip to end for solution withot the history
Got my DVD's from MS.

Booting from DVD resulted in a freeze right after loading files (the very
first one)
Ran Setup from within XP, it would copy files and on the first reboot it
would freeze in the same place.
Tried starting in safe mode, and it would lock up when loading disk.sys

After a long while of messing with it, I noticed that the date was munged in
my bios. So I set the date to current time, and my PC no longer locked at
disk.sys
and I was able to finish the install.

Upon reboot however I now had a lockup on crcdisk.sys. My first thought was
that I hosed a setting in bios, so I opened my case to jumper clear CMOS. Got
it all set back to factory defaults (with the correct date...this may not
have really affected the disk.sys lockup) closed my case and tried to
install....and it froze on crcdisk.sys again....

So back into bios I went to disable hardware and try different clock
speeds, picked one that prevented my computer from booting, so I once again
opened my case cleared cmos and decided to leave the case open...because it
was bound to happen again. Factory defaults again an vista installed without
a hiccup. So I rebooted and I was able to bring the system up in safe mode to
try and resolve a video card conflict (still working on that one and am
posting this in safe mode right now)

I figured I was done with the inside of my case so I closed it back up,
tried to change my vid drivers...rebooted...and froze on crcdisk.sys
again....so I opened my case and rebooted and it worked in safe mode again....

I have a fan on the door of my case, everytime I open the case I have to
unplug the fan. Unplugged, vista works, plugged in....I'm maxing my power
supply and Vista cannot run properly. I have not yet done testing to see if
it was an unbalanced rail issue or if I just had too much draw period. I was
just happy to get it running and after I figure out my video card problem, I
will revist the power issue

SOLUTION: For those of you who do not like a long read
Try Unplugging the power from all non-essential items...primarily case
fans...yes I know, they are essential....but they also put a heavy load on
the el-cheapo sparkle power power supplies that so many vendors put in their
PC's...My test box has a FSP 450watt....But I also run 11 fans....so it's a
lot of juice.

-Ben

 

If you get your video conflict worked out please post back as I feel this is
causing my slooooooooow boot into Vista

 

My problem started when my lapotp (MSI MS1029) froze when running supe
pi and cpu z. Afterwards, when I tried to boot it would hang on th
loading vista screen, and in safe mode it would hang on crcdisk. Afte
a lot of searching, I think I've found a possible solution

This is what I did

1. Leave your laptop running until the battery COMPLETELY runs out
Like, when you press power absolutely nothing happens.

2. Open up your laptop

3. Disconnect the RAM.

4. Disconnect any fans you may have (yes CPU will get hot but for
little bit the passive cooling should cut it - do NOT leave it on fo
long!

5. Disconnect the wireless card (many people mentioned PCMCIA as th
source of this problem, so I took it out)

6. Reinstall one stick of RAM

7. Try to boot in normal mode. Leave the laptop bottom open for som
CPU cooling

8. If it worked, you can put everything back in, one at a time to se
what was causing the problem

Hope this helps guys, and if it does, please bump it for others to see

Good luck

 

Thanks for this, veer,

Using this "resurrection" technique I was able to detect a bad ram
stick which otherwise would have been a costly repair.

tcfloyd